EPA plans to revisit numerous environmental, climate regulations

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced March 12 that it would revisit a number of environmental and climate regulations it says are burdensome and costly. The agency adds that the moves “represent the greatest and most consequential day of deregulation in the history of the United States” and will affect a number of U.S. industries, including waste and recycling and steel and aluminum production.

“While accomplishing EPA’s core mission of protecting the environment, the agency is committed to fulfilling President [Donald J.] Trump’s promise to unleash American energy, lower costs for Americans, revitalize the American auto industry, restore the rule of law and give power back to states to make their own decisions,” the agency says.  

NESHAPs

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that among the regulations the agency will reconsider are multiple National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) affecting a broad range of industrial sectors, including secondary and primary aluminum production, steel production, primary and secondary copper smelting and nonferrous foundries. He claims that in doing so, EPA will continue to ensure appropriate protections for human health and the environment based on Zeldin’s EPA calls “the best record possible.”

The Trump administration is considering a two-year compliance exemption via Section 112(i)(4) of the Clean Air Act for affected facilities while EPA goes through the rulemaking process.

“EPA is moving forward with the reconsideration of a number of air rules that cover nearly every sector of the American economy,” Zeldin says. “During this review, we will ensure the appropriate protections for human health and the environment based on the best record possible. Breathing clean air, living on clean land and drinking clean water are all shared goals, while we also do our part to usher in a golden age of American success.”

EPA initially will reconsider NESHAPs for integrated iron and steel manufacturing, rubber tire manufacturing, synthetic organic chemical manufacturing, commercial sterilizers for medical devices and spices, lime manufacturing, coke ovens, copper smelting and taconite ore processing. The agency says it also intends to evaluate other NESHAPs and New Source Performance Standards to determine whether they should be reconsidered. 

Good Neighbor Plan

Zeldin says the agency also will look into what he described as the “troubled” Good Neighbor Plan.

On March 15, 2023, the Biden EPA finalized its Good Neighbor Plan rule for 23 states to address interstate transport of air pollution that affects National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). In doing so, the Biden-Harris administration expanded the federal rules to more states and sectors beyond this program’s traditional focus on power plants and subsequently rejected 19 state implementation plans (SIPs) and partially rejected two. “This heavy-handed, one-size-fits-all, federal mandate was emblematic of a larger regulatory onslaught that guided agency action and rules. In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the rule, finding that it was likely unreasonable and irrational in key respects,” the Trump EPA says. 

In response to that ruling, the Biden EPA issued a third interim final rule Oct. 24 of last year, further temporarily amending the Good Neighbor Plan to administratively stay the effectiveness of its requirements for covered facilities in the remaining 11 states for which an administrative stay was not already implemented under the two previous interim final rules starting with the 2024 ozone season: California, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. In addition, the D.C. Circuit granted EPA a voluntary partial remand of the record of the Good Neighbor Plan to enable EPA to more fully respond to certain comments identified by the Supreme Court.

The Trump EPA has announced its commitment to advance cooperative federalism and work with states on SIPs that it says were rejected by the Biden-Harris administration. 

“States are our best partner to advance EPA’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment. The Trump administration is a responsive and willing partner in this effort to tackle the so-called ‘Good Neighbor Plan’ to advance cooperative federalism and improve air quality across the country,” Zeldin adds. 

The EPA says it is committed to working with states and tribes to resolve the backlog of SIPs and Tribal Implementation Plans (TIPs), adding that when the Biden administration left, 685 SIPs were unresolved, with 322 considered overdue. The Trump EPA says its goal is to clear this backlog as soon as possible. 

“The Biden administration’s focus on ideological pursuits instead of the agency’s core mission and statutory duties resulted in a delay of air quality improvement,” Zeldin says. “With more than 140 million Americans living in nonattainment areas around the country, cooperative federalism and clearing out the State Implementation Plan backlog will make significant strides to improving the air we breathe.”

Many states have raised concerns related to being punished for emissions outside the control of their state as well as the air quality monitors not being located in most logical locations, the Trump EPA says, adding that it will work assist states to ensure that air quality is protected while growing the economy—including development and expansion of semiconductor manufacturing and artificial intelligence. 

National Air Quality Standards for particulate matter

The agency also is revisiting the Biden PM2.5 NAAQS, which the EPA says has raised concerns from states across the country and served as a major obstacle to permitting.  

Feb. 7 of last year, the EPA set the level of the primary (health-based) annual PM_2.5 standard at 9 micrograms per cubic meter to provide what it said was increased public health protection, consistent with the available health science.

However, the Trump EPA says the U.S. has some of the lowest fine particulate matter levels in the world. Between 2000 and 2023, average PM_2.5 concentrations in the U.S. fell by 37 percent and average PM₁₀ concentrations fell by 36 percent. 

“All Americans deserve to breathe clean air while pursuing the American dream. Under President Trump, we will ensure air quality standards for particulate matter are protective of human health and the environment while we unleash the golden age of American prosperity,” Zeldin says.

Greenhouse gas reporting

The EPA also is reconsidering the mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), saying the GHGRP is not directly related to a potential regulation nor developed with that intention, unlike other mandatory information collected by EPA under the Clean Air Act.

Landfills, waste incinerators, refineries and a wide range of manufacturing facilities must submit data through this program.

“The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is another example of a bureaucratic government program that does not improve air quality,” Zeldin says. “Instead, it costs American businesses and manufacturing millions of dollars, hurting small businesses and the ability to achieve the American dream.”

Social cost of carbon measurements

Zeldin says the agency is revisiting the social cost of carbon calculation.

EPA and other federal agencies use estimates of the social cost of carbon to value the climate impacts of rulemakings. It is a measure, in dollars, of the long-term damage done by a ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in a given year. It also represents the value of damages avoided for an emission reduction.

“The Biden-Harris administration’s so-called ‘social cost of carbon’ measurement was used to advance their climate agenda in a way that imposed major costs,” Zeldin says.

However, that measurement predated the Biden-Harris administration, having first been used by the Obama administration in 2008.  

The “Unleashing American Energy” executive order directs EPA to “issue guidance to address these harmful and detrimental inadequacies, including consideration of eliminating the ‘social cost of carbon’ calculation from any Federal permitting or regulatory decision” within 60 days. The Executive Order states, “[t]he calculation of the ‘social cost of carbon’ is marked by logical deficiencies, a poor basis in empirical science, politicization and the absence of a foundation in legislation. Its abuse arbitrarily slows regulatory decisions and, by rendering the United States economy internationally uncompetitive, encourages a greater human impact on the environment by affording less efficient foreign energy producers a greater share of the global energy and natural resource market.”  

The U.S. is not the only country to use the social cost of carbon calculation. Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom do as well, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.

Waters of the United States Rule

Additionally, the EPA says it will work with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to review the definition of “waters of the United States.” The agencies will move quickly to ensure that a revised definition follows the law, reduces red tape, cuts overall permitting costs, and lowers the cost of doing business in communities across the country while protecting the nation’s navigable waters from pollution.

The definition of “waters of the United States” guides Clean Water Act implementation, including whether farmers, landowners and businesses must secure permits before they can pursue a project. It is critical that Americans know which waters are subject to federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act, the Trump EPA says.

Given the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, which stated that the Clean Water Act’s use of “waters” encompasses only those relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water forming streams, oceans, rivers and lakes, Zeldin says it’s time for the EPA to address this issue once and for all in a way that provides American farmers, landowners, businesses and states with clear and simplified direction. The Sackett decision also clarified that wetlands would only be covered when having a continuous surface connection to waterbodies that are “waters of the United States” in their own right.

“We want clean water for all Americans supported by clear and consistent rules for all states, farmers and small businesses,” Zeldin says. “The previous administration’s definition of ‘waters of the United States’ placed unfair burdens on the American people and drove up the cost of doing business.”

The EPA says it will start its review by obtaining input from stakeholders who were sidelined during the previous administration. The agency also will undertake a rulemaking process to revise the 2023 definition of “waters of the United States” with a focus on clarity, simplicity and improvements that will stand the test of time. While this rulemaking process proceeds, the EPA says will provide guidance to those states implementing the pre-2015 definition of “waters of the United States” to ensure consistency with the law of the land.

The electric vehicle mandate

The agency also will reconsider the Model Year 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles regulation and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles and is reevaluating the other parts of the Biden EPA’s “Clean Trucks Plan.” This includes the 2022 Heavy-Duty Nitrous Oxide (NOx) rule, that the Trump EPA says results in significant costs that will make the products our trucks deliver, like food and other household goods, more expensive.  

“The American auto industry has been hamstrung by the crushing regulatory regime of the last administration. As we reconsider nearly $1 trillion of regulatory costs, we will abide by the rule of law to protect consumer choice and the environment,” Zeldin says. 

Environmental Justice, DEI arms eliminated

The EPA also announced it would terminate the Biden-Harris administration’s Environmental Justice and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion arms of the agency, in line with Trump’s executive order “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.” EPA employees in these areas have been placed on administrative leave.  

“President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people,” Zeldin says. “Part of this mandate includes the elimination of forced discrimination programs. Under the Trump administration, EPA is affirming our commitment to serve every American with equal dignity and respect.

“Some believe that so-called ‘environmental justice’ is warranted to assist communities that have been left behind,” he continues. “This idea sounds good in theory and receives bipartisan support. But in reality, ‘environmental justice’ has been used primarily as an excuse to fund left-wing activists instead of actually spending those dollars to directly remediate environmental issues for those communities.”

Reactions issued

Within hours of the Zeldin EPA’s flurry of announcements, not-for-profit groups that tended to favor the Biden or Obama administration regulations being modified or rolled back expressed their opposition to the moves.

The California-based Sierra Club referred specifically to changes to interpretation and enforcement of the Clean Air Act. “In the decade and a half since EPA released the endangerment finding, the evidence has continued to amass regarding both the severity of the climate crisis and the direct role that greenhouse gas emissions play in driving that crisis,” writes the Sierra Club in a March 12 press release.

“Revoking this authority could also open the floodgates to litigation in state court against utilities and other high-emitting industries, a far more chaotic and costly process than simply allowing EPA to do its job under the Clean Air Act,” adds the group.

The Washington-based Environmental Protection Network (EPN) has expressed its concern regarding the EPA decision on Tuesday to terminate $20 billion in grants under the Inflation Reduction Act.

“The grants that the EPA moved to cancel are some of the most vital initiatives to help make communities safer, healthier and more prosperous,” says Matthew S. Tejada of EPN. “Trump’s EPA is taking us back to a time of unfettered pollution across the nation, leaving every American exposed to toxic chemicals, dirty air and contaminated water,” he adds.