On February 29, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order requiring agencies to identify suspect regulations for regulatory roll back within 60 days. Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will reconsider 31 EPA actions, including the Agency’s 2009 Clean Air Act finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare along with many of the Agency’s flagship Clean Air Act regulations. These efforts will have far-reaching impacts on American businesses.
Womble Bond Dickinson can help your business keep up with these changes in the days ahead and advocate for your interests as this process plays out. In the meantime, we address what’s happening right now and what it could mean for your business.
What’s happening?
In a flurry of activity, EPA issued twelve press releases yesterday, March 12, 2025. Among those releases is an announcement that EPA will reconsider the following major regulatory programs:
- New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) OOOOb/c regulations for the oil and gas industry;
- The 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding under the Clean Air Act and actions that rely on that finding;
- Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program;
- Various regulations on power plants, including Clean Power Plan 2.0 and Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS)
- Light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicle regulations;
- Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) regulations in the Technology Transition Rule under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act;
- National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM 2.5;
- Various National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) including for integrated iron and steel manufacturing, rubber tire manufacturing, synthetic organic chemical manufacturing industry, commercial sterilizers for medical devices and spices, lime manufacturing, coke ovens, copper smelting, and taconite ore processing, although this list could grow;
- Regional Haze Program; and
- Good Neighbor Plan.
In addition to the actions listed above, EPA issued a separate press release announcing its intent to again revisit the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act. This definition was revised in 2015, 2019, 2020, and 2023. That rulemaking history and intervening court decisions have left 24 states and the District of Columbia implementing the 2023 rule and the remaining 26 states applying the pre-2015 regulatory regime and the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. EPA. This renewed effort is sure to add yet another layer of regulatory complexity to project development and permitting.
While the definition of WOTUS is under review, EPA Administrator Lee M. Zeldin, published today a six-page Memorandum to offer further clarification of how WOTUS should be applied under both regulatory regimes currently operative in the U.S.
What could it mean for your business?
This is an incredible amount of regulatory activity to keep track of. But it is important to note that these press releases are not themselves regulatory actions. Many (if not most) of these actions will require rulemaking notices from EPA. The press releases do not include a timeline for each action, but we can expect the Agency to move quickly if it wants to accomplish this long list in the next four years.
It’s important to note that EPA does not say in these various press releases that it is staying compliance deadlines and obligations under existing regulations pending reconsideration. That’s because, at least for the announced actions that have origins under the Clean Air Act, EPA cannot stay existing rules unless authorized under the Administrative Procedures Act or the Clean Air Act.
In litigation involving EPA’s attempt during the first President Trump administration to stay NSPS for methane from the oil and gas sector for two years while it reconsidered the rule, the D.C. Circuit ruled that such stays are only authorized in limited circumstances—when reconsideration is mandatory under the Clean Air Act because issues of central relevance were impracticable to raise during the public comment period. Even then, the length of the stay is limited to 90 days.
That means all of the listed regulations remain on the books, unless otherwise stayed through judicial processes, and businesses will need to continue complying. EPA also announced that it will immediately revise its National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives to align with the Administration’s priorities. These revisions will dictate where EPA spends its time inspecting and enforcing regulated facilities and industries. Importantly, however, even if the regulations noted are not among the revised priorities, it is no guarantee that noncompliance will go ignored while the EPA revises regulations.
Looking to the future, regulatory rollbacks are sure to face litigation. And even if these regulatory programs are rolled back significantly, businesses still face state regulation.
Businesses would be wise to identify the actions announced today that will impact their work and pay close attention as these actions are implemented by the EPA. In particular, participation in notice and comment rulemaking is foundational to both building a record and preserving issues should litigation ensue.