For sixteen years, the so-called Endangerment Finding has been the weapon of choice of climate fanatics in Washington. Created by the Obama EPA in 2009, it justified trillions of dollars in regulations, limited car production and drove up the cost of living for American families. It pushed this country toward an unpopular electric vehicle mandate, imposed crushing compliance requirements and promoted a new level of government dominance that has boiled the blood of hardworking Americans.
On Thursday, standing alongside President Trump at the White House, I was proud to announce that the Endangerment Finding has been eliminated – and with it, all federal greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles and engines that followed.
This is the largest deregulation action in U.S. history and will save American taxpayers more than $1.3 trillion. The promotion will result in an average savings of more than $2,400 per vehicle. By eliminating the cost of regulatory compliance, we make it easier for families to buy the car they actually want – improving affordability and helping Americans achieve jobs, grow small businesses and fully participate in the transportation and logistics systems that power the American economy.
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As an added bonus, the incentive for one of the most unpopular features of modern vehicles – the automatic start-stop system – has been eliminated. I heard how many Americans hate this feature when they visited all 50 states this past year. The system shuts off the engine at a red light, drains the batteries more quickly and provides no meaningful environmental benefit. It was nothing more than a trophy for climate participation – a regulatory incentive that allowed carmakers to claim green credits on paper without delivering results on the ground.
Lee Zeldin, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, speaks alongside President Donald Trump at an event in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Feb. 12, 2026, announcing the administration’s rollback of the 2009 Endangerment Finding, the scientific determination underlying federal regulation of climate-warming emissions. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Automakers should never be forced to adopt — or rewarded for — technologies that Americans don’t want. The Trump EPA will choose consumer choice over climate policy every time.
Let me be clear why we took this action: the American people demanded it, and the law required it. The Obama administration stretched the Clean Air Act beyond recognition by claiming that carbon dioxide from tailpipes — combined with five other gases, some of which vehicles don’t even emit — constituted “air pollution” that has contributed to global climate change and endangered public health and welfare. For decades, the EPA has understood that the Clean Air Act addresses pollution that directly harms the health of people in their communities – not global climate policy. But the Obama-Biden administration twisted the law to seize the power it was never given, and the Endangerment Finding was its weapon of choice.
Since then, the Supreme Court has made clear in landmark decisions like Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and West Virginia v. EPA that agencies cannot twist statutes to seize powers that Congress never authorized. Major policy decisions of this magnitude belong to Congress, not unelected bureaucrats. Unlike our predecessors, the Trump EPA follows the law as written and as Congress intended – not as climate activists might want.
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These same activists don’t want Americans to know that their completely baseless predictions never came true. The Endangerment Finding is based on projections and assumptions that have not come true over the past sixteen years. The same types of models that previous governments and climate activists relied on to support the Endangerment Finding failed to withstand scrutiny. The Trump EPA now concludes that even if the United States were to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions from every vehicle on the road, there would be no material impact on global climate change – the core assumption used in 2009 to justify these regulations.
Let that sink in: Trillions of dollars in unnecessary costs were imposed on American families. Americans lost freedoms that should never have been taken away. The Trump EPA creates policy that is rooted in reality, not ideology.
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This was not a decision we made lightly. We conducted a transparent rulemaking process that included a 52-day public comment period, four days of virtual public hearings with more than 600 people testifying, and approximately 572,000 public comments. We listened, implemented and delivered substantial updates.
Affordable car ownership is at the core of the American Dream. It’s how families get to work, how small businesses transport goods and how millions of Americans in rural communities without public transportation access health care, education and opportunity. It remains one of the most important drivers of economic mobility in the United States.
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The regulations that built on the Endangerment Finding pushed new vehicles further out of the reach of American families. The Obama and Biden administrations’ push for EV mandates pressured automakers to scale back traditional gasoline and diesel trucks and redesign fleets toward technologies they say are uneconomic and unfeasible. The costs of these climate policies fell most heavily on the Americans who could least afford them.
President Trump promised to unleash American energy, revive America’s auto industry and put the American people first. Today, we delivered on that promise with what we believe is the largest deregulation and cost-saving measure for Americans in U.S. history. The era of the government knowing best when it comes to climate regulation is over. The American Dream is back. Promises made, promises kept.
CLICK HERE TO EPA ADMINISTRATOR LEE ZELDIN
