We present here a sampling of major efforts by the Trump II regime to turn back the clock and “unleash” U.S. fossil fuel production, exportation, and utilization. For a more complete delineation – involving, at present count, 369 such deregulatory actions – see the Columbia University Sabin Center on Climate Change Law Climate Backtracker.
Rescinding 78 Biden Executive Orders, Executive Order 14148, Jan. 20, 2025. This EO rescinded the following, among others:
- Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science To Tackle the Climate Crisis, Jan. 20, 2021.
- Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, Jan. 27, 2021
- Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability, Dec. 8, 2021
Unleashing American Energy, Executive Order 14154, Jan. 20, 2025.
- Accelerated development of fossil fuel resources under US control including “energy exploration and production on Federal lands and waters, including on the Outer Continental Shelf”
- Required “all agencies” to “review all existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, settlements, consent orders, and any other agency actions (collectively, agency actions) to identify those agency actions that impose an undue burden on the identification, development, or use of domestic energy resources. .
- Terminated “the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Public Law 117–169) or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117–58). . . .”
- Disbanded the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases and withdrawing all of its guidance and recommendations
Resetting the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program, Final Rule.(June 10, 2025)
Asserting that the Biden NHTSA failed to adhere to statutory requirements in when it updated Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.
Current Status: Final Rule is Pending
Repeal of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units, Proposed Rule, June 17, 2025
The proposal here is to repeal all GHG standards for U.S. fossil fuel-fired power plants, predicated in part on the proposition that coal, gas and oil power plants contribute an insignificant quantity to worldwide GHG emissions.
Current Status: Final Rule is Pending
See also CPR Initiative’s:
(a) Unwarranted: The Case Against Repeal (Aug. 6, 2025), and
(b) CPRI Comments to the Administration Record (Aug 7, 2025)
EPA Weakening of Hazardous Air Pollutant Standards for Coal and Oil-Fired Power Plants, Proposed Rule, June 17, 2025
Proposed repeal of Biden amendments of 2024 that aimed to strengthen National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units (EGUs).
Current Status: Final Rule issued Feb. 24, 2026.
EPA Disapproval of California GHG Limits on Out-of-State-Registered Heavy-Duty Vehicles, Proposed Rule, Aug. 26, 2025.
Proposed disapproval of California “Heavy-Duty Inspection and Maintenance Regulation” is “to the extent it applies to vehicles registered out-of-state or out-of-country” and based on alleged “substantial concerns that the State has not provided adequate assurances under Clean Air Act (CAA) section 110(a)(2)(E)(i). . . .”
Current Status: Final Rule published Feb. 6, 2026.
Reconsideration of 2009 Endangerment Finding and Greenhouse Gas Vehicle Standards, Proposed Rule published Aug. 1, 2025.
Including proposed repeal of “all greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles and engines to effectuate the best reading of Clean Air Act (CAA) section 202(a).” [Emphasis added.]
Current Status: Final Rule published Feb. 18, 2026.
See also: CPR Initiative
(a) Comments to the Rulemaking Record and
(b) To Protect the Nation,
Both at https://cprclimate.org/to-protect-the-nation/
EPA Reconsideration of Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, Proposed Rule. Sept. 16, 2025
“The EPA is not intending to use further continuous annual collection of reported data from numerous source categories, as such continuous collection is unnecessary to inform the EPA’s knowledge of these industry sectors, emissions, or trends at this time.”
Current Status: Final Rule is pending.
NHTSA Proposal to Reduce Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards
Proposed Rule, Dec. 5, 2025
“NHTSA proposal to “substantially recalibrate the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE),” would “correspond to the industry fleetwide average for all light-duty vehicles of roughly 34.5 miles per gallon (mpg) in MY 2031.”
The 34.5 mpg figure represents a significant “drop from a fleetwide average of 38 miles per gallon for light-duty vehicles by 2031 (under the current standards established by the Biden administration),” according to a summary by the Columbia University Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.
Current Status: Final Rule is pending.
Withdrawing the United States From and Ending Funding to Certain United Nations Organizations and Reviewing United States Support to All International Organizations
Executive Order 14199, February 4, 2025.
See CPR Initiative blog entrees of
EPA Weakens Biden New Source Performance Standards for Combustion Turbines,
Final Rule, Jan. 15, 2026.
EPA determined that the “best systems of emissions reduction,” for NOx emissions from most new stationary sources is only continued use of combustion controls, whereas the Biden EPA proposed that for most such sources the post-combustion use of selective catalytic reduction should also be required. One industry publication established that the Trump rule will reduce NOx emissions by nearly10 times less than would have the Biden proposed rule.
EPA Repeals Mercury and Air Toxics Standards on Coal-Fired Power Plants, Final Rule, Feb. 24, 2026.
EPA repealed “the revised filterable particulate matter (fPM) emission standard, which serves as a surrogate for non-mercury hazardous air pollutant (HAP) metals for existing coal-fired EGUs; the revised fPM emission standard compliance demonstration requirements; and the revised mercury (Hg) emission standard for lignite-fired EGUs.”
The Harvard Law Environmental & Energy Law Program observes that “EPA estimated this repeal will save approximately $670 million through 2037 and release 8,189 pounds of mercury emissions in the year 2035, an estimated 23% increase from emissions under the 2024 rule. [However] EPA did not monetize the public health or environmental harms associated with the repeal.”
EPA Revision to Wastewater Limits to “Reinforce” Its “Commitment” to Coal-Fired Power Generation, Proposed Rule, May 18, 2026.
EPA seeks to relax the current “stringent requirements on certain wastewaters from these plants, requiring the facilities not to discharge any pollutants or imposing non-zero numerical limitations on pollutants from certain types of industrial wastewaters.” It claims concern over its prior “assumptions that 100 percent of the contaminated groundwater could in fact be captured and treated” might prove too costly for some current and prior utilities who may be faced with a “lack of funding available, to implement treatment in an economically achievable way.”
Current Status: Final Rule is pending.