Calling it the “most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history,” Trump EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that his agency will undertake a thorough review of environmental regulations adopted by prior administrations. EPA will consider revising or revoking rules that apply to pollution from vehicles and power plants, wastewater from coal plants and air pollution from the energy and manufacturing sectors.
Included in the EPA review will be regulations affecting the production, sale and use of motor vehicles, including trucks, such as the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles – Phase 3 (GHG3). Many have labeled GHG3 an “EV mandate.” While the EPA Phase 3 rule does not specify any particular emissions solution, it will be difficult to achieve its emissions goals without hybrid, battery-electric, or hydrogen-electric trucks.
EPA will similarly review the waivers the prior administration granted of three California emissions rules: California’s Advanced Clean Trucks Rule, Omnibus NOx rule and Clean Cars II rule. However, possible Congressional Review Act (CRA) termination of those California rules was dealt a blow when, on March 6, the GAO (Government Accountability Office) stood by its 2023 decision that an EPA grant of a waiver is an “order” and not a “rule” subject to CRA action (Observations Regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s Submission of Notices of Decision on Clean Air Act Preemption Waivers as Rules Under the Congressional Review Act | U.S. GAO). Had Congress used the CRA to revoke an agency rule, a substantially similar rule could not be adopted (https://www.prepassalliance.org/epa-action-triggers-congressional-review-act-debate/).
The EPA announcement may be dramatic, but the review and revision process will take time, including the public comment periods for any involved rulemakings and the certainty of litigation. The EPA will not seek to actively enforce rules it has targeted for revision or abandonment. California, however, and the states following California’s emissions lead (Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington), may choose to continue state-level enforcement.