Blizzard of EPA actions targets climate and air programs
Zeldin in February. Photo: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The EPA said Wednesday it will reconsider a 16-year-old conclusion allowing it to regulate greenhouse gases and revisit how those pollutants' costs factor into rule-making.
Why it matters: Announcements targeting the endangerment finding and social cost of carbon were among 31 separate actions announced to roll back regulations.
- EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called it "the greatest and most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history."
The big picture: The slashing of climate rules was widely expected, and is keeping with the "shock and awe" strategy of the Trump White House's first 100 days.
- Still, the sheer magnitude of actions posted within just a few hours shows the full scope of EPA's plan to fundamentally reshape federal climate action for years to come.
Zoom in: The Biden administration used the social cost of carbon — about $51 per metric ton of CO2 emissions — to calculate the economic damages from greenhouse gas emissions.
- President Trump's first-day "Unleashing American Energy" executive order found the calculation "marked by logical deficiencies, a poor basis in empirical science, politicization, and the absence of a foundation in legislation."
- Zeldin contended it was "used to advance their climate agenda in a way that imposed major costs."
Between the lines: EPA issued the endangerment finding following Massachusetts v. EPA, the 2007 Supreme Court ruling that greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
- Democrats further defined planet-warming emissions as air pollutants under federal law in the IRA.
- Sen. Shelley Moore Capito acknowledged Wednesday that pulling back the finding is "more complicated" than EPA's other deregulatory moves "because of the court ruling that led to that."
- EPA said it intends to reconsider all of its prior regulations and actions that rely on the endangerment finding.
The other side: Environmentalists decried the EPA's flurry of actions.
- Rolling back the endangerment finding threatens "the core basis of federal climate action," said the Center for Biological Diversity.
Among the other actions that EPA said it was taking:
- Reconsidering implementation of the Clean Air Act's Regional Haze Program.
- Reconsidering the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS).
- Revising "outdated" regulations on wastewater discharges for oil and gas extraction facilities.
- Reviewing the definition of "waters of the United States," an issue that has sparked complaints from agriculture interests.
- Reconsidering multiple National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) affecting a range of industries.
What's next: Wednesday's announcements are certain to spark legal challenges from environmental groups.
- "Today's announcement is only the start of the process — not the end," Jackie Wong, senior vice president for climate and energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.
