On March 25, 2026, Mike Collins introduced the Diesel Truck Liberation Act, which says no Federal law (including regulations and Executive orders) may require a manufacturer to install or maintain emissions controls on vehicles; EPA had found emissions controls removed from more than 550,000 diesel pickup trucks in a decade. In 2025 Collins voted to repeal the federal methane fee (roll call 52), to revoke California's clean-car and clean-truck standards, to overturn federal land plans that limited coal leasing in Montana and Wyoming and to reopen the Arctic refuge's Coastal Plain to oil leasing, and in January 2026 to end a mining ban upstream of Minnesota's Boundary Waters.
Collins voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (roll call 190), which ended the clean-energy tax credits he had mocked at a 2023 hearing in Georgia. Energy researchers project the federal changes will raise Georgia's gasoline prices 16 percent in 2035.
Mike Collins's Bills, Votes and Statements on Climate, Clean Air and Public Lands
- Collins Wrote a Bill to End Federal Requirements for Emissions Controls on Cars and Trucks, in March 2026. On March 25, 2026, Mike Collins introduced H.R. 8079, the Diesel Truck Liberation Act (bill text), which says no Federal law (including regulations and Executive orders) may require a manufacturer to install or maintain an emissions control device on any motor vehicle or engine, bars EPA from enforcing such requirements, and provides that for past tampering cases any criminal penalty of imprisonment shall be vacated. His office described it as Stopping federal agencies from requiring manufacturers to install or maintain emissions control devices. The bill is in committee and is not law. The bill would remove the rules behind EPA's enforcement against tampering; in 2020 its Air Enforcement Division estimated that the emissions controls have been removed from more than 550,000 diesel pickup trucks in a decade, which will put more than 570,000 tons of excess oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and 5,000 tons of particulate matter into the air over those trucks' lifetimes, an air quality impact equivalent to adding more than 9 million additional compliant diesel pickups to the roads.
- Collins Voted for the Law That Ended Clean-Energy Credits, Repealed the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and Delayed the Methane Fee to 2034, in July 2025. On July 3, 2025, Collins voted yes as the House passed the final One Big Beautiful Bill Act 218 to 214, after voting for the House version in May, which passed 215 to 214, so it would have failed without his vote. The law ended clean-energy tax credits, carried out a REPEAL OF GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION FUND and moved the start of the methane fee on oil and gas companies to 2034. Rhodium Group now projects that the U.S. is on pace to reduce emissions 27-44 percent below 2005 levels by 2035, down from its earlier projection of 38-56 percent by 2035, Scientific American reported.
- Collins Voted to Repeal the Methane Fee on Oil and Gas Companies in February 2025. On February 26, 2025, Collins voted yes on H.J.Res. 35, which repealed EPA's rule carrying out the fee on methane emissions from oil and gas facilities; it passed the House 220 to 206 and became law. The Institute for Policy Integrity lists the rule as Methane Fee Rule Fully Repealed, with $236 million a year in net benefits lost, in its 2026 tracker.
- Collins Voted to Revoke California's Clean-Car and Clean-Truck Standards That 11 Other States Had Adopted, in 2025. On April 30 and May 1, 2025, Collins voted to revoke the federal waivers for California's Advanced Clean Trucks and Advanced Clean Cars II standards; both resolutions became law, a move California has challenged in court. The clean-car rule had been adopted by 11 other states (plus the District of Columbia), and California regulators had estimated its health benefits would include a reduction of over 1,000 premature deaths, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group.
- Collins Voted to Open the Arctic Refuge and Western Coal Lands to Leasing in 2025, Once by a Deciding Vote. In September and November 2025, Collins voted for resolutions overturning federal land plans for the Arctic refuge's Coastal Plain, the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, and coal lands near Miles City, Montana and Buffalo, Wyoming; the Buffalo resolution passed 214 to 212, a margin at which a switch by him alone would have tied the vote, and a tie fails. The Interior Department then opened the 1.56 million acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas leasing, in land that is habitat for Porcupine caribou, denning polar bears. The Miles City plan had been one in which, in 2024, the Miles City Field Office decided to stop selling new coal leases.
- Collins Voted to End a 20-Year Mining Ban Upstream of Minnesota's Boundary Waters in January 2026. On January 21, 2026, Collins voted yes on H.J.Res. 140, which passed the House 214 to 208 and nullified the withdrawal of 225,504 acres of Superior National Forest lands from mineral and geothermal leasing upstream of the Boundary Waters. In a December 2025 Impact Research poll, Minnesota voters opposed sulfide-ore copper mining in the Boundary Waters watershed 23% favor / 57% oppose.
- Collins Mocked the Clean-Energy Incentives at a 2023 Hearing Held to Push for Their Repeal. At an April 2023 House Ways and Means Committee field hearing in Peachtree City, Georgia, held as Republicans pressed to roll back green energy tax incentives, Mike Collins mocked the clean energy incentives at the hearing, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The repeal he backed came in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which ended credits for any applicable facility placed in service after December 31, 2027 unless construction started within a year of enactment.
What the Climate Rollbacks Mike Collins Backed Mean for Georgia
- Gasoline prices (projection). Energy Innovation projects that cutting federal policies that drive cleaner, more efficient vehicles, including the Congressional Review Act resolutions overturning approvals for state-level tailpipe emissions standards that Collins voted for, will raise Georgia's gasoline prices 16 percent in 2035 and 30 percent in 2040.
- Georgia economy (projection). The same Energy Innovation analysis of the law and other federal energy policy changes projects Georgia's economy losing output, peaking at a $5.1 billion net loss in 2037.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mike Collins on Climate and the environment
What is Mike Collins's record on climate and the environment under Trump?
Mike Collins introduced the Diesel Truck Liberation Act in March 2026, which would end federal requirements for emissions controls on vehicles. He voted in 2025 to repeal the methane fee and to revoke California's clean-car and clean-truck standards, for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which ended clean-energy tax credits, and to reopen the Arctic refuge's Coastal Plain and western coal lands to leasing. In January 2026 he voted to end the Boundary Waters mining ban.
What is the Diesel Truck Liberation Act that Mike Collins wrote?
Mike Collins's Diesel Truck Liberation Act, H.R. 8079, would bar any federal law from requiring manufacturers to install or maintain emissions control devices on vehicles, bar EPA from enforcing such rules, and vacate any criminal penalty of imprisonment for past tampering. His office announced it on March 26, 2026, and it is in committee.
Did Mike Collins vote to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling?
Yes. Mike Collins voted on November 18, 2025 for H.J.Res. 131, which passed 217 to 209 and overturned the land plan for the refuge's Coastal Plain. The federal government then reopened the Coastal Plain to oil and gas leasing, according to Harvard's Environmental and Energy Law Program.
Did Mike Collins want to repeal the clean-energy tax credits?
Yes. Mike Collins mocked the Inflation Reduction Act's clean-energy incentives at an April 2023 congressional field hearing in Georgia called to push for their repeal, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and on July 3, 2025 he voted for the law that ended them.
Last updated: 2026-10-25