COMMENTARY: Understanding EPA’s “Biggest Deregulatory Action in U.S. History” – Alex Epstein

18 important deregulatory actions EPA announced yesterday, and why they will make life better for all of us.

By Alex Epstein

Did the EPA really just take the “Biggest Deregulatory Action in U.S. History”?

Arguably, yes.

Here are 18 important deregulatory actions EPA announced today, and why they will make life better for all of us. (I posted a version of these yesterday; so far it has over a million views, and has been shared publicly by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.)

“Reconsideration of regulations on power plants (Clean Power Plan 2.0)”These Biden regulations would effectively ban all coal plants and new natural gas plants by demanding impossible 90% carbon capture.¹Reconsidering them is essential to preserving the grid and unleashing electricity.
“Reconsideration of light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicle regulations”These Biden regulations paved the way for the EV mandate by imposing unachievable emission standards on gas vehicles.²Reconsidering them is essential for preserving automotive choice.
“Reconsideration of the 2009 Endangerment Finding”This Obama-era determination, by declaring CO2 dangerous, allowed Biden to shut down power plants, slow US oil growth, and lock up our limitless natural gas.³Reconsidering it is essential for American energy dominance.
“Ending so-called ‘Good Neighbor Plan’”This Biden rule set ozone-related emissions levels so (unnecessarily) low that many vital coal power plants can’t comply—even though ozone levels are very low throughout the US.⁴Ending it is essential to preserving grid reliability.
“Reconsideration of Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards”These Biden regulations demand hugely costly cuts to US PM2.5 levels, which are already very low and safe.⁵Reconsidering them is crucial to keeping American energy and industry globally competitive.
“Reconsideration of limitations, guidelines and standards (ELG) for the Steam Electric Power Generating Industry”These Biden regulations throttle coal power generation by imposing needlessly stringent wastewater standards.⁶Reconsidering them is important to preserving our grid.
“Reconsideration of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards”These Biden regulations impose draconian mercury and other emission limits on coal plants, requiring costly retrofits or shutdowns with little or no health benefit.⁷Reconsidering them is essential to preserving grid reliability.
“Restructuring the Regional Haze Program”This EPA program imposes major costs on electricity producers for minimal visibility improvements in low-populated areas.⁸Restructuring it is crucial for facilitating affordable and reliable electricity.
“Prioritizing coal ash program to expedite state permit reviews and update coal ash regulations (CCR Rule)”These Biden regulations impose an impossible compliance timeline for coal ash disposal.⁹Fixing them is crucial will preserve the grid while responsibly managing coal ash.
“Overhauling Biden-Harris Administration’s ‘Social Cost of Carbon’”This Biden method of calculating the costs of CO2 emissions allows EPA to vastly exaggerate the benefits of its regulations.¹⁰Overhauling it is essential for restoring real cost-benefit analyses to the EPA.
“Reconstituting Science Advisory Board and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee”Biden stacked these scientific panels in favor of harsh regulations on energy producers.Making these panels more balanced is critical for the EPA’s ability to unleash American energy.
“Reconsideration of exceptional events rulemaking”This EPA policy requires states to undergo complex procedures for exempting prescribed fires from strict air quality standards.¹¹Revisiting it is vital for enabling safe, controlled burns that prevent catastrophic wildfires.
“Reconsideration of regulations throttling the oil and gas industry (OOOO b/c)”These Biden regulations would effectively shut down smaller producers by imposing high-cost methane capture requirements.¹²Reconsidering them is essential to maximizing American oil and gas production.
“Reconsideration of multiple National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants”These EPA regulations impose costly emission controls on industries like iron and steel, tire manufacturing, and chemicals.¹³Reconsidering them is crucial for unleashing American manufacturing.
“Reconsideration of mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program”This Biden program demands pointlessly detailed emission tracking from emitters of over 25,000 metric tons/year of CO2.¹⁴Reconsidering it could save productive companies countless wasted millions and hours.
“Working with states and tribes to resolve massive backlog with State Implementation Plans and Tribal Implementation Plans”These EPA backlogs deprive states of control over their electricity mix.Resolving them is essential to preserving local grid reliability.
“Redirecting enforcement resources to EPA’s core mission”The Biden administration used its enforcement power to pressure energy producers into costly settlements.Recalibrating this is essential to protecting the rule of law and establishing American energy dominance.
“Terminating Biden’s Environmental Justice and DEI arms of the agency”These Biden initiatives diverted resources from even-handed enforcement of the law to identity-based agendas.¹⁵Ending them is crucial to restoring the rule of law and ensuring EPA serves all Americans.

15 The Inflation Reduction Act also gave anti-fossil-fuel bureaucrats/activists a new level of destructive power via $10s of billions for anti-fossil-fuel “environmental justice” causes. According to a WH-commissioned environmental justice report we must “sunset investment by 2030 in fossil fuels, plastics…and nuclear energy”!