On March 12, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency will be undertaking a series of 31 significant actions to roll back environmental regulations related to climate change, the energy industry, and electric vehicles.¹ Under the Trump administration, EPA’s focus has shifted to decreasing the economic burden of environmental regulations on American consumers and businesses, such as the energy and auto industries. Specifically, the EPA’s series of actions seek to accomplish three objectives, consistent with the executive orders that President Trump issued in his first weeks in office:

• (1) “Unleashing American Energy”
  • To accomplish this objective, the EPA will, among other things:
    • Reconsider various regulations that apply to fossil fuel-fired power plants, oil and gas facilities, and refineries, including notably, the Biden administration’s greenhouse gas regulation for power plants.
• (2) “Lowering the Cost of Living for American Families”
  • To accomplish this objective, the EPA will, among other things:
    • Reconsider vehicle regulations that provided the foundation for the “Biden-Harris electric vehicle mandate;”
    • Reconsider national ambient air quality standards for PM 2.5 and standards for industrial air pollutants;
    • Reconsider the EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding; and
    • Terminate the Environmental Justice and “DEI” initiatives of the EPA.
• 3) “Advancing Cooperative Federalism”
  • To accomplish this objective, the EPA will, among other acts:
    • End the Good Neighbor Plan, which focuses on cross-state air pollution from certain industries;
    • Address the backlog of State Implementation Plan submittals to the EPA; and
    • Utilize agency discretion to further North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene.

Of particular note is the EPA’s reconsideration of its 2009 Endangerment Finding. The Endangerment Finding is the EPA’s determination issued in response to the seminal U.S. Supreme Court case, Massachusetts v. EPA, that the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere endangers public health and welfare. The Endangerment Finding requires the EPA to take action under the Clean Air Act to limit greenhouse gas emissions to protect human health. Upending the Endangerment Finding could significantly alter the EPA’s approach and legal basis for regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and any changes to the Endangerment Finding are certain to be litigated.

Although the EPA outlines three objectives in its series of actions, the agency’s messaging focuses on reducing the economic impacts of environmental regulations on American consumers. Administrator Zeldin notes that the EPA’s actions will make it “more affordable to purchase a car, heat homes, and operate a business.” The EPA further states that this series of actions “will roll back trillions in regulatory costs and hidden ‘taxes’ on U.S. families.” It is important to note that the EPA’s proposed actions do not yet carry legal weight or provide parameters on the agency’s “reconsideration” of rules and regulations. Many of the agency’s proposed actions will be subject to rulemaking procedures which involve a public comment period, and can take several years.

For more information on the EPA’s planned deregulatory actions, please contact a member of Taft’s Environmental practice group.

¹ Press Release, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Launches Biggest Deregulatory Action in U.S. History (March 12, 2025), available at https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-launches-biggest-deregulatory-action-us-history.