Exclusive | Trump EPA begins rolling back Biden electric vehicle mandate in biggest day of deregulation in American history

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday began the process of rescinding vehicle fuel efficiency standards that Republicans deride as a de facto “electric vehicle mandate,” The Post has learned.An administration official said dozens of additional regulatory rollbacks loomed on what would be “the biggest day of deregulation in American history.”The EPA is beginning the process through the Administrative Procedures Act to re-evaluate policies enacted last year by the Biden administration to reduce emissions for light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles — estimating $700 billion in regulatory and compliance costs of the current rules.EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said “the American auto industry has been hamstrung by the crushing regulatory regime of the last administration.As we reconsider nearly one trillion dollars of regulatory costs, we will abide by the rule of law to protect consumer choice and the environment.”The Biden administration last March finalized a rule to require carmakers to dramatically reduce carbon emissions beginning for model year 2027 light and medium-sized vehicles.The Biden EPA said at the time that the rules require that by model year 2032 there be a “nearly 50% reduction in projected fleet average [greenhouse gas] emissions levels for light-duty vehicles and 44% reductions for medium-duty vehicles.”A similarly sweeping policy was unfurled for new trucks and tractors.Zeldin, a former Long Island Republican congressman, announced the moves one day after Trump publicly purchased a Tesla electric vehicle from the company’s CEO Elon Musk on the White House driveway.Trump campaigned on scrapping Biden’s fleet fuel efficiency rules by arguing that consumers should have the option of buying gasoline or diesel-fueled vehicles....