The Trump administration aims to kill decades-old federal programs designed to reduce diesel fuel use and the detrimental health effects linked to it.
The GOP megabill that passed Congress last week nixes millions of dollars from an EPA grant program that swaps out diesel from school buses, government vehicles, delivery trucks and other fleets. President Donald Trump is also asking Congress to zero out the program in fiscal 2026 — along with a Department of Energy grant program to transition a wide variety of fleets away from gasoline and diesel.
Traditional diesel is known as one of the dirtiest fossil fuels. Its emissions — which include particulate matter, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides — cause asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
Both the EPA and DOE programs have traditionally boasted bipartisan support. Michael Staley, president of the Alabama Clean Fuels Coalition and a former Republican staffer on Capitol Hill, said DOE’s Clean Cities and Communities program is a boon for Alabama.
“This 32-year-old Clean Cities program has weathered multiple administrations,” Staley said. “This is unleashing American energy. This is what President Trump should be all about and what he says he is about.”
Alabama is home to a variety of clean vehicle factories. Mercedes-Benz produces electric vehicles in Tuscaloosa and batteries nearby. Autocar produces heavy-duty clean trucks in Pinson. And New Flyer churns out clean transit vehicles in Anniston.
Broadly, the Deep South is an emerging hub of EV supply chain manufacturing.
“We want smart deployments of electric vehicles and propane and biofuels and natural gas,” Staley said. “We care about economic development; we care about clean air; we care about reduced emissions. And that all does matter for economic development.”
But the Trump administration has taken an ax to federal initiatives that aim to cut pollution — including those that clean up the U.S. transportation sector. On top of the funding cuts to EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act program, the GOP budget bill nixes a tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles. Federal officials are also blocking funding for EV charging stations.
Clean energy and public health officials say the funding cuts put Americans at risk.
“We’re for making sure that public health is protected in the transportation sector,” said Antoine Thompson, CEO and executive director of the Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition. “Hopefully that will resonate with folks, and we can get the funding that is important to communities all over America.”
Thompson’s group is part of a network of coalitions that make up the Clean Cities and Communities program, which provides grants to local partners throughout the U.S. to transition from diesel- and gasoline-powered fleets to lower-emission options like electric vehicles, biodiesel and propane.
Congressional committees recommended DOE distribute $65 million to the Clean Cities program this year, with $20 million for the network of coalitions and $40 million for competitive grants.
But coalition officials say the money was never disbursed.
“April 1 is when our work plan was set to begin. We all have notes that this is approved,” said Alleyn Harned, executive director of Virginia Clean Cities and president of the Transportation Energy Partnership, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of the Clean Cities coalitions. “And then the contracts never came.”
Harned and others said the funding disruption is causing coalitions to reduce work hours and cut programs. DOE’s fiscal 2026 budget request urges Congress to “wind down Federal activities that support Clean Cities and Communities Coalitions.”
For now, DOE officials say the Clean Cities program is under review.
“The Department is conducting a department-wide review to ensure all activities follow the law, comply with applicable court orders and align with the Trump administration’s priorities,” DOE spokesperson Ben Dietderich said. “The Department of Energy is hard at work to deliver on President Trump’s promise to restore affordable, reliable and secure energy to the American people.”
Propane and biofuels
EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act program, which was created in 2005, is also in the Trump administration’s crosshairs.
It’s funded at $90 million this year, according to EPA’s fiscal 2026 budget request. But the proposal lists DERA among “a number of redundant programs or programs that encourage federal overreach.” The budget asks Congress to ax all DERA funding.
An EPA spokesperson declined to comment on questions from POLITICO’s E&E News, only saying that the agency is making sure the megabill — titled the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act — is “fully implemented.”
Both the Clean Cities and DERA programs have boosted EVs and other alternative fuels like propane, which DOE says is cleaner than gasoline and diesel. Propane is typically produced from natural gas liquids.
The propane industry says the fuel is critical for decarbonization.
“Propane not only has the ability to be tremendously relevant in this energy transformation, it’s proving that way now,” said Tucker Perkins, president of the Propane Education and Research Council, an industry-funded nonprofit. “I firmly believe that there is a better way, and diesel is not the fuel of the future.”
Propane production has increased dramatically in recent years. The sector has worked with Clean Cities for decades, according to Perkins, who said the coalitions have been “at the forefront of talking to fleets and increasing awareness of alternatives to diesel and gasoline.”
Some red states, including Texas, have diesel reduction programs, which promote fuels like propane and biodiesel. Biodiesel is made from vegetable and cooking oils, grease, and animal fats. DOE says biodiesel produces 74 percent less emissions than traditional diesel.
Paul Winters, a spokesperson for the Clean Fuels Alliance America, said biodiesel can help meet rising levels of energy demand in the U.S.
“Our industry has a lot of capacity that we’re trying to ramp up and get online to meet that demand,” he said. “The DERA program and partnerships with Clean Cities have been very important in building those markets for the fuel.”
Winters applauded the Trump EPA for mandating more biodiesel in the agency’s renewable fuel standard. But the administration’s attack on the Clean Cities and DERA programs is likely to throttle growth in alternative fuel markets, experts say.
“A lot of this stuff has been caught up in the political discourse,” said Thompson of the Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition. “At the end of the day, people care about reducing pollution. Everyone wants to breathe clean air.”
