Key Takeaways

• The EPA has announced 31 proposed actions to roll back regulations on industrial facilities, potentially impacting climate change efforts.
• Key changes include revoking the “endangerment finding” and the “social cost of carbon” calculation, and revisiting mandatory reporting requirements for greenhouse gas emissions.
• The agency plans to revise its enforcement priorities and modify the “waters of the United States” rule to reduce permitting costs.

Overview of Recent EPA Actions

On Wednesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled a significant initiative, proposing 31 actions aimed at deregulating rules affecting numerous industrial facilities, including waste and recycling operations. This move is projected to “roll back trillions in regulatory costs,” as the agency seeks to enhance states’ authority over environmental regulations. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin described the day as the “greatest day of deregulation” that aims to reduce living costs, boost American energy, and revitalize job markets.

Many of the proposed actions target climate change regulations established over the last decade. Among the most notable is the potential repeal of the “endangerment finding” from 2009, which qualifies greenhouse gas emissions as a threat to public health, thus requiring regulation under the Clean Air Act. This finding has been pivotal in shaping the EPA’s climate policies since then.

The EPA has also indicated its intention to eliminate the “social cost of carbon” metric, a calculation that assigns a monetary value to the damage caused by carbon emissions. Initially set at $42 per ton during the Obama administration, the Trump administration reduced it to below $5, but the Biden administration later increased it to $190 per ton. The current proposal is to remove this calculation’s influence on federal permitting and regulatory decisions.

Additional modifications will focus on the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, which mandates reporting from over 8,000 significant emitters such as power plants and landfills. The EPA announced plans to reassess these reporting requirements, which could lead to reduced oversight of greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources.

Beyond climate measures, the EPA’s initiatives also aim to loosen pollution restrictions across various sectors. Among the proposed changes is the rollback of vehicle emissions standards and the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, in addition to revisiting coal ash regulations and compliance deadlines.

As part of its reorganization, the agency will disband its environmental justice and diversity initiatives, which previously focused on addressing inequities in environmental enforcement. The EPA intends to shift its enforcement priorities back to a broader focus on health and safety issues, moving away from approaches that may consider socioeconomic factors in regulatory enforcement.

Moreover, the EPA announced its collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to modify the “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, which governs protections for wetlands and certain water bodies. Stricter interpretations of this rule by the Supreme Court earlier in 2023 created potential avenues for simplifying permits for facilities near water bodies, and the EPA will seek to reflect these judicial decisions in its future regulations.

The initiative has raised concerns about the potential for legal challenges, given the sweeping nature of the regulatory rollbacks aimed at countering previous administrations’ climate policies. As the EPA moves forward, it faces scrutiny over the implications for public health, environmental protection, and climate change efforts across the United States.

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