Maher Mourns Demise of EPA Regulations: 'I'm Not Surprised, I'm Angry'

Alex Christy
February 14th, 2026 11:30 AM

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HBO’s Bill Maher mourned the demise of the EPA’s endangerment finding on Friday’s episode of Real Time, declaring himself to be “not surprised, I’m angry” at the move he ridiculously compared to banning the Navy from being able to use ships.

Kicking off his panel discussion with MS NOW host Stephanie Ruhle and Trump 1.0 National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, Maher declared, “Well, I think I'm going to start tonight by saying elections have consequences because I want to talk about this EPA thing that is going on. I always thought when Trump first ran, the most damage he could possibly do would be the environment because he was always talking about what a hoax global warming was.”

 

 

Maher then got to the repeal of the endangerment finding, even if he got the regulation’s name wrong, “I mean, have sometimes they exaggerated? I don't think they did themselves any favors sometimes by predicting, like, 'Oh well, you know, we're going to hit past the tipping point if we don't do something by 2012,' and then we did and now—but it is still really happening, guys! It is not a hoax, okay! So here's what is going on. We had something called the engagement rule [sic] in 2009. This said the feds got to regulate fossil fuels because we believe they are a danger to public health.”

He then huffed, “Well, what happened yesterday? Trump ended government's legal authority to regulate basically what causes pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency cannot now protect against pollution. This is like the Navy can't use ships.”

That’s not quite right. The Endangerment Rule was the EPA granting itself the authority to regulate certain greenhouse acts under the Clean Air Act. Under the administration’s more narrow interpretation of the CAA, the EPA will still be able to regulate other pollutants that are explicitly mentioned in the statute, such as carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide.

Speaking of carbon monoxide, earlier in the show, during his monologue, Maher had a scientifically challenged moment of his own, “Doug Burgum, he’s the Interior Secretary, listen to this, the way they all line up behind this nonsense. He said CO2, carbon was never a pollutant. He said when we breathe, we admit CO2. Let's try this little experiment. Tonight when you get home, go in the garage, close the door, turn the car on, and let's see if carbon is a pollutant, okay?”

 

 

Car-emitted carbon monoxide is what kills you in an enclosed space, not carbon dioxide. Nevertheless, Ruhle interrupted, “Why are you surprised?” as Maher insisted that “I'm not surprised, I'm angry.”

Ruhle then saw an even greater conspiracy at work, “A year and a half ago during the campaign, the president invited a bunch of oil and gas executives to Mar-a-Lago and he said to them, “If you deliver me a billion dollars in campaign donations, I will pay you back in spades. And that is exactly what we're getting here. A huge win for oil, gas, and big coal. Promises kept, he could say.”

McMaster then got his turn and added some common sense to the discussion, “But what we were doing wasn't working anyway, really. What we do in the United States actually doesn't matter if China is building 40 coal-fired power plants a year.”

Instead of EPA regulations, he urged that “I think we should do is come together and work together on a market solution that actually works. Just like what happened with the fracking revolution, right? The largest reduction in man-made carbon emissions in history didn’t come from a government regulation, it came from cheap natural gas displacing coal. That, I think, plus nuclear fission that gets us off the path towards global warming and gets us cheaper energy.”

McMaster is correct. U.S. carbon emissions have steadily decreased over the years for reasons not related to the endangerment finding, while China’s have steadily increased. Those, unlike Maher’s car experiment, are facts.

Here is a transcript for the February 13 show:

HBO Real Time with Bill Maher

2/14/2026

10:11 PM ET

BILL MAHER: Guys, this is not made up, this is science. Doug Burgum, he’s the Interior Secretary, listen to this, the way they all line up behind this nonsense. He said CO2, carbon was never a pollutant. He said when we breathe, we admit CO2. Let's try this little experiment. Tonight when you get home, go in the garage, close the door, turn the car on, and let's see if carbon is a pollutant, okay?

…

BILL MAHER: Well, I think I'm going to start tonight by saying elections have consequences because I want to talk about this EPA thing that is going on. I always thought when Trump first ran, the most damage he could possibly do would be the environment because he was always talking about what a hoax global warming was.

And look, I mean, have sometimes they exaggerated? I don't think they did themselves any favors sometimes by predicting, like, "Oh well, you know, we're going to hit past the tipping point if we don't do something by 2012," and then we did and now—but it is still really happening, guys! It is not a hoax, okay! So here's what is going on. We had something called the engagement rule [sic] in 2009. This said the feds got to regulate fossil fuels because we believe they are a danger to public health.

Well, what happened yesterday? Trump ended government's legal authority to regulate basically what causes pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency cannot now protect against pollution. This is like the Navy can't use ships.

STEPHANIE RUHLE: Why are you surprised?

MAHER: I'm not surprised, I'm angry.

RUHLE: A year and a half ago during the campaign, the president invited a bunch of oil and gas executives to Mar-a-Lago and he said to them, “If you deliver me a billion dollars in campaign donations, I will pay you back in spades.”

And that is exactly what we're getting here. A huge win for oil, gas, and big coal. Promises kept, he could say.

H.R. MCMASTER: You know, Bill and Stephanie, you don’t need washed up generals to talk about climate science, you know, but I’m a believer that there—global warming is a real thing, right? Man-made carbon emissions are a problem. But what we were doing wasn't working anyway, really. What we do in the United States actually doesn't matter if China is building 40 coal-fired power plants a year.

So, what I think we should do is come together and work together on a market solution that actually works. Just like what happened with the fracking revolution, right? The largest reduction in man-made carbon emissions in history didn’t come from a government regulation, it came from cheap natural gas displacing coal. That, I think, plus nuclear fission, that gets us off the path towards global warming and gets us cheaper energy.

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