FINALLY!
In a huge win, President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin just announced the biggest rollback of climate change regulations yet.
One of the rules that will be eliminated is an Obama-era mandate that forced the much-hated “start-stop” feature into cars.
This ridiculous auto-stop feature annoyed millions of Americans by turning off the engine at red lights, which in turn, killed batteries faster.
Watch President Trump’s announcement here:
JUST IN: President Trump is formally TERMINATING the Obama-era rules that forced car makers into putting the infamous “START-STOP” into vehicles
The start-stop would stay on no matter WHAT, turning the car off at lights and frustrating Americans. It also wore down the car… pic.twitter.com/kAGOr97ScR
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 12, 2026
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the start-stop feature “stupid” and said that it was one of the biggest complaints from everyday Americans he talked to across the nation.
Fox News reported:
“As I traveled across all 50 states this past year, I heard from countless Americans who not only dislike the (motor-vehicle) start-stop feature but passionately advocated for this mechanism to be a thing of the past,” Zeldin said of the major recission made Thursday.
“Not only do many people find start-stop annoying, but it kills the battery of your car without any significant benefit to the environment. The Trump EPA is proudly fixing this stupid feature at Trump Speed.”
Zeldin said automakers shouldn’t be forced to adopt or be rewarded for using technologies that represent a “climate participation trophy” with no meaningful reduction in actual pollution.
The former New York lawmaker said consumer choice is a priority for his agency, and that his office will continue to advocate for “commonsense rules.”
US Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy added in a statement that resetting of mileage standards and removal of auto-starts and other greenhouse-gas-regulation-precipitated regulations are part of President Donald Trump’s vision to lower costs and revitalize manufacturing.
All federal greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles and engines subsequent to the 2009 declaration will be rescinded, a source familiar with the situation said.
When it comes to the start-stop off-cycle technology, a credit for it was created by the EPA in 2012 and quickly infuriated motorists who hear their engine click off then on again at a stoplight or in the teller line at the bank.
The start-stop became a regulatory loophole allowing automakers to claim greenhouse gas credits without actually delivering empirical emission-reduction or human health benefits.
Among a bunch of other dumb regulations imposed in the name of climate change, President Trump is also ending a Biden-era rule that would have required Americans to purchase an electric car.
In all, getting rid of these nonsensical regulations will save each American over $3,000!
The New York Post has more details on the rules that are being terminated:
President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin unveiled what they called the biggest red tape removal in US history Thursday, axing a sweeping Obama-era anti-greenhouse gas policy and predicting it could save $1.3 trillion, or about $3,823.50 per US resident.
“Today, the Trump EPA has finalized the single largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States of America,” Zeldin said alongside Trump in the White House Roosevelt Room.
“Referred to by some as the holy grail of federal regulatory overreach, the 2009 Obama EPA endangerment finding is now eliminated.”
The repeal ends a policy allowing the feds to regulate fossil fuels by declaring them dangerous to public health.
The so-called “endangerment finding” allowed the EPA to measure and constrain the output of six greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act — including emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide by vehicles amd power plants.
Trump called the finding “a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers,” predicting they would save “trillions of dollars” as a result of Thursday’s action.
The president added that his administration was “terminating all additional green emission standards imposed unnecessarily on vehicle models and engines between 2012 and 2027 and beyond.”
Zeldin said the changes could lower car costs by an average of about $2,400.
A number of major regulations premised on the endangerment finding are now subject to repeal, including the Biden administration’s stringent fuel emissions standards, formalized in March 2024 and designed to ensure more than two-thirds of passenger cars and light trucks sold by 2032 are electric or hybrid vehicles.
Another Biden-era regulation, also announced in March 2024, sought to require that work trucks and tractors reduce carbon dioxide emissions by between 25% and 60%, depending on weight category, by 2032.
A second wave of power plant deregulation actions are expected to follow from the EPA.