EPA Announces 31 Historic Actions Publicized as “Greatest Day of Deregulation Our Nation Has Seen”

On March 12, 2025, EPA Administrator Zeldin announced that the agency will undertake 31 deregulatory actions to advance President Trump’s Day One executive orders and EPA’s “Powering the Great American Comeback.” Below is a list of the actions with hyperlinks that include background information and additional detail on the specific action:

UNLEASHING AMERICAN ENERGY  

• Reconsideration of regulations on power plants (Clean Power Plan 2.0)
• Reconsideration of air regulations throttling the oil and gas industry (OOOO b/c)
• Reconsideration of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards that improperly targeted coal-fired power plants (MATS)
• Reconsideration of mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program that imposed significant costs on the American energy supply (GHG Reporting Program)
• Reconsideration of water effluent limitations, guidelines and standards (ELG) for the Steam Electric Power Generating Industry to ensure low-cost electricity while protecting water resources (Steam Electric ELG)
• Reconsideration of wastewater regulations for oil and gas development to help unleash American energy (Oil and Gas ELG)
• Reconsideration of Biden-Harris Administration Risk Management Program rule that made America’s oil and natural gas refineries and chemical facilities less safe (Risk Management Program Rule) 

LOWERING THE COST OF LIVING FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES 

• Reconsideration of light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicle regulations that provided the foundation for the Biden-Harris electric vehicle mandate (Car GHG Rules)
• Reconsideration of the 2009 Endangerment Finding and regulations and actions that rely on that Finding (Endangerment Finding)
• Reconsideration of the technology transition rule that forces companies to use certain technologies that increased costs on food at grocery stores and semiconductor manufacturing (Technology Transition Rule)
• Reconsideration of Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards that shut down opportunities for American manufacturing and small businesses (PM 2.5 NAAQS)
• Reconsideration of multiple National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for American energy and manufacturing sectors (NESHAPs)
• Restructuring the Regional Haze Program that threatened the supply of affordable energy for American families (Regional Haze)
• Overhauling the Biden-Harris Administration’s “Social Cost of Carbon”
• Redirecting enforcement resources to EPA’s core mission, with the aim of relieving the economy of unnecessary bureaucratic burdens that drive up costs for American consumers (Enforcement Discretion)
• Terminating Biden’s Environmental Justice and DEI arms of EPA (EJ/DEI) 

ADVANCING COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM  

• Ending so-called “Good Neighbor Plan” which the Biden-Harris Administration used to expand federal rules to more states and sectors beyond the program’s traditional focus and led to the rejection of nearly all State Implementation Plans
• Working with states and tribes to resolve massive backlog with State Implementation Plans and Tribal Implementation Plans that the Biden-Harris Administration refused to resolve (SIPs/TIPs)
• Reconsideration of exceptional events rulemaking to work with states to prioritize the allowance of prescribed fires within State and Tribal Implementation Plans (Exceptional Events)
• Reconstituting the Science Advisory Board and the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (SAB/CASAC)
• Prioritizing the coal ash program to expedite state permit reviews and update coal ash regulations (CCR Rule)
• Utilizing enforcement discretion to further North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene 

Many of these actions target promulgated regulations, so any effort to revise them will be subject to the formal rulemaking process, including notice and comment periods, and will likely face legal challenges. Industry should remain alert for developments associated with these actions. Liskow will be monitoring and covering further actions regarding the new administration’s deregulatory push on Liskow’s The Louisiana Industrial Insights Hub. For more information on industry impacts and opportunities arising under the new administration, please contact Liskow attorneys Greg Johnson, Clare Bienvenu, and Colin North.