Wyden, Merkley Call on Trump Administration to Back Off Plan to Gut Vehicle Emissions Standards

Current greenhouse gas emission standards set to be eliminated by Trump administration are projected to prevent 25,000 premature deaths and save drivers $6,000 over the next five years

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today said that they are joining nine of their Senate colleagues in calling for the Trump administration to reverse course on its disastrous decision to eliminate federal standards for greenhouse gas emissions from passenger cars and medium and heavy-duty trucks that curb air pollution.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently walked away from decades worth of settled science that greenhouse gas emissions threaten Americans' health and welfare by contributing to climate change. This rollback of an EPA decision from 2009 would decimate regulations that reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution from cars.

"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 senators wrote in their letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.

"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 senators conclude.

The letter was led by Senator Edward J. Markey, D-Mass. In addition to Wyden and Merkley, the letter was cosigned by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Jack Reed, D-R.I., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawai'i, Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Cory Booker, D-N.J.

Wyden and Merkley have long worked to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and secure investments promoting clean air in Oregon and nationwide. In March 2025, Wyden, Merkley, and 11 other Democratic senators slammed the Trump administration's decision to roll back its finding that greenhouse gases are harmful to health and welfare. In September 2025, Wyden and Merkley sounded the alarm on EPA's proposal to declassify greenhouse gases as a public health threat. During that same month, Wyden and Merkley joined the entire Senate Democratic caucus in opposing the Trump administration rolling back the endangerment finding. In September 2024, Wyden, Merkley, and other members of the Oregon congressional delegation secured a major investment in transportation decarbonization research at Portland State University.

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