TWH
Lowering of standards? yes I suppose it is but what if the base standard was the only one in the world that set it so high? Second point is the Canadian code has ignored the temperature requirments for as long as I can remember or 1976 which ever came first when I bought my first code book.
SO we had overly conservative ampacity tables that did compensate somewhat for the terminal issue. One important use of 90 degree wire is at luminaires which usually require at least 90 degree wire but now the breaker end can only be ampacity from the 75 degree column.
I guess since i voted to accept the rule changes I am happy to take 1/36th of the blame. At the outset it was the intention of the uniformity committee to get the NEC to use our method but in the end we did not deal with the terminal issue.
