Posted on Thursday, March 20, 2025
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by Sarah Katherine Sisk
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10 Comments
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched what officials called the most sweeping regulatory rollback in U.S. history earlier this month, targeting 31 environmental rules in a move that could save American families and businesses billions of dollars per year.
In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, new EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the changes “the most consequential day of deregulation in American history,” declaring that they amounted to an “end” to the so-called “Green New Deal.”
“By overhauling massive rules on the endangerment finding, the social cost of carbon, and similar issues, we are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age,” Zeldin continued. “These actions will roll back trillions of dollars in regulatory costs and hidden taxes. As a result, the cost of living for American families will decrease, and essentials such as buying a car, heating your home, and operating a business will become more affordable.”
As Zeldin alludes to, the Biden administration’s enormous expansion of the regulatory state created a bureaucratic stranglehold that undermined American innovation. It transformed regulatory frameworks from protective mechanisms into economic straightjackets that both punished entrepreneurial instincts and stifled technological progress.
According to the Heritage Foundation, under the Biden administration, the EPA imposed $1.8 trillion in total regulatory costs on the country in just four years. Biden-Harris regulations cost the average American family nearly $50,000 over that period, with more than $200 billion in new regulatory costs added during the administration’s first year alone.
The EPA’s regulatory rollback represents a pivotal moment in environmental policy, reflecting a fundamental philosophical shift from prescriptive mandates to innovation-driven environmental protection.
The massive deregulation initiative follows President Trump’s Executive Order titled “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation.”
That order mandates that for every new regulation proposed, agencies must eliminate at least 10 existing regulations, creating a rigorous “ten-for-one” rule designed to dramatically reduce federal regulatory burdens and compliance costs across all government agencies. For EPA, this unprecedented move represents the most aggressive regulatory review in the agency’s history.
EPA’s comprehensive deregulation plan touches nearly every aspect of environmental regulation, from power plant emissions to vehicle standards, scientific advisory boards, and carbon pricing metrics.
“We have to protect the environment without suffocating the economy,” Zeldin said. “EPA will be reconsidering many suffocating rules that restrict nearly every sector of our economy and cost Americans trillions of dollars.”
These regulations represent “a massive tax on all Americans and the entire U.S. economy,” according to the Heritage Foundation.
The new deregulation initiative specifically targets the Biden administration’s “Clean Power Plan 2.0” (CPP 2.0) and various environmental regulations, including the controversial “social cost of carbon” metric used by the Biden administration to justify stricter environmental rules. Biden-era regulations effectively threatened to entirely shut down coal plants and constrain natural gas production, compromising the nation’s energy independence and creating serious reliability concerns
CPP 2.0 specifically imposed stringent 90 percent carbon capture requirements on coal and natural gas plants. This regulation threatened grid reliability by effectively forcing the closure of many fossil fuel power plants reducing power plant efficiency by requiring more fuel to produce the same amount of electricity.
EPA will also reconsider the 2009 Endangerment Finding on CO2, a critical legal foundation for many climate-related regulations. The Heritage Foundation has applauded the EPA’s review of this finding, noting the substantial harm it has caused to small businesses due to compliance costs.
But perhaps the most significant element of EPA’s deregulatory flurry is the repeal of Biden-era vehicle emissions rules that critics argue effectively mandate electric vehicle adoption nationwide. The proposed changes would roll back what many in the automotive industry saw as impossibly strict emissions standards that would have forced rapid electrification of the vehicle market.
“Instead of forcing Americans to buy expensive vehicles they neither want nor can keep powered up, we are restoring choice to consumers and bringing automaking jobs back home in line with our Great American Comeback initiative,” Zeldin said. “This commitment to our manufacturing base contrasts with Biden administration policies that shipped jobs overseas.”
The reforms also include significant changes to enforcement priorities. The EPA says it is now seeking to “rapidly put regulation more fully into state hands,” aiming to clear backlogs in State Implementation Plans that have limited local control over electricity production.
EPA estimates these reforms could save businesses and consumers hundreds of billions in compliance costs while maintaining essential environmental protections. Implementation is expected to occur through a series of rulemakings over the next 18 months, potentially reshaping the regulatory landscape for years to come.
EPA’s sweeping regulatory rollback is more than just a policy shift—it is a bold step toward freeing the American economy from the chokehold of excessive regulation. By stripping away burdensome rules, the agency is not only lowering costs for businesses and consumers but also paving the way for innovation and job growth in industries that have long been stifled.
As these changes take root, this new approach offers a promising future for stewardship of the nation’s air, lands, and waters based on conservative principles – balancing the economic progress with environmental preservation.
Sarah Katherine Sisk is a senior at Hillsdale College pursuing a degree in Economics and Journalism. You can follow her on X @SKSisk76.
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