What They Are Saying: Leaders and Americans Across the Country Applaud the Single Largest Act of Deregulation in U.S. History
WASHINGTON – On Thursday, February 12, 2026, alongside President Trump in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history. In this final rule, EPA is saving American taxpayers over $1.3 trillion with the elimination of the Obama-era 2009 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding and all subsequent federal GHG emission standards for all vehicles and engines of model years 2012 to 2027 and beyond. EPA’s historic move restores consumer choice, makes vehicles affordable for American families, and decreases the cost of living on all products by lowering the cost of trucks. The agency’s action returns commonsense to rulemaking and follows the Clean Air Act as Congress intended.
Here’s what people are saying:
President Donald J. Trump: “I am pleased to be joined today by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who you all know, to announce the single largest deregulatory action in American History. That’s a big statement: In American history. And I think we can add the words ‘by far’. Under the process just completed by the EPA, 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. Prices went up incredibly for a worse product. This action will eliminate over $1.3 trillion of regulatory costs to help bring car prices tumbling down dramatically.”
U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum: “By ending the so-called Endangerment Finding, President Trump is delivering the largest cutting of red tape in history—unleashing American energy and making everything more affordable.”
U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler: “The importance of this cannot be overstated. Repealing the Endangerment Finding helps put an end to the Green New Scam and marks a win for small businesses, who have been crushed by senseless emission regs for two decades. This action will cut $170 BILLION in red tape for Main Street, generating savings that will be passed directly on to consumers.”
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV): “I applaud this groundbreaking effort from the Trump EPA to further roll back costly regulations from the Obama and Biden administrations that have placed economic hardship on hardworking Americans. This repeal will have a transformational impact on my home state of West Virginia, as these efforts reverse the harmful Democrat attacks on affordable, gas-powered vehicles that West Virginians have endured for far too long. This action represents a key win for affordability, job creation and consumer choice, and I congratulate President Trump and Administrator Zeldin for their continued success in producing visible results for the American people.”
Senate Western Caucus Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-WY): “I’m thrilled President Trump & EPA Administrator Zeldin are rescinding the imbecilic Obama-era rule used to expand federal overreach. It never received proper congressional debate or approval yet fueled a decades-long campaign against our fossil fuel industry in the name of climate change.”
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY): “The endangerment finding was based on political expediency – not scientific standards. The Biden and Obama administrations routinely abused this finding as an excuse to roll out red tape that destroyed jobs across America. I applaud the Trump administration for reversing this harmful action and restoring commonsense at the EPA.”
Senator Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-AR): “For far too long, Arkansans have paid the price of the disastrous Green New Deal. That ended today. I’m thankful President Trump and EPA Administrator Zeldin have cut unnecessary bureaucratic red tape which will lower prices for all consumers.”
Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND): “The endangerment finding is the definition of inventing authority out of thin air to justify bureaucratic creep. It’s been used as a cudgel against American manufacturers and producers when Congress never included it in the Clean Air Act. I’m grateful to EPA Administrator Zeldin and President Trump for repealing this heavy-handed endangerment finding.”
House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Chairman Brian Babin (R-TX-36): “Rescinding the 2009 Endangerment Finding is a long-overdue step toward restoring the proper limits of federal regulatory authority. For years, this finding has been used to justify sweeping greenhouse gas regulations that have raised costs for American families, restricted domestic energy production, and placed heavy burdens on manufacturers, workers, and consumers. The Clean Air Act was never intended to serve as a vehicle for such broad regulatory authority, and stretching the law beyond its original purpose has created uncertainty and undermined American competitiveness. I commend EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and the Trump Administration for taking action to ensure environmental policy is grounded in strong legal footing and realistic assessments. This decision will help protect consumer choice, support a strong and reliable energy sector, and reinforce the principle that major national policy decisions should be made by Congress—not imposed through regulatory overreach.”
Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX-02): “Another big win from EPA under Lee Zeldin’s leadership. I’m working as we speak on legislation to permanently codify this.”
Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC-09): “Today, President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin delivered the largest deregulatory action in American history. The Obama-era Endangerment Finding, which drove years of costly vehicle mandates, is gone. That includes eliminating the ridiculous start-stop feature that shuts your engine off at every red light. This action saves Americans $1.3 trillion, lowers vehicle costs by an average of $2,400, and restores real consumer choice. We’re cutting red tape, lowering costs, and putting families back in the driver’s seat.”
Representative Barry Moore (R-AL-01): “Washington bureaucrats shouldn’t dictate what you drive or how much you pay for it. The Trump Administration is cutting red tape, scrapping costly mandates, and putting Americans back in the driver’s seat - saving families trillions and restoring common sense.”
Representative Riley Moore (R-WV-02): “By rolling back the Obama-era Endangerment Finding, the Trump Administration has delivered the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history—undoing the climate crisis hoax that drove up prices and cost hard-working West Virginian coal miners their jobs. A massive win for American families, American workers, and American energy dominance. President Trump is putting the American Dream back within reach.”
Representative Tim Walberg (R-MI-05): “I applaud President Trump and Administrator Zeldin for repealing this burdensome Obama-era policy that drove up costs and limited options for Michigan families. We must continue to remove costly regulations.”
Representative Daniel Webster (R-FL-11): “Americans should be able to purchase vehicles that best for their needs, not those of unelected Washington bureaucrats. Today, President Trump and Administrator Zeldin are delivering historic deregulation that restores consumer choice and lowers costs for Americans.”
North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong: “Thank you President Trump and Administrator Zeldin for taking this decisive action to roll back years of federal overreach and burdensome regulations. Today’s announcement is a victory for smart, commonsense federal regulation and will improve consumer choice and affordability while strengthening American energy dominance.”
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey: “I applaud President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for taking one of the most significant deregulatory actions the country has seen in a generation. That finding became a legal weapon that imposed crushing mandates on power plants, manufacturers, and energy producers across this country, driving up costs for families and punishing states like West Virginia that power the nation. President Trump promised to unleash American energy, and this action delivers. This move restores balance, protects jobs, and puts common sense back into regulatory policy.”
West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey: “Proud to work with Administrator Zeldin as we remove the massively expensive and unconstitutional mandate. The American people will save thousands, and our environment will continue to be clean and beautiful. This is common sense and is perhaps the biggest deregulatory action in American history.”
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson: “The Trump Administration is revoking the 2009 Obama-era Endangerment Finding, the foundation for more than a trillion dollars in crushing regulations by forcing electric vehicles on American families and businesses. This is the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history. Thank you, President Trump for continuing to deliver results that drive affordability and growth, and thank you EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for strong, fearless leadership. This is how we rein in the regulatory state and restore common sense.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill: “Common sense is back with this administration! Thank you, President Trump and Administrator Zeldin, for continuing to work to eliminate the Green New Scam. This is the single largest act of deregulation in U.S. history and will make buying a car more affordable for Louisiana families. This is a huge win for America.”
Alliance for Automotive Innovation President and CEO John Bozzella: “Today’s action is consistent with EPA’s earlier announcement that it intended to repeal the Endangerment Finding and correct some of the unachievable emissions regulations enacted under the previous administration. I’ve said it before: Automotive emissions regulations finalized in the previous administration are extremely challenging for automakers to achieve given the current marketplace demand for EVs. The auto industry in America remains focused on preserving vehicle choice for consumers, keeping the industry competitive, and staying on a long-term path of emissions reductions and cleaner vehicles.”
Always On Energy Research President Amy O. Cooke: “I applaud President Trump and Administrator Zeldin for doing the hard work necessary to repeal the Endangerment Finding. With repeal, we have a return to constitutional order and policy honesty. The debates over energy and environmental policy will continue, but they will now happen where they belong: in state legislatures and the halls of Congress, with elected officials making their case to voters and accepting responsibility for the results.”
America First Policy Institute Director for Energy and Environment Jason Hayes: “Repealing the Endangerment Finding is a critical step toward restoring common sense in climate policy. The rule had become a weapon for sweeping and burdensome regulation, such as electric vehicle mandates, that was driven by a radical environmental agenda. The United States has shown time and again that we can achieve a cleaner environment, including clear skies and waters, without aggressive climate catastrophist mandates. By using an America First approach to fossil fuels, we can build a country that balances the need for safety and environmental care with economic growth. The Endangerment Finding was unlawful, unscientific, and unnecessary to provide the clean and productive environment that Americans desire and deserve.”
American Consumer Institute Senior Energy Analyst Kristen Walker: “I applaud the Trump administration’s bold action to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding which has been used to justify heavy-handed legislation, the most egregious of which is a de facto electric vehicle mandate that forced automakers to manufacture cars consumers did not want and could not afford. The mandate restricted options and inflated both electric and internal combustion vehicle prices. Eliminating this oppressive finding is a critical step in restoring consumer choice and protecting Americans’ freedom to determine what they drive. Car buyers know best what suits their needs and budgets, not Washington bureaucrats. This rescission will lower costs, uphold statutory limits, and usher in a more common-sense approach to energy and climate policy.”
American Energy Alliance President Tom Pyle: “Thank you, President Trump and Administrator Zeldin, for this historic victory for American energy freedom, economic prosperity, and commonsense policymaking that serves the interests of American workers, families, and businesses. Since its inception, the Endangerment Finding has been weaponized against projects and goods that deliver affordable, reliable energy to the American people. It has affected investment and infrastructure decisions in ways that have harmed U.S. competitiveness, purely to advance a political ideology. The EPA’s continued attempt over the last decade and a half to regulate greenhouse gases through the Clean Air Act represented a sweeping expansion of authority never granted by Congress and stretched the law far beyond its original purpose. Its basis rested heavily on speculative projections rather than direct, immediate harms, and the policy was not supported by clear scientific data or a sound legal basis. The result has been an endless string of confusing and conflicting mandates for families, companies, and manufacturers, complicating life for all Americans. Major policy decisions of this scale have no place in the hands of unelected government agents. Rescinding the rule is an opportunity to reset policy, respect congressional intent, and ensure that any future framework is debated and decided by the people’s actual elected representatives. The decision to expand the scope of the Clean Air Act or any other statute rests with Congress and Congress alone. We are confident that the Supreme Court will affirm this should they be in a position to consider the merits of this sound rulemaking.”
American Stewards of Liberty Executive Director Margaret Byfield: “The Trump Administration’s bold action to revoke the Endangerment Finding will provide a direct benefit to landowners who have been under siege from a federal regulatory apparatus acting in the name of climate change. This federal overreach has suffocated productivity and undermined good stewardship across the American landscape. Carbon dioxide is the plant food our farmers and ranchers need to make our lands flourish and feed the American people. Eliminating this rule will be yet another solid step toward unleashing American prosperity.”
American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear: “ATA supports national standards that are achievable, cost‑effective, and grounded in reality—standards that reduce emissions while keeping freight moving. The Biden-era Phase 3 rule failed that test. It functioned as a back‑door electric truck mandate that was unworkable for much of our industry and put supply chain reliability at risk. We thank President Trump and EPA Administration Zeldin for their strong leadership in restoring common sense to our nation's environmental policies.”
American Petroleum Institute SVP of Policy, Economics and Regulatory Affairs Dustin Meyer: “Today’s action appropriately ends the previous administration’s EV mandates, which effectively banned new gas-powered vehicles and represented a clear case of regulatory overreach at the expense of American consumers. We continue to support smart, effective federal regulation of emissions - including methane from oil and gas operations. Our focus now is working on durable policies that reduce emissions while meeting growing energy demand.”
Competitive Enterprise Institute President Kent Lassman: “This is the most consequential environmental policy decision of the century. Climate policy, like every other area of law, must be bounded by statute while the policy alternatives are informed by the best available science. The world has changed since 2009. No longer can regulators make unilateral decisions to refashion American life and the economy. We have nearly two decades of evidence to show that overheated modeling is dangerous foundation for policymakers. Americans are better off without the Endangerment Finding.”
Climate Depot Publisher Marc Morano: “The Trump administration is moving decisively to deliver a fatal blow to the climate agenda. The 2nd term of the Trump administration, led by EPA’s Lee Zeldin (the most consequential EPA chief in the agency’s history!), is boldly focusing on implementing PERMANENCE in climate and energy policy. By removing the CO2 Endangerment Finding from our lives, it could remove the legal basis for all of the climate nonsense that we’ve had to endure for the last several decades. The Trump administration needs to ensure that this revocation of the government’s authority to regulate CO2 withstands the flood of legal challenges. Tossing out the EPA’s CO2 Endangerment Finding, combined with the already announced withdrawal of the U.S. from the UN climate treaty process (AKA the 1992 RIO Earth Summit treaty) are two of the most momentous actions any President has taken to dismantle the climate scam. The Trump administration’s goal is to ensure that future presidential administrations can’t quickly reverse climate and energy policies without having to undergo major bureaucratic hurdles. This will make America much safer from any future climate wreckage inflicted by potential presidents like Gavin Newsom or AOC.”
Competitive Enterprise Institute Director of the Center for Energy & Environment and Senior Fellow Daren Bakst: “Today, the EPA took a big step in ensuring that the agency sticks to its statutory mission of environmental protection instead of being an economic central planner reshaping the economy and dictating how Americans live their lives. Greenhouse gas regulation is a tool that can be used as the basis for some of the most egregious examples of government abuse. We have already seen this with the Biden EPA’s efforts to try and kill off gas-powered cars and reliable electricity generation. Climate extremists will inevitably blast the EPA’s actions, but most Americans realize government policies that drive up prices, restrict freedom, and ignore the rule of law are devastating for the well-being of our nation.”
Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) President Craig Rucker: “CFACT applauds EPA Administrator Zeldin’s bold reversal of the 2009 ‘Endangerment Finding.’ Unelected regulators have too often indulged in regulatory overreach, exceeded their authority, and imposed needlessly burdensome regulations on the American economy. At its core, the Endangerment Finding defies basic science and common sense. Americans deserve policies grounded in reality, promulgated through constitutionally valid processes, not ideologically driven regulatory excess.”
CO2 Coalition Executive Director Gregory Wrightstone: “The repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Endangerment Finding by Administrator Lee Zeldin is cause for celebration. The basis of this wrongheaded climate regulation put ideology ahead of science. The rule has been an impediment to economic growth, a cause of rising energy costs and a destroyer of many thousands of jobs at power plants, coal mines and manufacturing facilities. Since the 2009 enactment of the Endangerment Finding, its scientific underpinnings have been found to be even weaker than previously believed and contradicted by empirical data, peer-reviewed studies and research. Relying on false computer models and pseudoscience, the Obama EPA erroneously claimed that carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases threatened to overheat the Earth. The agency disregarded complexities of climate dynamics – from solar cycles to clouds to ocean currents. Also ignored were a mountain of real-world data accumulated over decades and centuries that disprove the finding that the plant food carbon dioxide is a pollutant. Rather than an Earth spiraling into man-made climate crises, the facts reveal that ecosystems are thriving and humanity is benefiting from modest warming and more CO2. Forests are expanding, deserts are shrinking, agricultural productivity is expanding and drought is declining. In short, there is no climate crisis and carbon dioxide is a beneficial gas necessary for life.”
IPAA President & CEO Edith Naegele: “IPAA supports the Trump administration in its efforts to reform and streamline regulations governing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. EPA properly concludes that the Clean Air Act does not provide it with the authority to regulate certain greenhouse gas emissions. America’s independent oil and natural gas explorers and producers need a federal regulatory regime that provides certainty and stability. As the Trump Administration takes action to rescind the Endangerment Finding to address overreaching vehicle emission standards, the EPA must ensure that the rules and regulations governing stationary sources are clear and durable for our members, energy producers operating upstream.”
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton: “FANTASTIC NEWS: President Trump team to roll back fraudulent ’finding’ by Obama gang that ’greenhouse’ trace gases harm public health. This fake ‘finding’ undergirds the U.S. and international climate scam, the biggest fraud in history. Throwing out the climate scam ‘Endangerment Finding’ will reportedly save Americans at least $1 trillion in regulatory costs!”
Multiple-Use Advocacy Principal Kathleen Sgamma: “Americans have been forced to bear the enormous cost of a climate change orthodoxy that lost all connection with the truth long ago, but only President Trump and Administrator Zeldin had the courage to take this bold action. They'll be maligned by those who have profited off climate fallacies for decades and sued as usual, but the law and energy reality are on their side. We know what happens to countries and states that have bowed at the climate altar: their energy prices are higher, they've lost their manufacturing base, and their citizens are poorer, all while having a negligible if not nonexistent impact on global temperatures. This deregulation will reduce inflation, and I urge Administrator Zeldin to continue to deliver for the American people by attacking climate regulations on other industries, such as methane rules for the oil and natural gas industry.”
Pacific Legal Foundation Attorney Frank Garrison: “The EPA's 2009 Endangerment Finding triggered a trillion-dollar regulatory cascade that Congress never authorized. What began as authority to address regional smog and acid rain has been stretched to vehicle emissions, power plants, oil and gas operations, and federal lands—reshaping America's entire energy economy and ability to harness natural resources through administrative fiat. Today's repeal restores the principle that decisions of this magnitude require clear congressional authorization, not bureaucratic improvisation.”
Prime Mover Institute Executive Director Russ Greene: “Repealing the Endangerment Finding sends a clear message: a half century of energy stagnation is enough. It marks a decisive turn away from climate anxiety and environmentally justified overregulation, and towards renewed American self-confidence and self-government. We cannot claim to believe in democracy while allowing unelected bureaucrats to impose trillion-dollar mandates on everyone else. We cannot say we support families pursuing the American Dream when government makes it too expensive for them to buy a car. And we cannot expect to win the AI race or reindustrialize the nation while also affirming that building a new power plant endangers life on Earth. Enough.”
Protect the Public’s Trust Director Michael Chamberlain: “The Endangerment Finding was an unprecedented power grab from the start when the Obama EPA rushed it through to achieve a bureaucratic coup regardless of the data, facts, or traditional process. We recently obtained records that show EPA leadership under the Obama administration set artificial deadlines, attempted to steamroll procedural niceties, and coordinated with outside activist organizations. For such a monumental decision that gave the federal government virtually unprecedented power to intrude on the lives of its citizens, it’s apparent these officials acted with a pre-determined motive before all the data had been considered. Power and politics were placed firmly ahead of the science.”
Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) President and CEO Mike Spagnola: “This is a tremendous decision by the EPA to course-correct after nearly two decades of abuses by previous administrations at the federal and state levels and instead return sanity to our nation’s environmental policies. It was with great trepidation that SEMA watched our nation’s leaders demonize and ban the very motor vehicles that serve as the bedrock upon which the American people – families, small businesses, and automotive enthusiasts – rely to live their best, most prosperous lives. It was even more infuriating to watch these policymakers brazenly justify their actions with a dubious policy position that now rightly goes away, to be replaced with a common-sense, free-market view of what drives our nation’s prosperity.”
Stellantis Director Will Otero: “Stellantis welcomes today’s decision, because it enables us to continue offering Americans a broad range of cars, trucks, and SUVs – including BEVs, REEVs, hybrids and efficient internal combustion engines – that they want, need and can afford. We remain supportive of a rational, achievable approach on fuel economy standards that preserves our customers’ freedom of choice.”
Texas Public Policy Foundation Executive Director Robert Henneke: “The rescission of the EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding restores common sense: carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring, life-sustaining gas, not a traditional pollutant, and it should not be regulated as if it were. The 2009 finding was pushed through on a shaky legal and scientific record, and we support this reset toward transparent, accountable policymaking.”
The Transport Project President Daniel Gage: “The Transport Project supports today’s action as it removes all regulations that require heavy-duty motor vehicle and heavy-duty motor vehicle engine manufacturers to comply with the agency’s misguided Greenhouse Gas Emissions Phase 3 Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles. This Biden-era rule unfairly and capriciously manipulated outcomes to advance favored technologies, slowing progress on an all-of-the-above clean vehicle deployment approach and adding unwarranted burdens to trucking fleets that would have resulted in unnecessary and excessive costs for American consumers and families. Today’s announcement promotes vehicle choice and fleet flexibility and ensures an uninterrupted and affordable flow of goods and services. We are committed to working with President Trump, Administrator Zeldin, and their EPA team to ensure that real and measurable pollution reduction progress continues in the on-road transportation space within a single, balanced, national framework.”
|
