WASHINGTON — President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency began the process Wednesday of rescinding vehicle fuel efficiency standards that Republicans have called a de facto “electric vehicle mandate,” The Post has learned.
An administration official said dozens of additional regulatory rollbacks loomed on what would be “the biggest day of deregulation in American history.”
Through the Administrative Procedures Act, the EPA is re-evaluating policies enacted last year by the Biden administration meant to reduce emissions for light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles.
The estimated regulatory and compliance cost of the current rules comes to $700 billion.
“The American auto industry has been hamstrung by the crushing regulatory regime of the last administration,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin told The Post.
“As we reconsider nearly $1 trillion of regulatory costs, we will abide by the rule of law to protect consumer choice and the environment.”
The Biden administration in March 2024 finalized a rule to require carmakers to dramatically reduce carbon emissions beginning for model year 2027 light and medium-sized vehicles.
The EPA said at the time that the rules required that by model year 2032 there be a “nearly 50% reduction in projected fleet average [greenhouse gas] emissions levels for light-duty vehicles and 44% reductions for medium-duty vehicles.”
A similarly sweeping policy was unfurled for new trucks and tractors.
Zeldin, a former Long Island Republican congressman, announced the moves one day after Trump publicly purchased a Tesla electric vehicle from CEO Elon Musk on the White House driveway.
Trump campaigned on scrapping Biden’s fuel efficiency rules by arguing that consumers should have the option of buying gasoline or diesel-fueled vehicles without government interference.
