News Release
EPA Halts Regulation of Climate-Altering Emissions and Guts Vehicle Emission Standards
Thursday February 12th, 2026 - Today, the Trump Administration announced, with great fanfare, that EPA no longer considers climate-altering emissions a pollutant under the Clean Air Act; and that it has finalized its proposal to stop regulating those emissions from cars and trucks.
In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in MA v. EPA that the Clean Air Act authorizes the federal government to regulate climate altering pollution. In 2009, based on the consensus of the scientific community, EPA followed through with its so-called endangerment finding, determining greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. Based on that the federal government began to regulate these emissions; including a tailpipe emissions requirement.
Coltura’s Policy Director, Rob Sargent, made the following statement about today’s announcement:
“EPA’s proposals to repeal the Endangerment Finding and roll back national tailpipe emissions standards represent an unprecedented reversal of environmental and public health protections. These reckless actions, by design, aim right at the heart of our country’s strategy to reduce harmful pollution from cars and trucks, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country.
Repealing the 2009 Endangerment Finding would remove the EPA’s legal authority — and responsibility — to use the Clean Air Act to limit climate-altering pollution from tailpipes and other sources. It’s an unabashed rejection of decades of scientific evidence and a bright green light for unchecked pollution from burning oil, coal, and methane gas.
The U.S. consumes far more gasoline than any other country in the world — over 130 billion gallons annually – nearly 3 times more than China, and more than the next 10 countries combined. Tailpipe emissions from this gasoline use are a primary driver of climate change and a major source of harmful air pollution. According to the EPA, transportation accounts for nearly 30% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions – with most of that coming from gasoline.
Burning gasoline also contributes to smog, toxic air, and fine particulate matter that leads to asthma, heart disease, cancer, and premature death — especially in frontline communities located near highways and freight corridors. In the U.S., more than 72 million people live near high-traffic roads and are disproportionately exposed to vehicle pollution.
By repealing the Endangerment Finding and the tailpipe rules, the federal government is siding with oil companies and polluters at the expense of everyday Americans. This will slow the transition to affordable electric vehicles and clean energy, increase household household energy costs, worsen air quality, and make it harder — if not impossible — for the U.S. to do our share of needed emission cuts.
Coltura’s mission is to accelerate the phaseout of gasoline and promote cleaner alternatives. These proposed rollbacks do exactly the opposite. We must recognize the harm that gasoline does to our health and the planet. We need to cut our use of gasoline and other fossil fuels, not locking in decades of excess pollution. Now is the time to strengthen, not weaken, our commitment to clean air, climate stability, and equitable transportation.
The science is clear. The environmental, public health and economic consequences are real. And, the stakes have never been higher. EPA should be doing its job and regulating pollution that harms our health and the planet.”
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Contact: Rob Sargent - Rob@Coltura.org