Washington (September 22, 2025) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and 10 of his Senate colleagues today wrote to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin, urging the agency to reverse course on the elimination of federal standards for greenhouse gas emissions from passenger cars and medium and heavy-duty trucks. The EPA’s move is enabled by the Trump EPA’s proposal to get rid of the 2009 finding that greenhouse gas emissions threaten our health and welfare by contributing to climate change, which is the underlying basis for EPA’s regulatory ability to address tailpipe climate pollution. The Trump administration’s proposed clean vehicles rollback would decimate regulations that reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution from cars; the current standards on the books are projected to prevent 2,500 premature deaths, as well as save drivers $6,000 over the next five years by cutting fuel costs.
In the letter, the lawmakers write, “If the Trump administration persists with eliminating federal vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards, it will be responsible for damaging the environment, hurting public health, costing drivers money, cutting American jobs
and competitiveness, and increasing our dependence on foreign oil.”
The lawmakers conclude, “Americans should be able to drive and share the road with cleaner, more efficient vehicles that help clean up our air, save families money at the pump, and strengthen American competitiveness and energy independence. We urge you not to destroy these life- and cost-saving vehicle emission standards on the basis of faulty science and unlawful attacks on the clean air statutes passed by Congress.”
The letter is cosigned by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).
Senator Markey has been a champion for clean vehicles since stronger standards were enabled by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which included fuel economy language co-authored by then Representative Markey. On July 13, 2023, Senators Markey, Tom Carper (D-Del.), and Padilla led nearly 100 colleagues in writing a letter to then-Administrator Michael Regan, urging the EPA to finalize the strongest feasible multi-pollutant vehicle emission standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles by the end of 2023.
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