On March 12th, newly appointed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency would be entering into the “greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen.”^[1] Zeldin, a recently confirmed Trump Administration nominee, stated that the EPA would reconsider 31 current regulations in an effort to lower the cost of living and fulfill the promises of revitalizing the American auto-industry.^[2] Zeldin assured that the rollbacks will not only create new American jobs, but will cut back on trillions of dollars in regulatory costs.^[3] The EPA expressly noted that the reconsideration is aimed at “Biden and Obama era regulations,” which the current administration believes to have “suffocated nearly every sector of the American economy.”^[4]

The 31 regulations which the EPA announced it will reconsider are split into three different categories: (1) Unleashing American Energy, (2) Lowering the Cost of Living for American Families, and (3) Advancing Cooperative Federalism.^[5] Some of the regulations in the category of “Unleashing American Energy” include regulations on power plants, regulations “throttling the oil and gas industry,” mandatory greenhouse gas reporting programs, and reconsideration of the Biden Administration Risk Management Program Rule aimed at oil and natural gas refineries.^[6] Regulations within the category of “Lowering the Cost of Living for American Families” include vehicle regulations that provided the foundation for the Biden Administration’s electric vehicle mandate and multiple national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants from the energy and manufacturing sectors.^[7] Further, the agency announced it is moving forward with the outright termination of the Biden Environmental Justice and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion arms of the EPA.^[8] The rollbacks also look to reconstitute the Science Advisory Board and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee under the category of “Advancing Cooperative Federalism.”^[9]

While the EPA and Zeldin’s announcement does not explicitly claim that the agency will eliminate every regulation they discuss, there is a fear that the new administration aims to substantially cut back on decades of prior EPA regulation. It is hard to ignore this concern, as Zeldin himself claims the agency is, “driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s golden age.”^[10] Multiple Democratic politicians have condemned the words of Zeldin and have accused the agency of “abandoning the EPA’s responsibility to protect the environment.”^[11] Strikingly, a former Obama Administration EPA administrator called Zeldin’s rollbacks the “most disastrous day in EPA history.”^[12] Worth noting, however, the New York Times emphasizes that the announcements do not carry the weight of law and that the EPA would have to carry out a long process, including public comments, to fully enact the changes.^[13]

While the pushback and criticism from Democratic lawmakers has been forceful, many Republican lawmakers have come out in support of Administrator Zeldin’s plans.^[14] Senate Minority Leader John Thune, from South Dakota, praised Zeldin’s efforts and insisted that the removal of Biden Administration regulations will help to reduce energy costs.^[15] With Zeldin’s declaration that EPA’s reconsiderations are an effort to revitalize the American economy and auto-industry, the question becomes whether or not the current EPA is properly fulfilling its duty.

The EPA’s own website describes its mission as to, “protect human health and the environment.”^[16] By engaging in this new wave of deregulation with an emphasis on reconsidering regulations on the oil and gas industry, it will be interesting to see how the EPA will work to further its mission of environmental protection. As Zeldin’s plans were just recently unveiled this past week, we will have to wait and see whether the EPA’s new goals will serve to further the agency’s stated purpose of environmental protection.

Ultimately, the EPA is overseen by the Executive Branch, yet there are some other routes that can be taken to help push back on the EPA’s action and inaction. While the Agency’s new actions carry out the current position of the Trump Administration, the EPA’s actions can be reviewed by the Judicial Branch. Interestingly, the overturning of the Chevron doctrine, a long-standing Supreme Court doctrine which granted deference to agency action in the absence of direct Congressional approval on a given matter, may play an interesting role in contesting EPA action in the near future. Ironically, the case which overturned the Chevron doctrine, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, was decided on party lines with the Democratic party appointees voting in dissent.^[17] It will be fascinating to see if the Loper Bright decision will be used as a way to combat actions taken by Zeldin’s EPA moving forward.

 

 

[1] EPA Launches Biggest Deregulatory Action in U.S. History, U.S. Env’t Prot. Agency (March 12, 2025), https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-launches-biggest-deregulatory-action-us-history.

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Id.

[7] Id.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] Id.

[11] Lisa Friedman & Hiroko Tabuchi, E.P.A. Targets Dozens of Environmental Rules as It Reframes Its Purpose, N.Y. Times (March 12, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/climate/epa-zeldin-rollbacks-pollution.html.

[12] Ellie Borst, ‘Most Disastrous Day in EPA History’: Ex-Administrators Slam Deregulatory Blitz, E&E News by POLITICO (March 14, 2025, 4:28 PM), https://www.eenews.net/articles/most-disastrous-day-in-epa-history-ex-administrators-slam-deregulatory-blitz/.

[13] Friedman & Tabuchi, supra note 11.

[14] WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: Leaders Applaud EPA’s Historic Deregulatory Actions to Power the Great American Comeback, U.S. Env’t Prot. Agency (March 14, 2025), https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/what-they-are-saying-leaders-applaud-epas-historic-deregulatory-actions-power-great.

[15] Id.

[16] Our Mission and What We Do, U.S. Env’t Prot. Agency, https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/our-mission-and-what-we-do (last updated Feb. 28, 2025).

[17] Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369 (2024).