New CAFE Standards Finally Signed

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This has been in the works for a long time, but it’s still nice to see it finally made official:

The Obama administration finalized the first national rules curbing greenhouse gas emissions Thursday, mandating that the U.S. car and light-truck fleet reach an average fuel efficiency of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.

The new fuel efficiency standards, issued by the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency as the result of a May 2009 deal with the auto industry, represent a peaceful end to a contentious legal battle over how to regulate tailpipe emissions….As a result of the new rules, the U.S. vehicle fleet is projected to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 21 percent by 2030.

For all the crap CAFE gets from conservatives and car buffs, it’s been an astonishingly successful program. It probably cut oil use following the embargoes of the 70s more effectively than any program before or since — and unlike gas prices, which fell precipitously in the early 80s, it had a permanent effect. What’s more, for most of us it did it with virtually no noticeable impact on the cars we drive.

Technology has advanced a lot since the original CAFE standards were adopted, and I expect the new ones to have approximately the same invisible effect on the kinds of cars we drive. At the margins, it will make the most egregious gas guzzlers a little more expensive. It might even spell the end of a few of them. And on average, your next new car might accelerate from zero to sixty half a second slower. But that’s about it. And in return we’ll extend our oil supplies, import a bit less from Saudi Arabia, and cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. It’s no panacea, but it sure is a cheap way to make a difference.

 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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