US Moves to Halt Energy Savings Requirements Lambasted by Trump
(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration is moving to halt mandatory energy conservation standards for appliances ranging from refrigerators to washing machines, taking aim at some restrictions that have been criticized by the president himself.
The Energy Department said a proposal it made public Thursday will “permanently end” energy-use mandates that opponents say restrict consumer choice and leave products performing below what Americans have come to expect. Backers of the standards say they have saved consumers hundreds of billions on their electrical bills and slashed carbon dioxide emissions.
“For too long, the American people paid the price for mandates that restricted consumer choice and drove up costs,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. “President Trump promised to end this nonsense and that is exactly what we are doing.”
While the Energy Department’s 192-page rule wouldn’t remove any existing standards, it would make it more difficult to update existing energy-use rules and to enact standards for new products, according to the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, a nonprofit that advocates for energy-efficiency rules.
“Major energy savings could be at stake,” said the group, an arm of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. “Thanks to technological advances, the next round of strengthened standards could reduce a typical household’s utility bills by an average of about $160 annually and collectively save businesses almost $15 billion in annual operating costs over two decades.”
President Donald Trump has personally vowed to “get rid of” the rules, calling them “unnecessary,” and has complained about efficiency standards for products such as dishwashers and shower heads. He signed an executive order last year that repealed water flow restrictions put in place by former President Barack Obama.
While conservatives have bristled at the regulations aimed at reducing energy use, the requirements were mandated by laws signed by George W. Bush and other Republican presidents, said Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project.
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