The Trump administration has begun the process of rolling back greenhouse-gas emissions rules set by the Biden administration for automobiles and trucks, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday.
The agency will reconsider the proposed emissions standards for light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles beginning in model-year 2027, according to the announcement. The EPA is also reopening the greenhouse gas Phase 3 standard and reevaluating the Heavy-Duty Nitrous Oxide (NOx) rule, which sought to remove the most harmful pollutants emitted from diesel-powered trucks, because of “significant costs” for the industry.
“The American auto industry has been hamstrung by the crushing regulatory regime of the last administration,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in the announcement. “As we reconsider nearly one trillion dollars of regulatory costs, we will abide by the rule of law to protect consumer choice and the environment.”
The EPA said the auto and truck emissions rules would have imposed more than $700 billion in regulatory and compliance costs. The NOx rule threatened to make “the products our trucks deliver, like food and other household goods, more expensive,” the agency said.
The review of emissions standards was among 31 such moves announced by the EPA on Wednesday, in which the agency described as “the biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history.”
“While accomplishing EPA’s core mission of protecting the environment, the agency is committed to fulfilling President Trump’s promise to unleash American energy, lower costs for Americans, revitalize the American auto industry, restore the rule of law, and give power back to states to make their own decisions,” the agency said.
