It looks like the Trump administration are about to side with the incandescent die-hards according to a document that was published, then deleted from the Energy Department’s website.
The Washington Post reported last week that the document, discovered and saved by the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, indicates the Energy Department is getting ready to repeal Obama-era rules that broadened the number of light bulbs expected to meet strict energy efficiency standards set to take effect in 2020.
The move would certainly be in line with Donald Trumps warnings about the dangers of so called environmentally friendly light bulbs.
Remember, new “environment friendly” lightbulbs can cause cancer. Be careful– the idiots who came up with this stuff don’t care.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2012
The Daily Caller reports: Obama officials argued the expansion was needed because consumers might use the unregulated bulbs to replace regulated ones. “DOE expects these sales will likely increase since these lamps could be used as replacements for other regulated lamp types,” the law notes. The Trump administration is clamming up about the change.
“The Department does not comment on ongoing rulemakings beyond what is publicly available in the Unified Agenda published twice a year,” spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes told reporters when asked if the DOE is preparing to ding the regulation.
Eliminating the regulation is potentially as groundbreaking as President Donald Trump’s move to roll back fuel emission rules, according to some experts.
“It’s certainly one of the biggest for energy efficiency standards, setting aside the clean-car standards,” Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, which discovered and saved the document before it was removed from the DOE’s website, said in an interview with reporters.
Congress passed into law in 2007 new efficiency requirements for general lightbulbs, with strict requirements set to take effect in 2020. LED bulbs and compact fluorescent lamps can easily meet the 2020 standard of 45 lumens per watt, according to deLaski. But the traditional incandescent bulbs on the market cannot.
Obama also banned sales of the 100-watt incandescent lightbulb in 2012 as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 was taking hold. Conservatives complained at the time, calling the bans an infringement on consumers’ rights to choose how they light their homes.
Niamh Harris