According to the New York Times, when the Trump administration proposed plans to allow cars to emit more pollution, even the auto companies thought it was too extreme.

Turns out the intended beneficiary was actually the oil industry.

In Congress, on Facebook and in statehouses nationwide, Marathon Petroleum, the country’s largest refiner, worked with powerful oil-industry groups and a conservative policy network financed by the billionaire industrialist Charles G. Koch to run a stealth campaign to roll back car emissions standards, a New York Times investigation has found.

The campaign’s main argument for significantly easing fuel efficiency standards — that the United States is so awash in oil it no longer needs to worry about energy conservation — clashed with decades of federal energy and environmental policy.

“With oil scarcity no longer a concern,” Americans should be given a “choice in vehicles that best fit their needs,” read a draft of a letter that Marathon helped to circulate to members of Congress over the summer. Official correspondence later sent to regulators by more than a dozen lawmakers included phrases or sentences from the industry talking points, and the Trump administration’s proposed rules incorporate similar logic.

Of course ALEC sprung into action, writing sample legislation for states regarding the rollback. And Marathon put together an ad campaign:

The Facebook ads linked to a website with a picture of a grinning Mr. Obama. It asked, “Would YOU buy a used car from this man?” The site appears to have been so effective that a quarter of the 12,000 public comments received by the Department of Transportation can be traced to the petition, according to a Times analysis.

And those "principled" states rights conservatives want to stop California and 13 other states from adhering to the stricter standards. But the Trump plan challenges California’s rule-writing power.

It's deeply disgusting and craven. Read the whole thing.