The Patriot Post® · In Brief: Biden's Summer Regulatory Onslaught
Joe Biden may take a record number of vacation days, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t incredibly busy running your life. The Wall Street Journal editorial board recently compiled an overview of expensive regulations that make Bidenflation worse. But that’s Bidenomics for you.
The Biden Administration’s regulatory onslaught is more unrelenting than the heat. With Congress leaving town, the White House last [month] dumped another truckload of regulations that will cost Americans hundreds of billions of dollars. Corporate lawyers, enjoy the beach reading.
- The Transportation Department … proposed a 696-page rule raising corporate average fuel economy (Cafe) standards that would effectively require 100% of new cars to be electric by 2032. This is even more aggressive than California’s EV mandate, which wouldn’t ban the sale of new gas-powered cars until 2035.
Passenger cars would have to achieve 66.4 miles a gallon in 2032, up from 44.1 mpg last year. The ramp-up for trucks and SUVs is even steeper — to 54.4 mpg from 32.1 mpg. Auto makers will have no way to comply but to make more EVs.
Here’s the kicker: The Energy Department is also proposing to reduce the “miles per gallon equivalent” for EVs. For example, the F-150 Lightning’s rating would decline to 67 mpg from 237 mpg. This means auto makers will have to produce even more EVs to meet Cafe mandates. They’ll be fined if they fall short.
Next up:
The Administration … also proposed a 236-page revision to National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) guidelines that will require federal agencies to consider climate change and “environmental justice” in project reviews. If a utility wants to build a gas pipeline, agencies might have to evaluate if a solar plant would better promote environmental justice, however regulators define it. …
The Administration is also quietly using collusive legal settlements with green groups to end-run judicial review of rules — a practice known as “sue and settle.” The Administration on July 21 settled a lawsuit with the Sierra Club by agreeing to remove 11 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico from future oil and gas development to protect the Rice’s whale.
The Journal’s editors also highlight a rule about disclosing cyber-security breaches that could actually expose companies to further harm, and another rule about Sarbanes-Oxley auditors that will have the same effect. They conclude:
There’s much more to say about this regulatory typhoon, which the Administration is counting on the press corp to ignore, as it usually does. But we thought Americans might like to know what regulators are up to while they vacation. The Administration is imposing by regulation what it can’t pass through Congress and hoping nobody notices.