US EPA targets Biden EV-friendly tailpipe emissions standards

The US Environmental Protection Agency will reconsider a key component of former US President Joe Biden's efforts to limit the tailpipe emissions of US automobiles, following through on current US President Donald Trump's plans to end what he has called the "Biden-Harris electric vehicle mandate" and continue broad regulatory rollback of his predecessor's climate-oriented agenda.

Calling it an "action to implement POTUS's termination" of the EPA's previous tailpipe emissions standards, the EPA said the rule imposes "over $700 billion in regulatory and compliance costs" and "takes away Americans' ability to choose a safe and affordable car for their family."

"The American auto industry has been hamstrung by the crushing regulatory regime of the last administration," EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement. "As we reconsider nearly one trillion dollars of regulatory costs, we will abide by the rule of law to protect consumer choice and the environment."

The action was announced alongside 30 other reviews and reconsiderations -- including Biden's Clean Power Plan 2.0, the GHG Reporting Program and the Subpart 0000 b and c rules restricting crude oil and natural gas facilities' release of pollutants -- all designed to enforce Trump's executive order to "unleash" energy production.

"Today is the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen," Zeldin said in a statement.

Car controversy

The tailpipe emissions rule under review was finalized and announced by former EPA Administrator Michael Regan March 20, 2024 and was designed to speed the production and adoption of EVs in the US ground transportation fleet. EPA projections released alongside the rule predicted auto manufacturers "may choose" to produce EVs for 30%-56% of new light-duty vehicle sales and 20%-32% of medium-duty vehicle sales from 2030 to 2032.

The final 2024 rule also slowed a previously mooted pace of emissions reduction for years 2027, 2028 and 2029, and allowed manufacturers to incorporate more plug-in hybrid vehicles to remain compliant.

At a press conference alongside executives from the US auto industry, Regan called it "the strongest vehicle pollution technology standard ever finalized" in the country's history. The regulation was praised by John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an influential lobby representing manufacturers who produce 99% of autos sold in the US. Automakers had been pushing to slow the pace of change, Bozzella said, but he emphasized the industry's desire to build "vehicles that turn petroleum miles into electric miles."

The EPA projected carbon dioxide reductions of 7.2 billion mt through 2055, equivalent to four times the transportation sector's total emissions in 2021. A senior Biden administration official projected the rule would reduce US oil demand by 14 billion gallons through 2055.

The Department of Transportation later finalized its own highway emissions standards rule designed to reinforce the EPA targets, and Biden's Inflation Reduction Act legislation included a $7,500 consumer tax credit for the purchase of EVs.

The rule was subject to immediate and long-roiling political pushback. Before its announcement, oil and gas producers and refiners joined with the biofuels industry and corn producers, alongside Republicans, to denounce the rule as impractical and onerous, dubbing it an "EV mandate."

"This regulation will make new gas-powered vehicles unavailable or prohibitively expensive for most Americans, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers President and CEO Chet Thompson and American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Mike Sommers said in a joint statement last March. "For them, this wildly unpopular policy is going to feel and function like a ban."

Both organizations, alongside attorneys general from Republican-led states, have since challenged the rule in federal court.

Trump attacks

The "EV mandate" attack was later adopted by Trump during his 2024 campaign, as the Republican candidate pledged to end the regulations and allow consumers to buy gas or diesel cars and trucks without regulatory limits. When Trump won the November presidential election, Sommers argued that "energy" -- including the "EV mandate" in auto-producing states like Michigan -- "was on the ballot."

"We will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American auto workers," Trump said in his Jan. 20 inaugural address. "In other words, you'll be able to buy the car of your choice."

On March 12 the EPA also said it would reconsider Biden's "Clean Trucks Plan," including the 2022 Heavy Duty Nitrous Oxide rule, as well as greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty vehicles, designed to increase adoption of electric trucks and buses.

"We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the US and more," Zeldin said.