The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that it is planning to undertake a sweeping series of deregulatory actions in accordance with President Donald Trump's executive orders and campaign promises.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin identified dozens of Obama and Biden-era regulations that his agency will repeal, stating, "We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S., and more."

In addition to unchaining industry and eliminating some of the bureaucratic red tape that drove up living costs, the agency appears keen to reclaim ground lost to climate alarmists over the past two decades, effectively eliminating the EPA's authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.

'This EPA is planning to take a wrecking ball to environmental law.'

The agency deregulation push includes plans to:

• unwind numerous regulations on power plants, the oil and gas industry, and coal-fired power;
• revise limits, guidelines, and standards for the steam electric power-generating industry;
• reconsider various industrial regulations concerning air standards;
• unwind the mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program that requires big emitters to report their emissions annually for publication;
• reconsider the Risk Management Program rule that purportedly improves chemical accident prevention at facilities that use extremely hazardous substances;
• unwind the vehicle regulations "that provided the foundation for the Biden-Harris electric vehicle mandate";
• reconsider the Obama EPA's 2009 Endangerment Finding and all subsequent actions that rely on its assertion that the combined emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride from motorized vehicles "threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations" — a claim Zeldin said is "considered the Holy Grail of the climate change religion";
• eliminate the remaining DEI initiatives at the agency;
• ensure the death of the Biden administration's controversial "Good Neighbor Plan," which tried to force so-called "upwind" states to curb air pollution impacting "downwind" states — a plan whose standards the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June were likely to cause "irreparable harm" to nearly half the states in the union; and
• utilize "enforcement discretion to further North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene."

The EPA suggested that these and other deregulatory actions could "roll back trillions in regulatory costs and hidden 'taxes' on U.S. families" as well as create jobs.

Climate alarmists are up in arms over the announcement.

Jason Rylander, legal director of the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity, told NPR, "This EPA is planning to take a wrecking ball to environmental law as we know it."

"The intent appears to be to neuter EPA's ability to address climate change and to limit air pollution that affects public health," added Rylander.

Amanda Leland, executive director of the leftist international Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement, "EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin today announced plans for the greatest increase in pollution in decades. The result will be more toxic chemicals, more cancers, more asthma attacks, and more dangers for pregnant women and their children. Rather than helping our economy, it will create chaos."

The New York Times indicated that Gina McCarthy, an EPA administrator in the Obama administration, is sad to see some of her handiwork undone, calling it "the most disastrous day in EPA history."

"Rolling these rules back is not just a disgrace, it's a threat to all of us," said McCarthy, who also served as former President Joe Biden's national climate adviser. "The agency has fully abdicated its mission to protect Americans' health and well being."

Democratic lawmakers have similarly denounced the EPA's deregulatory plans.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) stated, "EPA's attacks today on clean air, clean water, and affordable energy are done for the planet's biggest polluters. Americans will pay dearly — with their health and with their wallets.

"This sellout has a long road ahead of it through the Administrative Procedures Act, which we will fight every step of the way," added Whitehouse.

Republicans and others long critical of the burdens of over-regulation celebrated the EPA plan.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) called it a "historic move that will bring much-needed relief to Montanans."

West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R), chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, is apparently thrilled that the EPA is "taking steps towards eliminating job-killing regulations that hamper energy production and harm workers and consumers across our country."

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