The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the “single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history,” removing Obama-era policies affecting vehicle emissions. The action saves taxpayers more than $1.3 trillion.
“Under the process just completed by the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency], we are officially terminating the so-called ‘endangerment finding,’ a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers,” President Trump said.
“Effective immediately, we are repealing the ridiculous endangerment finding and terminating all additional green emissions standards imposed unnecessarily on vehicle models and engines between 2012 and 2027 and beyond,” he added, going on to describe the restrictions as a “major factor in driving up car prices to unprecedented levels, and the car that you were getting was not nearly as good.”
The 2009 Endangerment Finding was used to “justify trillions of dollars in regulations, including the Obama and Biden Administrations’ illegal push towards Electric Vehicle (EV) mandates and compliance requirements, while simultaneously driving up the cost of vehicles for American families and small businesses— limiting economic mobility and the American Dream,” the EPA explained. The new rule removes these regulations and repeals linked compliance programs and reporting initiatives.
“The Endangerment Finding has been the source of 16 years of consumer choice restrictions and trillions of dollars in hidden costs for Americans,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. “Referred to by some as the ‘Holy Grail’ of the ‘climate change religion,’ the Endangerment Finding is now eliminated. The Trump EPA is strictly following the letter of the law, returning commonsense to policy, delivering consumer choice to Americans and advancing the American Dream.”
“As EPA Administrator, I am proud to deliver the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history on behalf of American taxpayers and consumers,” he declared. “As an added bonus, the off-cycle credit for the almost universally despised start-stop feature on vehicles has been removed.”
