Environmental Deregulation: 100+ Rules Rolled Back Across Four Years
Last updated
The administration's approach was systematic: identify Obama-era environmental regulations, determine legal and administrative mechanisms for reversal, and implement reversals. The rollbacks covered air quality, water quality, climate, wildlife, and chemical safety. The vehicle emissions standards rollback was estimated to add approximately one billion tons of additional carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2035. Courts overturned many of the rollbacks, finding procedural defects. The Biden administration reversed the majority of the remaining reversals. The cumulative effect on environmental law precedent and the transition costs of the repeated changes were lasting.
Overview
The Trump administration rolled back more than 100 environmental rules — the most systematic deregulation since the EPA was created in 1970. The reversals covered air quality, water quality, climate emissions, wildlife, and chemical safety.
Many were later struck down by courts as arbitrary and capricious. The ones that stood represent lasting changes to the legal framework protecting the environment.
The Vehicle Emissions Standards
The most significant climate rollback in terms of measurable emissions impact was the vehicle fuel efficiency standard reversal. Obama's standard required increasing efficiency through 2025; Trump froze it at 2020 levels. Analysts estimated this would add approximately one billion additional tons of CO2 to the atmosphere by 2035 — a significant contribution to the accumulation driving climate change.
The reversal was challenged in court; the Biden administration reinstated the standards.
Clean Water Jurisdiction
The "Waters of the United States" definition determines which waterbodies have federal Clean Water Act protection. The Obama-era rule had extended protection to smaller wetlands and streams that flow into larger waterways. Trump's rollback removed that protection — eliminating federal oversight of millions of acres of wetlands and hundreds of thousands of miles of streams.
Wetlands filter pollutants from groundwater and provide flood protection. Their legal status is directly tied to their practical protection.
The Mercury Rule
The mercury and air toxics standard for power plants was weakened through a reanalysis that excluded the air quality co-benefits of reducing emissions. The original rule was estimated to prevent 11,000 premature deaths per year. Courts later struck down the revised cost-benefit methodology as arbitrary.
The people affected by the air quality in communities near power plants were not consulted about the reanalysis.
Timeline
Sequence of events
January 25, 2017
Executive orders on energy — federal lands opened
Trump signs executive orders directing federal agencies to facilitate energy production on public lands and waters, opening the regulatory process for fossil fuel production increases.
March 28, 2017
Obama clean power plan ordered reviewed — rollback begins
Trump signs executive order directing EPA to review and rescind the Obama Clean Power Plan — the primary federal climate regulation covering power plant emissions.
August 2, 2018
Vehicle emissions standards weakened — 1 billion additional tons CO2
Administration proposes freezing Obama-era fuel efficiency standards at 2020 levels rather than continuing to increase them through 2025; analysts estimate approximately 1 billion additional tons of CO2 by 2035.
January 23, 2020
WOTUS rule rolled back — millions of wetland acres lose protection
EPA finalizes the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, removing federal clean water protections from millions of acres of wetlands and hundreds of thousands of miles of streams.
August 12, 2020
Endangered Species Act protections weakened
Administration finalizes rule revisions to the Endangered Species Act allowing economic factors in listing decisions and weakening critical habitat designations.
Sources
- ↑ The Trump Administration Is Reversing 100 Environmental Rules. Here's the Full List. — The New York Times
- ↑ Trump has gutted more than 125 environmental rules. Here's what's gone. — The Washington Post
- ↑ AP analysis: Trump administration reversed environmental rules — The Associated Press
- ↑ Tracking Deregulation in the Trump Era — Columbia Law School Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
Verification