EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced 31 sweeping regulatory changes.  But when will actual change happen?

Todd Pappasergi, PIOGA General Counsel and Vice President of Governmental Affairs (written March 19, 2025) 

On March 12, 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the day as“the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen,” indicating that the agency would “[live] up to our promises to unleash American energy, lower costs for Americans, revitalize the American auto industry, and work hand-in-hand with our state partners to advance our shared mission.”  According to Administrator Zeldin, the 31 regulatory and policy actions announced will bring a more balanced regulatory framework for America’s energy industry, while continuing to focus on EPA’s core mission of environmental protection.

To be sure, the proposed measures are a welcome step towards bringing sensical governmental cooperation back into America’s energy sector.  Administrator Zeldin’s promises of investigating anew the appropriateness of the greenhouse gas endangerment finding, reconsidering the Subpart OOOOb/c methane rules, and “providing regulatory flexibility” for oil and natural gas related wastewater hauling and treatment are certainly refreshing news to an industry that has been hampered by a decade long ping pong game of regulatory changes.

Importantly, however, the “greatest day of deregulation” will actually take months, maybe even years, to implement.  First and foremost, for the EPA to revoke, rescind, or otherwise modify existing rules and regulations, formal rulemaking, including publication and theFederal Register and the availability for public comment, must occur.  Assuming that the deregulation rules attain final rulemaking status, then Congress gets a final review pursuant to the Congressional Review Act.  Missing from Administrator Zeldin’s announcements were even approximate timeframes for introduction of any deregulatory actions.  Finally, litigation challenging the deregulation measures is almost certain to happen.  Accordingly, federal relief will not be immediate despite the March 12th announcements, and many Biden-era environmental rules remain in full force and effect, both at the federal and state levels.  As these proposed changes wind their way through the administrative process, PIOGA and its partners will keep PIOGA members informed with the latest, up-to-date information and legal impacts.

 

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