EPA announces "most consequential day of deregulation in American history": 31 rules targeted (March 12, 2025 )
March 12, 2025 — EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced plans to roll back 31 federal environmental regulations in a single day, calling it "the most consequential day of deregulation in American history." The package targeted Biden-era rules across nearly every domain of the agency's mission: emissions limits for power plants, greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks, Clean Water Act protections for wetlands and waterways, coal ash disposal rules, wastewater regulations, and air quality standards. Zeldin simultaneously announced the EPA would move to overturn the 2009 endangerment finding — the scientific and legal cornerstone of all federal greenhouse gas regulation.
The rollbacks were designed to align with Trump's executive orders directing EPA to abandon climate-related regulations and prioritize fossil fuel production. The power and transportation sectors together account for roughly half of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making the targeted rules central to any federal climate policy. Analysts at the Center for American Progress noted that rolling back vehicle emission standards alone would cost Americans an additional $46 billion per year in fuel costs while adding $13 billion annually in health costs, including premature deaths from air pollution.
"What they came in with wasn't a road map, it was a wrecking ball," said the executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies. EPA's clean air standards — including the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter — had been projected to prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths and 800,000 cases of asthma symptoms annually by 2032. Environmental and public health groups immediately pledged legal challenges across multiple fronts.
| https://www.yahoo.com/news/epa-moves-unwind-over-two-175929288.html |