EPA to Roll Back Raft of Climate Regulations, Including EV Rule

Administrator Lee Zeldin says EPA will reconsider 31 regulations in what he calls the most consequential day of deregulation in American history.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin speaks to reporters during a water policy announcement at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington on Feb. 18, 2025. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin on March 12 made what he called the “largest deregulatory announcement in U.S. history.”

In a video published by the agency, he said the EPA would take steps to roll back 31 regulations to fulfill President Donald Trump’s “promise to unleash American energy, revitalize our auto industry, restore the rule of law, and give power back to the states.”

Zeldin’s actions presage formal moves to repeal EPA regulations that would exert pressure on Americans to buy low-emission electric vehicles and other significant actions targeting many previously published federal climate and pollution rules.

In a number of statements published by the agency on March 12, the EPA highlighted its forthcoming action on regulations, specifically rules or suites of rules initially authored by the agency and published during the administrations of former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, that it considers to be the origin of “trillions in regulatory costs.”

It is not immediately clear exactly what actions will be taken and how soon they may come to pass to either revise or repeal the 31 regulations highlighted in the EPA announcement. Agency representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times seeking clarification.

“We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down the cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S., and more,” Zeldin said in a statement.

Endangerment Finding

The EPA and the Office of Management and Budget will reconsider the landmark 2009 Endangerment Finding and all of its prior regulations and actions that rely on it.

In 2009, former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson signed two actions regarding greenhouse gases and the Clean Air Act. The actions concluded that the “six key well-mixed greenhouse gases” threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations and that emissions from motor vehicles contribute to greenhouse gas pollution.

According to the EPA, those actions were significant because they form the basis of “implementing greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles and other sectors.”

“The Trump Administration will not sacrifice national prosperity, energy security, and the freedom of our people for an agenda that throttles our industries, our mobility, and our consumer choice while benefiting adversaries overseas,” Zeldin said in a March 12 statement on the reconsideration.

The agency went on to state, “EPA has subsequently relied on the Endangerment Finding as part of its justification for seven vehicle regulations with an aggregate cost of more than one trillion dollars, according to figures in EPA’s own regulatory impact analyses.”

Emissions vent from a large stack at the coal-fired Brandon Shores Power Plant in Baltimore on March 9, 2018. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Electric Vehicles

Following up on a campaign promise and an executive order made by Trump, the EPA announced that it would reconsider what it called the Model Year 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles regulation and the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles and that it is “reevaluating the other parts of the Biden EPA’s problematic ‘Clean Trucks Plan.’” That move will touch on the 2022 Heavy-Duty Nitrous Oxide rule, according to the statement.

The rules, according to the statement, formed the foundation of the “Biden–Harris electric vehicle mandate that takes away Americans’ ability to choose a safe and affordable car for their family and increases the cost of living on all products that trucks deliver.”

The Epoch Times previously reported that the U.S. auto industry has begun making massive investments in designing and building electric vehicles that Americans would want to drive. While electric vehicle adoption is rising in the United States, purchases still lag far behind traditional gas-powered, internal-combustion engine vehicles.

‘Waters of the United States’

The EPA stated that it would review the definition of “waters of the United States” in the Clean Water Act in conjunction with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The definition is critical as it determines whether “farmers, landowners, and businesses must secure costly permits before they can pursue a project,” the EPA said in a statement.

The agency stated that it has “failed to follow the law” and comply with a Supreme Court ruling on Sackett v. EPA and that it would begin a new rulemaking process to revise the 2023 definition of the term “waters of the United States.”

“It is critical that Americans know which waters are subject to federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act to grow our economy and lower costs for American families while protecting human health and the environment,” it stated.

Clean Power Plan 2.0

The EPA will also reconsider the previous administration’s rules on power plant emissions, commonly referred to as the “Clean Power Plan 2.0.” That suite of rules replaced a previous plan struck down by the Supreme Court in 2022, according to the statement.

The agency stated on March 12 that the Supreme Court had struck down a 2015 version of the Clean Power Plan. In that ruling, according to the EPA, the court “barred EPA from misusing the Clean Air Act to manipulate Americans’ energy choices and shift the balance of the nation’s electrical fuel mix.”

“We are seeking to ensure that the agency follows the rule of law while providing all Americans with access to reliable and affordable energy,” Zeldin said.