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Hours after being sworn in as the new U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy took aim at the main way the federal government regulates miles per gallon for cars and pickup trucks also a principal way that it regulates air pollution and addresses climate change. Duffy ordered the federal agency in charge of fuel economy standards to reverse them as soon as possible. The standards have been in place since the 1970s energy crisis and were intended to conserve fuel and save consumers money at the gas pump. Here are five reasons why the action matters. What is the Trump administration doing exactly? Duffy ordered his chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to “propose the rescission or replacement of any fuel economy standards” necessary to bring the rules in line with Trump’s priority of promoting oil and biofuel. The order came in a DOT memorandum Tuesday night. Duffy said the rules need to better align with the administrations overarching agenda because the existing CAFE standards promulgated by NHTSA are contrary to Administration policy. What does this mean for consumers and the climate? Duffy says eliminating the rules will increase Americans’ access to the full range of gasoline vehicles they need and can afford. Others disagree. This will raise consumers costs at the pump, increase tailpipe pollution and jeopardize U.S. automakers future, and no one voted for any of it. The only beneficiaries will be oil executives and Chinas auto industry, which will be happy to sell electric vehicles around the world with little U.S. competition, said Dan Becker, director of the Center for Biological Diversitys Safe Climate Transport Campaign. In recent years, automakers have been producing gasoline cars that get significantly better mileage, which lowers the cost of driving and means lower sales for oil companies both refineries and producers. Transportation was the largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Every atom of carbon pumped into a car’s gas tank comes out the tailpipe and many combine with oxygen to make carbon dioxide which holds onto extra heat for more than a century. Why does Trump want to repeal fuel efficiency rules? Duffys action aligns with a number of President Trumps promises, notably to end an electric vehicle mandate referring to former President Joe Bidens target for 50% of new car sales to be electric by 2030. Duffy wrote These fuel economy standards are set as such aggressive levels that automakers cannot, as a practical matter, satisfy the standards without rapidly shifting production away from internal-combustion-engine vehicles to alternative electric technologies. The new Secretary said artificially high standards force car manufacturers to phase out gasoline powered vehicles, making cars more expensive for buyers and destroying consumer choice at the dealership. There is no requirement for automakers to produce or consumers to purchase electric vehicles. The fuel economy standards work in sync with EPA limits on carbon dioxide from vehicle tailpipes to address climate change, which Trump also rejects. Duffy said CAFE rules are supposed to establish realistic rules for fleets that run on combustible liquid fuels like gasoline and diesel fuel. He also cited the nations vast oil reserves, biofuel feedstocks and refining capacity as reason to establish lower standards. Trump has issued a series of orders including an energy emergency declaration, and has said the U.S. will drill, baby, drill. What’s the idea behind American fuel economy standards? CAFE, or Corporate Average Fuel Economy, rules date back to oil shocks Americans suffered in 1974 and 1980. The first ones went into effect in 1978. They are intended to help drivers use less fuel by requiring automakers’ fleets to meet average mile-per-gallon targets that initially increased with each model year, until progress stalled in the 1980s. Americans then saw no appreciable improvement in miles per gallon for around two decades. In recent years, automakers have offered car-buyers plenty of internal combustion engine meaning gasoline-powered cars with much better mileage, and that is largely due to increasingly stringent standards. What were the latest fuel economy rules going to do? The latest standards set under the Biden administration required automakers to average about 38 miles per gallon of gas by 2031. That’s in real-world driving. In every model year from 2027 to 2031, the rules are supposed to increase fuel economy 2% per year for passenger cars, while SUVs and other light trucks are set to increase by 2% a year from 2029 to 2031. An earlier proposal had even higher requirements. The standards aligned with tighter Biden-era EPA limits on pollution from passenger and commercial vehicles, and the former president’s broader support for incentivizing electric vehicle manufacturing and purchases. The Biden administration said when it made the rules, they would save almost 70 billion gallons of gasoline through 2050. Alexa St. John, Associated Press climate solutions reporter The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
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E-Commerce
A year after the launch of the short-lived Coca-Cola Spiced, Coke is adding another new flavor to its lineup. Coca-Cola Orange Cream is scheduled to go on sale Feb. 10 in the U.S. and Canada. It will be sold in regular and zero sugar varieties. Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. said Monday that it developed the soda, which mixes cola with orange and vanilla flavors, in response to growing consumer demand for the comforting, nostalgic flavor. Orange cream first introduced with the Creamsicle ice cream bar in 1937 has enjoyed a recent renaissance. Olipop, a probiotic soda, introduced an orange cream flavor in 2021. Carvel reintroduced its Orange Dreamy Creamy ice cream last year for the first time since 1972. Wendys also debuted an Orange Dreamsicle Frosty last spring. Coca-Cola has been experimenting with new flavors to help keep customers engaged with its signature product. In 2022, it launched Coca-Cola Creations, a series of limited-edition Coke flavors in colorful cans and bottles. Coke added hints of coconut, strawberry and even Oreos to the drinks. The company introduced raspberry-flavored Coca-Cola Spiced last February, saying the offering would be a permanent addition to its lineup. But the company abruptly pulled Coca-Cola Spiced off the market in September, saying it would be replaced with a new flavor this year. Coke said Coca-Cola Orange Cream wont be a permanent flavor but would remain on sale at least through the first quarter of 2026. In an interview last year, Coca-Colas North American marketing chief, Shakir Moin, said it used to take the company at least a year to develop a new product. But it’s trying to move more quickly. Consumers are moving faster. The market is moving forward faster. Weve got to be faster than the speed of the market, he said. Dee-Ann Durbin, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
On Tuesday, Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), suggested that kids who benefit from federally funded free lunch programs, like Head Start, should consider getting jobs to pay for their own lunches. The comments were made during an interview with CNN’s Pamela Brown, after the congressman was asked about Trump’s order to pause federal grants, loans, and other assistance programs, while the administration reviews how the funds are being allocated. Who can actually go and actually produce their own income? Who can actually go out there and do something that makes them have value and work skills for the future? McCormick asked rhetorically. Before I was even 13 years old, I was picking berries in the field before [the] child labor laws that precluded that. I was a paperboy, and when I was in high school, I worked my entire way through.” The congressman continued: Youre telling me that kids who stay at home instead of going to work at Burger King [and] McDonalds during the summer should stay at home and get their free lunch instead of going to work? I think we need to have a top-down review.” Brown pushed back, urging McCormick to acknowledge that many of the children who receive free school lunches are elementary schoolers, and therefore well below the legal working age. The terms of Trump’s executive order were laid out in an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo from Matthew J. Vaeth, acting director, OMB. It explained that federal funds should be “dedicated to advancing Administration priorities, focusing taxpayer dollars to advance a stronger and safer America, eliminating the financial burden of inflation for citizens, unleashing American energy and manufacturing, ending ‘wokeness’ and the weaponization of government, promoting efficiency in government, and Making America Healthy Again.” After releasing the memo, OMB sent a document to around 2,600 agencies that receive federal funds, including school meals for low-income students, U.S. Agency for International Development foreign assistance, the WIC nutrition program for pregnant women and infants, a reintegration program for homeless veterans, and others, asking for explanations on what exactly the programs do. In her first White House press briefing on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to quell worries by insisting the freeze was only a “temporary pause” to make sure these organizations receiving funds don’t conflict with the new administration’s policies. Leavitt also said that she would provide a list of the organizations affected and emphasized that eliminating funding to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs (DEI), or other “woke” programs are a priority of the administration. Head Start, which provides pre-school funding for low-income children, told CBS that the freeze has the “potential to severely disrupt the ability for Head Start programs to serve nearly 800,000 children and their families nationwide.” Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that students eligible for free or reduced price school meals cannot legally be charged processing fees starting in 2027. Trump’s executive order was later temporarily blocked by U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan until Feb. 3, after a lawsuit brought by the National Council of Nonprofits, the American Public Health Association, the Main Street Alliance and SAGE advocates for LGBTQ+ told the court the impacts of the freeze would be “catastrophic.” At least six other attorneys have filed similar suits. At a news conference Tuesday, Letitia James, New York Attorney General called out Trump’s executive order, saying, “This policy is reckless, dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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