FULL HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT: Trump Declares Landmark Energy & Environmental Policy Shift — AC15

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: The process just completed by the EPA, we are officially terminating the so-called endangerment finding, a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers. Prices went up incredibly for a worse product. This action will eliminate over $1.3 trillion of regulatory costs and help bring car prices tumbling down dramatically. You're going to get a better car, you're going to get a car that starts easier, a car that works better, for a lot less money. In 2009, Barack Hussein Obama, his EPA designated fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and other things that actually make factories rock and roll. And other things drive very nicely as a threat to health and human welfare, known as the endangerment finding. This determination had no basis in fact, had none whatsoever. And it had no basis in law. On the contrary, over the generations, fossil fuels have saved millions of lives and lifted billions of people out of poverty and all over the world. And you see it with the blackouts all over, where they don't use it, where they went to wind, intermittent wind, which is weak and ineffective and very, very costly. The most costly energy there is. And people are dying because there was no air conditioning or there was no heating. Lots of other things, bad things happened. And yet this radical rule became the legal foundation for the Green New Scam. One of the greatest scams in history, probably as great, maybe even greater than Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, et cetera, which the Obama and Biden administration used to destroy countless jobs. The jobs have been just decimated. Although they're all coming back because of tariffs, they're all coming back into our country at levels we've never seen before. But it raised prices and caused immense harm to the U.S. auto industry. We thought irreparable, but we've got them back. We're coming back now. I was in Detroit, as you know, with Ford. And they had one of the earliest plans from the early 1900s. And it was going to be closed down. And then when I one, they said, let's keep it open for a little while. Let's see what happens. And they just announced, as you know, they're going 24 hours around the clock with that same plant that was going to be closed because of what we've done. For example, under the endangerment finding, they forced the hated start stop feature onto American consumers, which unnecessarily shuts off a car's engine when you stop at a red light. In other words, the engine goes off. That's great. The endangerment finding was also used to impose the massive and really very expensive electric vehicle mandate. Expensive in the sense that nobody wanted it. Everybody was going to be forced to buy an electric car in a very short period of time, even though you can't power the car because we would have to spend $5 trillion on power stations. That's all dead, gone, over. These crippling restrictions were a major factor in driving up car prices to unprecedented levels. And the car that you were getting was not nearly as good. In four years under the Biden administration, the price of a new and used car rose more than 22 percent, all to facilitate the green new scam without achieving any meaningful impact on the environment, but making the car worse. That's why effective immediately, we're repealing the ridiculous endangerment finding and terminating all additional green emission standards imposed unnecessarily on vehicle models and engines between 2012 and 2027 and beyond. This action will say that the green new car rose more than 22 percent, all to facilitate the green new scam without achieving any meaningful impact on the environment, but making the car worse. That's why effective immediately, we're repealing the ridiculous endangerment finding and terminating all additional green emission standards imposed The green emission standards imposed unnecessarily on vehicle models and engines between 2012 and 2027 and beyond. This action will save American consumers trillions of dollars and will lower the average cost of a new vehicle by close to $3,000. Think of that. During my campaign, I promised this unnecessarily on vehicle models and engines between 2012 and 2027 and beyond. This action will save American consumers trillions of dollars and will lower the average cost of a new vehicle by close to $3,000. Think of that. During my campaign, I promised to cut 10 old regulations for every new regulation. And we've exceeded that. We've instead done it. 10 regulations, we were able to cut 129. So now we cut 129. So think of that. I promised to cut 10 old regulations for every new one, but we did more than 10. We did 129. It's something nobody can even believe it. So we did a lot of regulation cutting in the first administration, a record, nobody even close to it now. We're actually exceeding it in this administration. The biggest one yet that we've done is happening right now. So perhaps no industry has benefited more from our historic deregulation campaign than the U.S. auto industry. We canceled the EPA's absurd, just totally absurd tailpipe emission standards, which was a disaster for automobile manufacturing, and revoked Biden's emissions waiver that would have allowed California to regulate automobiles for the entire nation. And they're crazy out in California. They have nothing but trouble out there, as you know. That's why people are leaving in record numbers. I also ended Joe Biden's extreme cafe emissions standards, saving the average American consumer much more than $1,000 when they buy a new car. But now we're talking about close to $3,000. These regulation cuts, combined with our tax cuts and tariffs, are the reason why the world's largest automakers have announced that they're going to be spending in excess of $100 billion in the United States In the next very short period of time, building new auto plants. We're bringing our auto plants, assembly plants, and factories roaring back to life, not even mentioning AI and all of the other things. We're building thousands of businesses in the United States. And if you remember, on my first day, they said if I could ever get the Dow up to 50,000 in my last year, in other words, in the fourth year, that it would be an unbelievable miracle, but don't worry about it because it'll never happen, they said. And if I could get the S&P up to 7,000, they said in the fourth year, they said it will never happen. Let's not even talk about it. I have things. Let's not even waste our time talking about it. Well, at the very end of my first year, the Dow hit 50,000. Now, it's over 50,000. And three days before that, the S&P had 7,000. So we didn't have to wait till the end of the fourth year. We just waited till the end of the first year. We've never had a country in a position like this. And a lot of it's due to tariffs. And a lot of it's due to the fact that we had a great election. And a lot of good things have been done. One of the good things I did was put Lee Zeldin in charge of our environment. So I'm going to ask the leader say a few words. Thank you very much. [00:07:32] Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. President. This is a big deal. Under President Trump's leadership today, the Trump EPA has finalized the single largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States of America, referred to by some as the Holy Grail of federal regulatory overreach. The 2009 Obama EPA endangerment finding is now eliminated. This action will save American taxpayers over $1.3 trillion. What that means is lower prices, more choices, and an end of heavy-handed climate policies. With today's announcement, American families will save over $2,400 for a new vehicle. 16 years ago, an ideological crusade within the Obama administration set off the most costly regulatory power grab our country has ever experienced. The 2009 Obama EPA endangerment finding led to trillions of dollars and regulations that strangled entire sectors of the United States economy, including the American auto industry. It claimed new powers over the vehicles we drive, even though the best reading of the Clean Air Act clearly states otherwise. The Obama and Biden administrations used it to steamroll into existence. A left-wing wish list of costly climate policies, electric vehicle mandates, and other requirements that assaulted consumer choice and affordability. And who paid the biggest price? Hard-working families? Small businesses? Millions of Americans who just want a reliable, affordable car to get to work, take their kids to school, or go to church on Sunday? The endangerment finding and the regulations that were based on it didn't just regulate admissions. It regulated and targeted the American dream. And now the endangerment finding is hereby eliminated. As well as all greenhouse gas emission standards that followed, the red tape has been cut. Manufacturers will no longer be burdened by measuring, compiling, or reporting greenhouse gas emissions for vehicles and engines. And the forced transition to electric vehicles is eliminated. No longer will automakers be pressured to shift their fleets towards electric vehicles, vehicles that are still sitting unsold on dealer lots all across America. And as a cherry on top, we are ending the federal government's push to get manufacturers to install that Obama switch, the almost universally despised start/stop feature. There will be no more climate participation trophies awarded to manufacturers for making Americans' cars die at every red light and stop sign. It's over, done, finished. Under President Trump's leadership, vehicle manufacturers can once again build what Americans want, not what politicians and bureaucrats in Washington demand. President Trump campaigned on reviving the auto industry. And he continues to deliver win after win after win, ending electric vehicle mandates, getting rid of the Biden cafe standards with Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, and securing massive new U.S. manufacturing investments and all the jobs that come with it. Affordable cars mean opportunity. That means jobs, health care, education, and mobility, especially for working families and rural Americans who rely on their vehicles every single day. And this isn't just about making the American economy boom. It's also about restoring the rule of law, a fundamental principle of our great republic. For years, unelected bureaucrats twisted the Clean Air Act into something it was never meant to be. The Obama administration twisted itself into some kind of mental pretzel to invoke authority it didn't have and to sidestep Congress. They claimed that six greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, some of which aren't even emitted from vehicles and trucks, contribute some amount above zero to global climate change, which they said endangered public health. But their wild web of mental leaps isn't prescribed in federal statute. The Obama EPA's House of Cards upended the best reading of the Clean Air Act, as well as 50 years of EPA precedent on what constitutes regulable air pollution. In the 16 years that intervened, the Supreme Court has established clear precedent in Loper Bright Enterprises and West Virginia vs. EPA. And in light of these Supreme Court decisions and other developments upon his swearing in last year, President Trump immediately tasked on day one submitting requirements, recommendations, research on the legality and continued applicability of the 2009 endangerment finding. And at Trump's speed, he wanted that research and recommendation turned around instantly. We looked at the Clean Air Act, we looked at what the highest court in the land had said, and we used a very simple metric. If Congress didn't authorize it, EPA shouldn't be doing it. Congress never voted for these climate mandates inside of Section 202 of the Clean Air Act. If Congress wants EPA to regulate the heck out of greenhouse gases emitted from motor vehicles, then Congress can clearly make that the law, which they haven't done for good reason. Today we dismantle the tactics and legal gymnastics used by the Obama and Biden administrations to backdoor their ideological agendas on the American people. Following the plain language of the law, we have now realigned EPA's rulemaking to reflect the Clean Air Act exactly as it is written and as Congress intended, not as others might wish it to be. Were our predecessors focused on trying to make and please a few fear-mongering climate alarmists? The Trump EPA is making decisions to benefit all Americans based on common sense and reality. And the American people are tired of paying the price of political games. Last November, they voted for an administration that would listen to them. They told us that the price of a newer, safer vehicle was too high. They told us they didn't want cars that shut off at every red light. They told us dealers were sitting on lots filled with electric vehicles that nobody wanted or were buying. The Trump EPA listened. We heard you and we acted. And today's action does not change regulations on traditional air pollutants and air toxics. This EPA is committed to providing clean air for all Americans. Powering the Great American Comeback is based on the singular focus of providing clean air, land and water for all Americans while harnessing the greatness of the American economy. That's a big difference from our predecessor. We believe that we can and must choose both. If you want an electric vehicle, buy one. If you want a diesel truck, then buy that. If you want a gas powered vehicle or a hybrid, well, more power to you. That's what freedom and choice look like. We're restoring the rule of law. We're grounding policy in reality. We're giving power back to the American people. And we're bringing back the American dream stronger than ever before. EPA will never waver on its core mission of protecting human health and the environment. And this administration knows we can do that while ushering in the golden age of America. To recap, the 2009 Obama EPA endangerment finding and all greenhouse gas emission standards on light, medium, medium and heavy duty vehicles that followed is eliminated. American families now will save over $2,400 for a new vehicle. Today, the single largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States. Over $1.3 trillion. The elimination of the endangerment finding is signed, sealed and delivered. [00:16:09] Speaker 1: The President: Thank you, Lee. That was long. But good. It was good. Maybe, I should say great. It was great. And we appreciate it. Would you have anything to say, Russ? Please. [00:16:26] Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. President. Literally no other president would have done this to get at the foundations of the Green New Deal. So tremendously excited that we are where we are today. Great work by Lee. I'm a little worried that this next year will be EPA alone will be dereg east by the number of things that are beginning to come out of EPA. So great work to the team. $1.3 trillion in savings. Massive historical opportunity. Thank you. Thank you, Russ. Please. Would you like to speak? [00:16:57] Speaker 1: Worthy of it. Good man. Thank you, Mr. President. [00:17:01] Speaker 4: Today is a historic day led by President Trump's leadership. No other president, as Russ said, would have undertaken this. And at the speed we did. It was a great team effort. This is the model of the Trump administration. Everyone working together. Mission aligned. [00:17:19] Speaker 1: And Lee is also working on cleaning up the horrible situation with regard to farm equipment. You could use John Deere as an example and other companies where tractors are unbelievably expensive and don't work as well because of all of the environmental nonsense that was put on them. Also excavators, any equipment like that, bulldozers, caterpillar tractor would be a beneficiary, I guess. But the people are going to be a beneficiary because the equipment is going to be a lot less expensive. And it's going to also, most importantly, it's going to work much better, much better. So we're working on that immediately as we speak. And we'll probably make it so that any of that equipment built in the United States will not have to go through this. If it's built outside, I think we'll probably leave the standard the same. If people are going to send us equipment, let them have that standard for whatever it's worth, which is not much. And I think that's a very big announcement too. And we're going to see if we can get that done very quickly so that all of that equipment that we have made, including lawnmowers, et cetera, we -- you won't have to go to the finest schools in the world in order to figure out how to operate it. Okay? So any questions, please? [00:18:44] Speaker 5: The Press: President Trump, thank you for this. And after this much applauded move to roll back the former EPA's endangerment finding, what additional steps do you plan on taking to scale back what many are calling climate industry scams? Specifically -- and Secretary Zeldin knows about these wind turbines they're trying to bring to New York. Judges allowing them to be rebuilt right near your hometown in Jamaica, Queens. They're being called a national security threat for air traffic coming into the airport. What could you do to make sure these things don't destroy the environment? [00:19:12] Speaker 1: The President: Well, we're trying to make sure it doesn't happen. And we've basically stopped all windmills in this country. It's the most expensive energy you can