Whitehouse Expands Inquiries into Fossil Fuel, Polluter Influence Behind EPA’s Rollback of Environmental Regulations

Washington, DC - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, expanded his investigation into the extent that fossil fuel and related entities have exerted improper influence on the Trump Administration's proposed rollbacks of environmental regulations, including the endangerment finding. EPW announced that it has now sent inquiries to Ford Motor Company after Trump's comments that Ford CEO Jim Farley "'calls me all the time [to ask] "can we get rid of this environmental piece of garbage?"" The Trump EPA has waged an assault against environmental laws that protect Americans from air pollution and the harms of climate change. Chief among the Administration's actions is its proposed repeal of the endangerment finding. If finalized, the repeal would deliver a massive financial windfall to polluting industries and their enablers and advocates while poisoning the air, endangering families, and fast-tracking the catastrophic economic harms from climate change.

"Straight from Trump's own mouth, we hear him boasting about working hand in glove with industry to unleash unchecked pollution on our communities," said Ranking Member Whitehouse. "The only interests that will benefit from such a corrupt rollback of the endangerment finding, upheld twice by the Supreme Court, are polluters and their enablers. American families will pay the price with dirtier air, higher health costs, and a climate-change-fueled economic collapse."

The endangerment finding is a 2009 scientific determination by the EPA that greenhouse gases are harmful to human health and welfare. It is grounded in extensive peer-reviewed science and confirmed by successive National Climate Assessments and reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Twice, EPA's scientific finding has withstood challenge at the D.C. Circuit, and both times, the Supreme Court declined to revisit the decision. Repealing the endangerment finding would ignore overwhelming scientific evidence and set the stage for rolling back air quality standards for power plants, airplanes, and more.

"Ford has often been considered among auto-industry leaders in reducing vehicle emissions and transitioning to zero-emission vehicles," wrote the Ranking Member. "Recently, however, Ford has backtracked on many of its prior commitments. Among those changes is Ford's decision to abandon the manufacture of certain larger electric vehicles. President Trump's recent comments are, therefore, cause for even greater concern, suggesting that Ford may not only be adapting to a changing regulatory landscape but also helping drive those changes."

EPW previously announced an investigation into 24 industry groups supporting a pro-polluter agenda at the expense of American families, asking about their potential influence campaign with the Trump Administration to repeal the endangerment finding: America First Policy Institute, American Petroleum Institute, American Trucking Association, Ballard Partners, BNSF Railway, Boyden Gray, BP, Burke Law Group, Chevron, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Core Natural Resources, Exxon, General Motors, Hallador, Heartland Institute, Heritage Foundation, Independent Petroleum Association of America, National Association of Manufacturers, National Auto Dealers Association, New Civil Liberties Alliance, Shell, Toyota of America, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Vistra Energy.

Ranking Member Whitehouse and Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) previously led the entire Senate Democratic Caucus in demanding the Trump Administration withdraw its legally deficient and factually inaccurate proposed rollback. The Senators called the repeal of the climate and public health protection a "dereliction of duty" and a "blatant failure to protect the American people."

Ranking Member Whitehouse also excoriated the legal infirmities in EPA's proposal. The Senator described the proposed rollback as "political rhetoric masquerading as legal and scientific reasoning" that "serves no purpose beyond regulatory corporate welfare to President Trump's fossil fuel industry donors, its only beneficiaries." Not only would EPA's proposed rollback "rel[y] on untenable interpretations of the Clean Air Act and applicable precedent to justify its conclusions," but it would ignore the "near-absolute scientific consensus that climate change poses dire threats to humanity's collective future and must be addressed."

EPW has requested documents from Ford by February 5, 2026.

Read the full letter HERE.