An exhaust pipe is shown on top of a truck traveling on Interstate 35 on July 30, 2025 in Austin, Texas. The EPA is proposing changes to rules that limit dangerous pollution from heavy trucks. Brandon Bell/Getty Images North America hide title toggle title Brandon Bell/Getty Images North America Stay up to date with our
An exhaust pipe is shown on top of a truck traveling on Interstate 35 on July 30, 2025 in Austin, Texas. The EPA is proposing changes to rules that limit dangerous pollution from heavy trucks.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images North America
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Brandon Bell/Getty Images North America
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The Trump administration is proposing changes to what it calls “unnecessary and unworkable” Biden-era environmental rules designed to reduce pollution from heavy vehicles, including buses and large trucks.
The proposal, part of a series of deregulatory actions by the Trump administration that have rolled back emissions standards for new vehicles, includes changes that are welcomed by trucking organizations and denounced by environmental groups.
Specifically, the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal would reduce and postpone two provisions designed to ensure that emissions reduction technology continues to work while a vehicle is in use; one related to warranties, and another related to the useful life of the emissions technology.
Additionally, the current set of rules requires truck engines to automatically run at reduced power if their emissions reduction systems are not working, which truckers and other heavy vehicle operators have called disruptive. The EPA proposes eliminating that requirement entirely and replacing it with an alert for drivers.
According to the EPA analysis, the changes would save the trucking industry between $4,130 and $6,152 per affected diesel engine. Compared to current emissions standards, the change would increase ozone-forming nitrogen oxide pollution from heavy trucks by 4.2% in 2030 and 11.6% by 2055.
The EPA did not model the resulting effect on air quality or human health, but noted that the modifications would likely reduce the benefits of previous rule changes in 2023.
He proposal It is now open for a period of public comment.
“If finalized, these changes will help manufacturers continue to improve their vehicles without being forced to rush products to market before they are ready,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement, adding that the rule changes “will alleviate real burdens on operators.”
Kelly Loeffler, who heads the U.S. Small Business Administration, wrote that the rule change would ease “onerous diesel regulations on behalf of farmers, truckers and small business owners who were crushed by unworkable lawsuits from environmental activists that turned into costly mandates.”
The American Teamsters Association had called for rule changes, writing in february that Biden-era policies would require “a premature launch of commercial motor vehicles with unproven engine technologies on our roads.” The group specifically asked the agency to allow truck makers to pay fines instead of complying with the rules as long as they were working on developing compliant engines, an option the EPA included in the proposal.
Environmental groups criticized the proposed changes, citing concerns about the health dangers of the emissions. “Clean truck standards save lives,” Katherine Garcia, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, wrote in a statement emailed to NPR. “Weakening them would mean more toxic pollution in the air and more families would pay the price with their health.
The Environmental Defense Fund noted that while heavy trucks make up only 5% of vehicles on American roads, they are the largest source of “pollutants that cause asthma attacks, bronchitis, heart attacks, strokes and preventable deaths,” and argued that truck manufacturers are already able to comply with Biden-era rules.
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