NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Like most Trump appointees, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has been called a lot of things since taking the job, but “champion of the Black community” is probably not one of them. However, he is earning that title now that his agency is taking on costly Biden-era car regulations that would have disproportionately hurt those most in need of affordable transportation.
Specifically, the EPA has proposed the repeal of new tailpipe standards that would have tacked on an agency-estimated $2,100 to the already-rising sticker prices for new gasoline-powered vehicles. The rule was a major part of the previous administration’s aggressive agenda to force a transition away from gasoline to electric vehicles (EVs). The agency is also reconsidering the underlying 2009 Obama administration finding that opened the door to this new crackdown on tailpipe emissions by allowing climate change considerations to play a role.
The environmental benefits are highly questionable — even proponents shy away from saying that compliant vehicles would have a measurable impact in reducing future temperatures — but the costs are real and hurt some much more than others.
Affordable personal transportation is absolutely essential for those still climbing the economic ladder. Putting aside the near worship by some of public transit, the reality is that buses and trains can only take you to a subset of the job choices available if you can drive door to door. This is especially true of those who live in relatively poor neighborhoods far from the most promising employers in town. A vehicle also opens up opportunities in the gig economy. Not surprisingly, studies identify vehicle ownership as an important factor in reducing the racial wage gap.
But these gains are threatened by rising new car prices, which would only worsen as these Biden-era regulations continue to get more stringent in the years ahead. And used car prices generally rise in tandem with new ones.
Beyond making vehicles prohibitively expensive for some, higher prices also create financing challenges for others, including reliance on high-interest sub-prime loans. Not surprisingly, vehicle loan delinquency rates are at a 30-year high.
Nor are EVs a viable option for those not yet in the middle class. Their average price, around $57,000 according to Kelley Blue Book, is around $8,000 more than a gasoline vehicle and exceeds the annual incomes of more than half of Black households. In addition, EV charging is particularly inconvenient for urban apartment dwellers. And, realistically, an EV is not practical as a family’s one all-purpose vehicle — which is all most lower-income households can afford.
As expected, the proposed repeal is getting plenty of harsh criticism from the multi-billion-dollar environmental activist community, including more than a few environmental justice activists who could hardly be any more out of touch when it comes to affordable transportation and the real needs of low-income and minority communities.
To be sure, Zeldin need not bother clearing any mantel space for an NAACP or Urban League award. But his efforts to make cars more affordable, if successful, will accomplish more for the Black community than most of the actual winners.
The post Trump EPA putting Black Americans back in the driver’s seat appeared first on Fox News.
