EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and President Trump announced a final rule eliminating the Obama-era 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and all federal vehicle and engine GHG emissions standards for model years 2012 through 2027 and beyond, calling it the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history.
The rule removes requirements to measure, report, certify, and comply with federal vehicle GHG standards, repeals related compliance programs and credits, and ends off-cycle credits including the start-stop vehicle feature. The EPA says the action will save Americans more than $1.3 trillion and reduce average vehicle costs by over $2,400.
The agency said its decision followed new legal analysis of the Clean Air Act and recent Supreme Court rulings, concluding Section 202(a) does not authorize EPA to regulate vehicle emissions to address global climate change and that the Endangerment Finding lacked legal basis.
EPA stated the rule does not affect regulations covering criteria pollutants or air toxics and argued that eliminating vehicle GHG emissions would not materially impact global climate indicators through 2100. The agency said the move restores consumer choice, ends EV mandate pressure, lowers vehicle costs, and provides regulatory certainty for industry.
