By MATTHEW DALY and ALEXA ST. JOHN Associated Press
President Donald Trump has announced a proposal to weaken vehicle mileage rules for the auto industry. If the plan announced Wednesday is finalized next year, it would ease pressure on automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and trucks. The proposal would significantly reduce fuel economy requirements through the 2031 model year. Those requirements set rules on how far new vehicles need to travel on a gallon of gasoline. It's the Trump administration's latest move to reverse Biden-era policies that encouraged cleaner-running cars and trucks, including electric vehicles. Environmentalists said the rule change would increase pollution and raise prices for consumers by allowing less fuel-efficient cars.
California is spending $500 million to put an additional 1,000 electric school buses on the road. Gov. Gavin Newsom's office announced Wednesday that 1,000 zero-emission school buses and related charging infrastructure will be provided to over 130 rural, low-income and disadvantaged school districts. It comes as cuts and freezes of federal grants paused efforts in other states to replace aging diesel-fueled fleets that are more polluting. In California, the efforts do not rely on federal money primarily but rather proceeds from its cap-and-trade program. The program caps carbon emissions and requires polluters to obtain permits for each ton of carbon they release.
