Key takeaways from recent EPA announcements to reduce and reshape environmental regulation

The 31 actions include:

• Reconsideration of air and wastewater regulations applicable to power plants and the oil and gas industries, including the PM 2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs), and the Clean Power Plan 2.0;
• Reconsideration of the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and related actions;
• Reconstituting the Science Advisory Board and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, which advise on the science supporting regulatory limits for pollutants such as the NAAQS
• Working with states and tribes to approve Clean Air Act State Implementation Plans and Tribal Implementation Plans;
• Exercising enforcement discretion to support the Administration’s goals, including, increasing domestic energy production, reducing costs for American consumers, and expediting recovery from Hurricane Helene; and
• Terminating the Environmental Justice functions of EPA.

While EPA will no doubt encounter challenges when reconsidering a number of environmental rulemakings, it has already begun to implement its aggressive agenda in a variety of ways as evidenced by targeted public announcements.

Shifts in enforcement

The same day EPA announced the 31 actions, Acting Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (“OECA”) Jeffrey Hall issued a guidance memorandum regarding “Implementing National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives Consistently with Executive Orders and Agency Priorities.”  The guidance indicates that EPA will review and revise National Enforcement Compliance Initiatives (“NECIs”) consistent with EPA’s “Powering the Great American Comeback” Initiative, which was announced in February 2025.  The guidance directs EPA’s enforcement staff to implement several enforcement policy shifts, including:

• Enforcement related to “any facility or activity involved in energy production or power generation” will focus on (1) violations that threaten human health and safety or (2) risk releases or accidents that would disrupt energy production or power generation;
• “Enforcement and compliance assurance regarding hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) shall focus on the unlawful import and subsequent sale of HFCs;” 
• “Inspections should prioritize high-risk facilities regardless of the regulated chemicals utilized at the facility,” as opposed to focusing on petrochemical facilities’ use of hydrogen fluoride.
• “[U]nder no circumstances may enforcement or compliance assurance incorporate environmental justice considerations.”
• OECA Approval will be required prior to taking any enforcement actions “regarding the requirement of a rule under reconsideration” or “that would unduly burden or significantly disrupt energy production.”

Notably, enforcement actions focused on these issues (e.g., oil and gas, HFC, and environmental justice) were featured prominently in EPA’s annual enforcement roundup for the final year of the prior administration. See Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Annual Results for FY 2024: Year in Review.  While EPA is likely to shift enforcement resources to other areas, these changes, combined with anticipated decreases in EPA staff levels, will likely lead to an overall decrease in federal enforcement.

Environmental justice

Reversing the prior Administration’s focus on environmental justice is front and center in the current Administration’s efforts.  On March 11, 2025, one day before announcing the 31 actions, which include elimination of EPA’s environmental justice offices, the Administrator issued an internal memorandum “directing the reorganization and elimination of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights Assistant Administratorship; the Environmental Justice Divisions within the 10 EPA Region Offices; and the dissolution of the Office of Inclusive Excellence within the Office of Mission Support.” Prior to issuing the memorandum, EPA had already shifted resources away environmental justice-related duties and began closing environmental justice offices.

Waters of the United States (WOTUS)

EPA Administrator Zeldin also announced on March 12, 2025, that EPA will take action on WOTUS by working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to review the definition of “waters of the United States” consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency.  As a first step, the agency will be conducting listening sessions to solicit public feedback on the topic. Interested parties can find information related to the listening sessions here.

EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also issued new guidance regarding implementation of “continuous surface connection” under the WOTUS definition. The guidance adopts Sackett’s “two-part test” to determine whether there is Clean Water Act jurisdiction over adjacent wetlands. Under part one, “the adjacent body of water must be a ‘water of the United States,’ which generally means traditional navigable waters, or a relatively permanent body of water connected to a traditional navigable water.” Under part two, “the wetland, assuming it satisfies the agencies’ longstanding regulatory definition of ‘wetlands’ at 33 C.F.R. 328.3 and 40 C.F.R. 120.2, must have a continuous surface connection to a requisite covered water making it difficult to determine where the water ends and wetland begins.” The guidance further noted that EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will work to resolve instances where the line drawing problem is difficult “on a case-by-case basis and provide further clarity when appropriate to guide future implementation.”

PFAS

One area absent from the agency’s recently announced deregulation efforts and changes in enforcement priorities is PFAS. However, in February, EPA reopened for comment multiple PFAS-related proposed rules, including the proposed rule to establish recommended ambient water quality criteria and human health criteria for PFOS, PFOA, and PFBS. Additionally, EPA recently obtained stays in the litigation challenges to the PFAS MCL and CERCLA hazardous designations, implying that the agency is reconsidering its defense of those rules. On the other hand, EPA has not indicated that it will revise or eliminate the NECI regarding Addressing Exposure to PFAS, nor do PFAS feature in the announced changes in enforcement priorities.  Finally, EPA indicated in remarks on March 11, 2025, that the agency is working to finalize guidance regarding Non-Targeted Analysis methods to detect unknown PFAS analytes, suggesting that identifying the presence of PFAS will remain a focus for the agency for the foreseeable future.

EPA’s 31 Actions

Below, we list all 31 actions described in EPA’s announcement and, where applicable, links to additional information EPA has previously put forth regarding the action.   The actions are divided into three categories:  Unleashing American Energy, Lowering the Cost of Living For American Families, and Advancing Cooperative Federalism.  These actions are aligned with the stated goals of the Trump Administration as laid out in presidential actions taken on January 20, 2025, and EPA’s “Powering the Great American Comeback” Initiative, which is expected to guide EPA’s work over the first 100 days.

Unleashing American energy

• Reconsideration of the Clean Power Plan 2.0
• Reconsideration of New Source Performance Standards Subpart OOOOb and OOOOc regulations for the oil and gas industry
• Reconsideration of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards
• Reconsideration of Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program
• Reconsideration of limitations, guidelines and standards (ELG) for the Steam Electric Power Generating Industry
• Reconsideration of wastewater regulations for oil and gas development
• Reconsideration of the Risk Management Program Rule

Lowering the cost of living for American families

• Reconsideration of light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicle regulations
• Reconsideration of the 2009 Endangerment Finding and related actions
• Reconsideration of the Technology Transition Rule
• Reconsideration of PM 2.5 NAAQS
• Reconsideration of NESHAPs for American energy and manufacturing sectors
• Restructuring the Regional Haze Program
• Overhauling Social Cost of Carbon
• Redirecting enforcement resources to EPA’s core mission to relieve bureaucratic burdens
• Terminating Environmental Justice and DEI arms of EPA

Advancing cooperative federalism

• Ending the Good Neighbor Plan
• Working with states and tribes to approve State Implementation Plans and Tribal Implementation Plans
• Reconsideration of exceptional events rulemaking to work with states to prioritize the allowance of prescribed fires within State and Tribal Implementation Plans
• Reconstituting Science Advisory Board and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee
• Prioritizing coal ash program to expedite state permit reviews and update coal ash regulations
• Utilizing enforcement discretion to further North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene

Key takeaways

While it is early days for this Administration and the full scope of the changes to the federal environmental regulatory landscape are yet to be revealed, a few things appear certain.  First, regulated parties should take extra care to stay up to date regarding changes to requirements applicable to their activities and continually reassess short- and long-term interests when determining appropriate compliance actions as the regulatory landscape continues to change.  Second, (final) agency action speaks louder than words.  At this point in time, it is unclear whether some of the 31 described actions may be aspirational, but many of will require significant time and effort to achieve at a time when EPA staffing is expected to be cut dramatically.  In the interim, prosecutorial discretion and reallocation of funding to support high priority objectives will have the most immediate impact.  And third, agency actions alone are unlikely to substantially transform the targeted sectors of the economy.  Numerous stakeholders in the transportation and power generation industries have already made significant capital investments to ensure they will be able to comply with anticipated regulatory requirements from the previous Administration and other jurisdictions.  Those stakeholders are unlikely to divest from the equipment and controls currently in place when they continue to meet compliance requirements and consumers continue to have an appetite for “green” energy and consumer products.  Finally, regulated parties can expect that some states may step into the gap left behind by federal regulatory and enforcement rollbacks.  In particular, under the existing cooperative federalism framework of the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, many states already have primary permitting and enforcement authority in key areas under both federal statutes.

Authored by Tom Boer, Anne Carpenter, Lily Chinn, Katherine Vanderhook-Gomez, Misty Howell, and Melissa Skarjune.