Think gas prices are too low? Don’t fret, Trump plans to raise them Monday — SkimNews
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- Sean Duffy announced the DOT will finalize fuel economy changes Monday that would lower the 2031 target fleet average from 50.4 mpg to 34.5 mpg, a reduction the source calculates raises average fuel required per distance by 45%.
- The NHTSA estimated in its own proposal that the rollback would raise total fuel costs by $185 billion and increase carbon emissions by 5%, a figure that excludes additional pollution-related health costs.
- The Department of Energy — under oil CEO Chris Wright — published an analysis saying gas prices would rise by 76 cents per gallon under Republican energy plans, contradicting President Trump's Saturday claim that the rule would "lower prices."
- Congress already neutered CAFE by setting its fines to $0 in its sprawling $4 trillion spending package, making Monday's announced rollback a second-pass effort layered onto an already-unenforced standard.
- Of 68,294 public comments filed on the proposal, the source reports the vast majority opposed raising fuel and health costs, while many prior Trump-administration rule changes in this area have been reversed by courts for "arbitrary and capricious" rulemaking.
- Sean Duffy separately eliminated federal guidance on bike lanes and other road safety measures; the source says pedestrian and cyclist fatality rates could rise 19–54% under the new framework, on top of near-record baseline fatalities.
Why it matters: Every driver who fills a tank bears the cost: the source's math pegs the 50.4-to-34.5 mpg cut at a 45% jump in fuel consumed per mile, and Trump appointees' own agencies project an extra 76 cents per gallon at the pump — a direct transfer from household budgets to oil-company profits at exactly the moment a "war of choice" is already pushing energy prices to all-time highs.
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