By Mary McCue Bell (The Washington Times)
The Environmental Protection Agency says it generated more than $1.6 trillion in estimated savings through deregulatory actions in the past fiscal year.
At the beginning of the second Trump administration, EPA rules accounted for over $1.3 trillion of $1.8 trillion in added or new cumulative federal regulatory costs, the agency said Friday.
Two actions largely drove the savings: rescinding the 2009 Endangerment Finding and repealing most of the greenhouse gas requirements for power plants.
The finding determined that six greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, the basis for regulating vehicle emissions and later power plants and other sources under the Clean Air Act.
The EPA says it rescinded the finding, plus all vehicle greenhouse gas requirements that followed it and all off-cycle credits.
This is what the EPA called the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history, according to the EPA’s new website touting red tape cuts.
The EPA estimated more than $1.3 trillion in compliance cost savings, including roughly $2,400 per new vehicle.
The second major action repealed much of the Biden administration’s greenhouse gas emission requirements for power plants, which the EPA says was the power sector’s largest deregulatory action in U.S. history.
The EPA estimated $310 billion in compliance cost savings over 20 years.
Both rules face court challenges.
Health and environmental groups and a coalition of states have sued in the D.C. Circuit to overturn the rescission of the Endangerment Finding, and health groups sued over the power plant repeal.
The $1.3 trillion reflects avoided vehicle technology and charger costs and is not a net figure, according to FactCheck.org. It does not include health or environmental benefits of the standards.
Congress also played a role in the Trump administration’s deregulatory push.
The EPA said Congress passed, and President Trump signed, six Congressional Review Act resolutions in 2025 that nullified prior EPA actions, including a rule implementing the Inflation Reduction Act’s methane fee and three California vehicle emission waivers.
The 2025 California waiver resolutions are being contested because the Government Accountability Office said such waivers are not rules subject to the Congressional Review Act. California and other states sued.
This article was made available to WMAL via The Washington Times.
