United States President Donald Trump has pardoned 11 people, including nine convicted of violating the Clean Air Act by tampering with or disabling federally mandated emissions control systems on diesel trucks.
The clemency comes months after the Trump administration rolled back major environmental protections, including repealing the scientific finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and scrapping federal tailpipe emissions standards for cars and trucks.
According to the White House, all but two of the recipients were convicted of offences linked to vehicle emissions regulations.
Most were found guilty of modifying or removing federally required emissions control equipment or selling aftermarket devices designed to bypass pollution controls practices prohibited under US environmental law.
Defending the decision in a post on Truth Social, Trump argued that several of those pardoned had been unfairly prosecuted under former President Joe Biden.
“It is my Great Honor to have just signed Pardons for six people who were persecuted by the Biden Administration, and were in, or being sent to, prison, for ‘fixing their car.’ I am setting them all free, right now!” Trump wrote.
The White House said the pardons were intended to ease what it described as burdensome emissions regulations, arguing that some recipients modified vehicles in good faith to help customers avoid costly emissions-related repairs.
It also characterised those granted clemency as victims of the previous administration’s “wrongful and unnecessary regulations on emissions controls.”
Among those pardoned are Joshua Davis, Matt Geouge, Jonathan Achtemeier, Tim Clancy, Ryan Lalone, Wade Lalone, Barry Pierce, Aaron Rudolf and Mackenzie Spurlock.
Ryan and Wade Lalone had pleaded guilty after operating a business that sold aftermarket modifications for semi-truck emissions control systems. The White House said their business sought to reduce repair costs associated with federal emissions requirements.
The latest pardons add to a series of environmental policy reversals under Trump’s second administration.
In February, the administration revoked the long-standing scientific determination that greenhouse gas emissions pose a threat to public health a finding that serves as the legal foundation for many federal climate regulations.
It also eliminated federal tailpipe emissions standards for passenger vehicles and trucks.
Trump also granted pardons to businessman Adam Kidan, who served prison time after being convicted of wire fraud alongside former lobbyist Jack Abramoff in 2006, and Jack Harvard, the former mayor of Plano, Texas, who was convicted of bank fraud in the 1990s.
