Governors' Biofuels Coalition

Something’s missing from the nation’s auto showrooms: new cars. “It’s real bad,” said Michael DiFeo, a New Jersey Cadillac dealer. “I literally have people saying, ‘I am not leasing this car again. It’s the same car and the price keeps going up.’” Fresh models attract car buyers to showrooms and command higher prices.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is stepping back from a major climate argument just a week before the court is scheduled to take up the case.

Alito had faced calls to recuse himself from Suncor v. Boulder over his financial interests in energy companies. A Monday letter from Scott Harris, clerk of the court, informed the parties that Alito “has determined that he will not continue to participate in this case.” The notice did not further explain his decision to sit out arguments Oct. 5, the first day of the court’s new term.

The Trump administration launched its fuel economy rule for cars Monday with promises of cutting costs for beleaguered voters, but the rule itself tells a different story: higher costs for consumers, balanced out by increased profits and lower costs for the U.S. oil and automotive industries. The rule that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled Monday predicts that drivers will spend more to fill up the tanks of their model year 2031 cars — outweighing their own estimations of savings on car prices.

Republicans and Democrats say a farm bill needs to pass Congress this year, so agriculture producers finally have up-to-date ag policies and in order to enact top ag priorities like year-round E15. That means both parties working through the fall recess to get it over the finish line, but whether that happens is unclear. Ag Committee Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., is hopeful that talks will take place over the break that begins later this week and runs through the first week of November.

President Donald Trump said he is still looking “very seriously” at implementing a US ban on diesel exports to combat high prices, even as others in his administration continue to focus on other possible steps. “That can oftentimes lead to a little bit of an increase on gasoline for cars, so we’re looking at it very seriously — we may do it,” Trump told a Fox News reporter Sunday while attending the Presidents Cup golf tournament final near Chicago.

 Diesel prices soaring to record highs this past week have caused Republican candidates in solid-red parts of the country to call for an end to President Donald Trump’s war with Iran and for a ban on diesel exports, as the issue rattles the party’s MAGA base in a way that few have in this midterm election year. “Michigan families are struggling with the price of everyday life,” Mike Rogers, the state’s GOP nominee for U.S. Senate, said in an ad this past week.

The Trump administration on Monday finalized its plan to significantly weaken fuel efficiency standards for automobiles, scaling back Biden-era rules meant to reduce gasoline consumption and speed the shift to electric vehicles.

Under the new rules from the Transportation Department, automakers will be required to achieve an average fuel efficiency of 34.9 miles per gallon for new cars and light trucks in model year 2031. That’s far below the standard of 50.4 miles per gallon set by the Biden administration.

President Trump portrayed the change as a way to lower car prices for consumers, as affordability has become a major issue in the coming midterm elections. He posted on social media over the weekend that the new rules marked a “BIG DAY FOR AMERICAN AUTO WORKERS AND CAR BUYERS.”

The U.S. and China extended the Busan Agreement, the trade truce between the two countries, to Jan. 10 while identifying more than 1,600 products, including agricultural commodities, for potential tariff reductions.

But soybeans for food and crushing were excluded from the list, and negotiators did not announce new agricultural trade commitments or a timeline for implementing the potential tariff reductions.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is angling for a high-profile legal fight with the president that he says could derail the administration’s sweeping effort to gut climate regulations.

The Democrat has led lawsuits to stop the Trump administration from canceling offshore wind projects, withholding clean energy funding and eliminating hallmark climate pollution rules. His biggest test is a likely Supreme Court matchup.

Bonta is gearing up to argue against the administration’s attempt to undercut federal responsibility for regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright is calling on the oil industry to voluntarily reduce diesel fuel exports in a bid to bring down prices domestically ahead of midterm elections.

The former oil industry executive’s pitch in Pennsylvania comes a day after POLITICO reported the White House was preparing plans to impose a 90-day halt on exports of the fuel, which triggered an outcry in the U.S. oil industry and showed the pressure President Donald Trump’s administration is under from voters to address affordability issues.

Wright said on Wednesday he’s been talking to energy executives about that idea — and potentially other options — to reverse the spike in prices that have lifted the fuel to record highs because of the shortages caused by the administration’s war against Iran and Ukraine’s attacks on Russia’s refineries.