{"id":799339,"date":"2026-05-16T00:05:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T00:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/799339\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T00:05:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T00:05:20","slug":"trump-blasted-for-unconscionable-auto-industry-giveaway-that-will-worsen-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/799339\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Blasted for ‘Unconscionable’ Auto Industry Giveaway That Will Worsen Pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US Environmental Protection Agency<\/a> on Thursday proposed postponing enforcement of vehicle emissions standards enacted during the Biden administration<\/a>, a move that critics warned will worsen air pollution<\/a>, one of the leading risk factors for premature death in the United States<\/a> and around the world.<\/p>\n

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin proposed<\/a> delaying Biden-era emission standards<\/a> for light- and medium-duty vehicles for two years until model year 2029, claiming that implementation of the policy meant to ensure that a majority of new light vehicles sold in 2032 were electric is “unattainable,” and that Americans “overwhelmingly rejected” electric vehicles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom is the foundation of this nation, and this includes the freedom to choose the car you drive. The American people have been very clear; they do not want EVs forced upon them,\u201d said Zeldin, who took more than $400,000<\/a> in Big Oil<\/a> campaign donations during his tenure in the New York state Legislature and US Congress<\/a>, and who questions the scientific consensus on climate change<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zeldin claimed the proposal “is projected to save over $1.7 billion” for US automakers, “providing hundreds of dollars saved per vehicle for American families,” and “aims to return EPA regulations to reality, restoring consumer choice, protecting good paying American jobs, and strengthening the nation\u2019s global competitiveness.”<\/p>\n

It will also kill people. More than 100,000 people die prematurely<\/a> in the United States each year due to breathing polluted air. According to<\/a> a 2024 Environmental Protection Network analysis, President Donald Trump\u2019s rollbacks of pollution rules could cause the deaths of nearly 200,000 people in the United States by 2050.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn its latest unconscionable act, Trump\u2019s EPA looked at a rule intended to protect public health<\/a> from toxic tailpipe pollutants while saving tens of thousands of lives, and decided it could wait,” Public Citizen<\/a> Climate Program deputy director Deanna No\u00ebl said<\/a> Friday.<\/p>\n

“The decision will not just cost lives; it will cost working-class people more money in medical bills, more missed days of work, and more years chained to volatile gas prices,” No\u00ebl continued.<\/p>\n

“Working families are already stretched thin. Everything from groceries to home insurance to gas is getting more expensive, with no end in sight,” she added. “Delaying commonsense emissions standards will only make communities sicker and send costs higher. The EPA\u2019s entire reason for existing is to protect public health and the environment. Yet under this administration, it has been weaponized to serve corporate interests over the American public, no matter the cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the advocacy group Climate Power, fossil fuel industry<\/a> interests spent<\/a> more than $445 million during the 2024 election<\/a> cycle on campaign donations, lobbying, and other efforts to bolster Trump and other Republican candidates and causes.<\/p>\n

Responding to Zeldin’s announcement, Natural Resources Defense Council clean vehicles director Kathy Harris said in a statement<\/a> that \u201cthe EPA has one job, to protect the health and welfare of the American people. But, yet again, the Trump EPA is choosing polluters over people.”<\/p>\n

\u201cDelaying these standards is going to mean more toxic pollutants spewing from tailpipes, and more soot and smog in our cities,” she continued. “That means more asthma, more heart attacks, and more lung disease.”<\/p>\n

\u201cEPA Administrator Lee Zeldin claims to want to provide clean air and clean water<\/a>, but time after time he is acting to increase pollution,” Harris added. “The Trump administration\u2019s war on our health continues unabated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zeldin’s proposal is part of a wider Trump administration<\/a> push to roll back Biden\u2019s efforts to promote electric vehicles, and serves Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” energy policy. Last year, Transportation<\/a> Secretary Sean Duffy ordered<\/a> the cancellation of Biden-era fuel efficiency and emissions standards for cars and light trucks<\/p>\n

During Trump\u2019s second term, the EPA has moved to repeal or replace<\/a> stronger carbon emission limits on fossil-fueled power plants, revoked<\/a> California\u2019s ability to enact stricter vehicle emissions rules, and signaled plans to overturn<\/a> the agency\u2019s finding that greenhouse gases are a public health hazard.<\/p>\n

The EPA has also revoked<\/a> the long-standing \u201cendangerment finding\u201d that allowed it to pass climate regulation, stopped counting<\/a> the monetary value of reducing pollution, weakened<\/a> water<\/a> and wetland protections, rolled back<\/a> regulations limiting so-called \u201cforever chemicals<\/a>\u201d in drinking water, dramatically cut or eliminated<\/a> environmental justice<\/a> programs, reduced enforcement<\/a> of environmental violations, dismantled<\/a> advisory and scientific panels, removed<\/a> all mentions of human-caused climate change<\/a> from its website, and more. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed postponing enforcement of vehicle emissions standards enacted during the Biden…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":799340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[4489,746,4920,30093,2128,159,522,4352,67,132,68,325784],"class_list":{"0":"post-799339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-electric-vehicles","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-fossil-fuels","11":"tag-lee-zeldin","12":"tag-pollution","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-transportation","15":"tag-trump-administration","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-us-environmental-protection-agen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116581336597221248","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}