Demand strong clean car standards

20,000

Supporters spoke up in this action

Delivery to EPA Administrator Michael Regan

Action ended on September 28, 2022

What Happens Next

Thank you to all who took action! We’re grateful for your support.

What Was At Stake

After years of litigation, the Environmental Protection Agency restored and strengthened clean car standards for model years 2023 through 2026. The final standards are a strong step in the right direction, both undoing the damage of the previous administration and eclipsing the ambition of the Obama administration’s standards. The EPA didn’t do this on its own — it took dedicated advocacy from a coalition of environmental, health, faith, and consumer organizations that pushed the agency to go further than its earlier plans.

Transportation is the largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S. and vehicle emissions pose a major threat to people’s health — especially in low-income communities and communities of color. Clean car standards are a critical tool to tackle the climate crisis and reduce dangerous air pollution in communities.

President Biden committed to bold action on climate and environmental justice, and the EPA met the moment with the near-term standards. That said, the work is just beginning. The EPA will soon begin work on the standards for model years 2027 through 2035, and we need the strongest possible standards to put the U.S. on a path to an all-electric, zero-emissions transportation future — and to meet President Biden’s goal of cutting climate pollution in half by 2030.

Cleaner cars are a win for the environment, public health, and our economy. Strong standards will reduce our dependence on oil, save drivers billions at the pump, and prevent thousands of premature deaths and billions in health care costs every year. They will drive innovation in the auto industry and create jobs building technology that cuts pollution.

We need you in this fight. Take a moment to thank the EPA for acting and call on it to accelerate its work on long-term standards that eliminate emissions from new cars and light-duty trucks by 2035.

Photo from the perspective of a backseat passenger in an electric car driving through Holland Tunnel in New York City.
An electric car drives through a tunnel. (Mecky / Getty Images)

Your Actions Matter

Your messages make a difference, even if we have leaders who don't want to listen. Here's why.

You level the playing field.

Elected officials pay attention when they see that we are paying attention. Read more.

They may be hearing from industry lobbyists left and right, but hearing the stories of their constituents — that’s your power.

Our legislators serve at the pleasure of the people who gave them their job — you.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. When you contact your elected official, you’re putting a face and a name on an issue.

Whether or not you voted for them, they work for you, for the duration of their term.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. (Find your local, state, and federal elected officials.)

Your action is with us in court.

If a federal agency finalizes a harmful action, the record of public comments provides a basis for bringing them into court. Read more.

Throughout each of the public comment periods we alert you to, Earthjustice’s attorneys are researching and writing in-depth, technical comments to submit — detailing how the regulation could and should be stronger to protect the environment, our communities, and our planet.

We need you to join us — your specific experiences, knowledge, and voice are crucial to add to the Administrative Record through the comment periods.

Lawsuits we file that challenge weak or harmful federal regulations rely on what was submitted during the comment period. The court can only look at documents that are in the Administrative Record — including the public comments — to decide if the agency did something improper.

Your actions aid our litigation. Taking action and submitting comments during a comment period is substantively important.

It’s the law.

Federal agencies must pause what they’re doing and ask for — and consider — your comment. Read more.

Many of us may have never heard of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), but laws like these require our government to ask the public to weigh in before agencies adopt or change regulations.

Regulations essentially describe how federal agencies will carry out laws — including decisions that could undermine science, or weaken safeguards on public health.

Public comments are collected at various points throughout the federal government’s rulemaking process, including when a regulation is proposed and finalized. (Learn about the rulemaking process.) These comments become part of the official, legal public record — the “Administrative Record.”

When the public responds with a huge outpouring of support for environmental protections, these individual messages collectively undercut politicians' attempts to claim otherwise.

What this means is each of us can take a role in shaping the rules our government creates — and ensuring those rules are fair and effective.