The bureaucracy previously known as the Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it is going to ease off on the tougher automobile fuel efficiency standards that had been announced late in the Obama administration.
The official reason for the decision to set aside rules that would raise average fleet efficiency to 50 miles per gallon by the year 2025 and replace them with — well, something — is that the standard would be too hard to reach and that it would make cars and trucks more expensive.
The first reason is another example of the Republican Party’s stunning lack of faith in the ability of U.