Environmental groups sue Trump for raising your fuel costs

A group of environmental organizations has sued to block the Trump administration's rollback of federal fuel economy rules, known as CAFE standards, which have required automakers to improve the average fuel efficiency of their vehicle lineups since the 1970s. The new targets would let cars use 45% more fuel by 2031. The Department of Energy's own numbers estimate this change would raise gas prices by 76 cents a gallon.

The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Public Citizen, and Sierra Club, is a petition for review in federal appellate court. It doesn't yet lay out detailed legal arguments, but similar challenges to other rollbacks have succeeded recently on the grounds that the changes were made without proper justification, violating the law that governs how federal regulations get written. It's unclear whether this case will succeed, since fuel economy rules are rarely struck down.

For homeowners, the practical question is whether this actually changes what shows up at the pump or on dealer lots. Looser standards mean automakers have less pressure to build efficient vehicles, and some manufacturers have already signaled they plan to offer fewer electric vehicles and more less-efficient models. So even with strong consumer interest in efficient cars, buyers may simply have fewer efficient options to choose from in the coming years, which could keep fuel costs higher than they would otherwise be.