What’s Happening
The EPA under Administrator Lee Zeldin has reversed, weakened, or delayed more environmental protections in 18 months than any previous administration managed in a full term. The Environmental Protection Network estimates these rollbacks will cause nearly 200,000 premature deaths through 2050 and trigger more than 10,000 asthma attacks every day across the country.
The rules being gutted generate $254 billion in annual health and economic benefits compared to $39 billion in compliance costs for industry. The math is not close.
What’s Been Reversed
| Rule | What It Protected | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Endangerment Finding (2009) | Legal basis for all greenhouse gas regulation | Repealed Feb 2026, effective Apr 2026 |
| Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (2024) | Limits on mercury, arsenic from power plants | Rescinded, reverted to weaker 2012 rule |
| PM2.5 Air Quality Standards | Soot limits from power plants and factories | EPA asked court to vacate the rule |
| Power Plant GHG Standards | Carbon limits on coal and gas plants | Proposed repeal Jun 2025, final expected 2026 |
| Oil & Gas Methane Rule | Methane leak limits at drilling sites | Compliance delayed to Jan 2027; charge repealed via CRA |
| PFAS Drinking Water Limits | Limits on 4 “forever chemicals” in tap water | Rescinded May 2026; PFOA/PFOS deadlines pushed to 2031 |
| Vehicle Emission Standards | Tailpipe pollution limits for cars and trucks | Under reconsideration, frozen at 2026 levels |
| NEPA Implementing Regulations | Environmental review for federal projects | All CEQ regulations removed from CFR |
| Clean Water Act (WOTUS) | Federal protection of wetlands and streams | Proposed rule to shrink jurisdiction |
| GHG Reporting Program | Mandatory pollution reporting by power plants, refineries | Proposed elimination |
The Enforcement Collapse
Reversing rules is only half the story. The EPA also stopped enforcing the ones still on the books.
In 2025, the EPA launched only 16 civil judicial cases against polluters, the lowest in at least 20 years. That is an 87% drop from Obama’s comparable year and 76% below Biden’s. It is even 81% below Trump’s own first term in 2017.
“Of the 24 categories of enforcement activities measured, 14 of them were at their weakest or second weakest in 2025.” — Environmental Data and Governance Initiative
Meanwhile, the EPA laid off hundreds of staff who monitored pollution, and at least a third of lawyers in the Justice Department’s environment division have left in the past year.
The Pollution Is Already Increasing
This is not theoretical. Sulfur dioxide emissions from coal plants rose 18% in 2025, from 597,000 tons to 705,000 tons. Nitrogen oxide emissions climbed 12%. These are the sharpest percentage increases in a quarter century.
The EPA has also stopped calculating health costs when proposing new rules, removing the main tool that showed the public what deregulation actually costs in lives and hospital bills.
What You Can Do
- Write your senators and representative through Resist Bot and tell them to block EPA budget cuts and restore enforcement funding
- Submit public comments on the PFAS drinking water rollback before the July 20, 2026 deadline
- Track specific rollbacks at Harvard’s Regulatory Tracker and the Policy Integrity Tracker
- Support state-level action by contacting your state environmental agency and asking what protections they can enact independently
- Follow the litigation through Earthjustice, which is challenging several rollbacks in federal court
For the full picture on environmental threats, see our Environment and Public Lands hub.