On January 29, 2025, Susan Collins voted to confirm Lee Zeldin as EPA administrator. In February 2026 Zeldin's EPA rescinded the 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health, so that the agency no longer regulates GHG emissions from US vehicles, and in September 2026 it repealed the carbon limits on existing power plants.
In 2025 Collins voted to repeal the methane fee on oil and gas companies and to revoke California's clean-car and clean-truck standards, and in June 2026 she voted against restoring mercury limits on power plants. When Inside Climate News asked about the climate rollbacks in March 2026, Multiple attempts to reach Collins's office for this article were unsuccessful.
Susan Collins's Votes, Confirmations and Silence on Climate and Pollution
- Collins Voted to Confirm the EPA Administrator Who Repealed the Federal Climate Finding and Carbon Limits on Cars and Power Plants. On January 29, 2025, Susan Collins voted to confirm Lee Zeldin as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and he was confirmed 56 to 42. She later voted to confirm his deputy, David Fotouhi, on June 10, 2025. On Feb. 18, 2026, EPA published its rescission of the Endangerment Finding, the 2009 conclusion that greenhouse gases endanger health, together with all vehicle greenhouse gas standards, and in September 2026 it finalized a rule rescinding all greenhouse gas emission standards for existing fossil fuel-fired power plants, a sector that makes up roughly 25% of US total GHG emissions. The rescission is in force while a group of 24 states and a dozen of counties and cities filed a petition challenging it in court. Policy Integrity estimates the administration's rollbacks together put 3,299 Annual Premature Mortalities at Risk.
- Collins Voted to Repeal the Methane Fee on Oil and Gas Companies in February 2025. On February 27, 2025, Susan Collins voted yes on H.J.Res. 35, which repealed EPA's rule charging oil and gas companies for excess methane emissions, and it passed 52 to 47 and became law. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, and Policy Integrity lists the methane fee rule as fully repealed, with $236,000,000 a year in net benefits lost.
- Collins Voted to Revoke California's Clean-Car and Clean-Truck Standards in May 2025. On May 22, 2025, Susan Collins voted for three resolutions revoking the waivers that let California enforce its Advanced Clean Cars II, Advanced Clean Trucks and low-emission heavy truck rules, standards that 11 other states (plus the District of Columbia) have now also adopted for cars. The Senate acted although the Government Accountability Office and the Senate parliamentarian had said the waivers were not rules Congress could overturn this way, and California is challenging the move in court. California regulators had estimated the car rule's health benefits include a reduction of over 1,000 premature deaths, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.
- Collins Voted Against Restoring Mercury Limits on Power Plants in June 2026. On June 3, 2026, Susan Collins voted no on taking up a resolution to overturn EPA's repeal of the 2024 mercury and air toxics standards for coal- and oil-fired power plants. It failed 46 to 53. Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that ends up in the water and soil, where it builds up in fish; the full record is on the clean water page.
- Collins Voted Against Rehiring Fired Park, Forest and Wildlife Workers in February 2025. On February 20, 2025, Susan Collins voted no on a budget amendment relating to reinstating the fired Federal employees at the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management. It failed 48 to 52. The National Parks Conservation Association put full-time Park Service employment at 12,600, down 24 percent since the start of the Trump administration, by the end of 2025.
- Collins Voted to Confirm the Interior Secretary Who Halted Offshore Wind Projects. On January 30, 2025, Susan Collins voted to confirm Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior, and he was confirmed 80 to 17. His department issued a series of stop work orders that blocked construction of five large offshore wind projects until courts intervened, and struck deals paying developers more than $1.5 billion to abandon leases for offshore wind.
- Collins Voted to Confirm the Commerce Secretary Whose Weather and Climate Agency Lost a Fifth of Its Workforce. On February 18, 2025, Susan Collins voted to confirm Howard Lutnick as Secretary of Commerce, who oversees NOAA and the National Weather Service. In 2025 NOAA went through mass layoffs affecting roughly 20 percent of its workforce, and it said it will no longer be updating the Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database that counts the costliest storms, floods and fires.
- Collins Did Not Respond When Asked About the Climate Rollbacks in March 2026. Inside Climate News reported on March 25, 2026 that Susan Collins had not publicly opposed the EPA's move to repeal the endangerment finding or the blocks on permitted offshore wind projects in New England, and that its attempts to reach her office were unsuccessful, in a story published by Maine Morning Star. The repeal took effect when EPA published it in February 2026, and since then the agency no longer regulates GHG emissions from US vehicles.
What the Climate Rollbacks Under Susan Collins's Votes Mean for Maine
- Fuel and energy costs. Energy Innovation projects that the 2025 law and other federal energy policy changes will inflate Maine’s gasoline prices 16 percent in 2035 and cost Maine households more for energy; these are projections.
- Offshore wind research. In April 2025 the Energy Department suspended funding for a research project developing prototypes for floating offshore wind turbines at the University of Maine, part of the administration's actions against offshore wind.
- Solar for low-income families. Zeldin's EPA stripped Maine of a $62 million grant to help low income households access solar power in August 2025, and a judge vacated the termination in September 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions About Susan Collins on Climate and the environment
What is Susan Collins's record on climate and the environment under Trump?
Susan Collins voted to confirm EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, whose agency rescinded the endangerment finding and the federal carbon limits on vehicles and power plants. She voted to repeal the methane fee and to revoke California's clean-car standards, and against restoring mercury limits on power plants. When Maine advocates and Inside Climate News raised the rollbacks in March 2026, her office did not respond.
Did Susan Collins vote to repeal the methane fee?
Yes. Susan Collins voted on February 27, 2025 for H.J.Res. 35, which passed 52-47 and repealed EPA's methane fee rule, which charged oil and gas companies for methane emissions above set levels.
Is the EPA repeal of the climate endangerment finding in effect?
Yes. The rescission issued by Lee Zeldin's EPA, which Susan Collins voted to confirm, took effect when EPA published its rescission on February 18, 2026, and 24 states are challenging it in court. In Maine, advocates faulted Collins for not opposing it, Inside Climate News reported.
Last updated: 2026-10-25