US President Donald Trump has announced his administration will repeal findings that have underpinned environmental laws and influenced vehicles in the US since 2009 – which it says will bring more choice for motorists by “restoring the American Dream”.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will, under the White House’s direction, repeal the 2009 ‘endangerment finding’, which President Trump said “had no basis in fact” according to The New York Times.
The 200-page document was based on research and scientific evidence which led to EPA actions to reduce carbon dioxide, methane and other heat-trapping pollutants from power plants, factories and motor vehicles.
Greenhouse gases are those which accumulate in Earth’s atmosphere where they form a layer that traps heat from the sun, playing a major role in global warming according to scientific reports.
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According to The New York Times, President Trump described the ‘endangerment finding’, which also showed greenhouse gases pose significant health risks to wider society, as a “radical rule” which formed “the basis for the green scam”.
“This is about as big as it gets: we are officially terminating the so-called ‘endangerment finding,’ a disastrous Obama-era policy,” said President Trump, referring to Barack Obama, US president from 2009-2017.
“We’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money,” former President Obama posted on social media in response.
The EPA said greenhouse gas emission policies have now been eliminated for motor vehicles from model year 2012 or later, bringing a previously mooted plan to remove the need for ‘stop-start’ – a feature proven to lower vehicle emissions – in internal combustion-powered cars.
“Today’s announcement ends all off-cycle credits, eliminates EPA incentives for the start-stop button, and restores consumer choice,” said the EPA in a statement.
“Americans will be able to buy the car they want, including newer, more affordable cars with the most up-to-date safety standards and that emit fewer criteria and hazardous air pollutants.”
The administration claims the decision will save Americans US$1.3 trillion (A$1.85 trillion) by “removing the regulatory requirements to measure, report, certify, and comply with federal GHG emission standards for motor vehicles and… associated compliance programs, credit provisions and reporting obligations”.
It also says it will save automakers money, after they collectively suffered billions in losses due to the same administration’s introduction of new tariffs.
The EPA claims the change will result in average cost savings of over US$2400 (A$3400) per vehicle.
The controversial move, if it sticks, will open wider use of fossil fuels and impact other motor vehicle emissions laws, such as in California, whose Governor Gavin Newsom – a Trump adversary – described the decision as ‘reckless’ and said the state “will sue to challenge this illegal action” and maintain its greenhouse gas regulations.
In 2025, the Trump administration challenged the validity of California’s regulations which came into effect in 1978 and were wound back last December with the support of major US automakers. The White House claimed it should have the ability to overrule the state’s regulations with federal laws.
The Trump administration also ended tax breaks of up to US$7500 (A$10,587) for new and used EVs in the US last September, cancelling the program scheduled to run until 2032, prompting California to consider its own incentives.
Elon Musk, CEO of US EV automaker Tesla – who held an official government role early in the current Trump administration and reportedly contributed significant amounts of money to the president’s election campaign – spoke out against the end of the tax breaks.
According to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the repeal of the endangerment finding will increase greenhouse gas emissions by 10 per cent between now and 2055, leading to as many as 58,000 premature deaths and an increase of 37 million asthma attacks.
The Natural Resources Defense Council plans to challenge the decision, with its president Manish Bapna saying “The science and the law are crystal clear, and EPA is issuing a rushed, sloppy and unscientific determination that has no legal basis … We will see them in court, and we will win.”