EPA plans more environmental deregulation in 2026

The year 2025 was a busy one for both the US Environmental Protection Agency and environmental deregulation in general. The Donald J. Trump administration wasted no time in implementing its deregulatory agenda—on Jan. 31, Trump issued an executive order requiring federal agencies to eliminate 10 existing regulations for each new one implemented.Picking up this directive, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin announced in March that the agency would review 31 regulatory actions for possible rollback. “We are working hard to develop policies and adhere to the best reading of the law in a way that will make these rules durable,” EPA press secretary Brigit Hirsch tells C&EN by email.The EPA also took a number of actions in 2025 to update how it reviews chemicals and implements other parts of the Toxic Substances Control Act—actions that are likely to continue in 2026.But the agency didn’t get to everything on Zeldin’s list in 2025. The EPA will continue to address these unfinished actions in 2026, with a focus on rescinding the endangerment finding that underlies many federal climate rules and delaying vehicle pollution regulations from the Joe Biden administration. In July, Zeldin announced that the EPA was working to repeal its 2009 endangerment finding, which says that greenhouse gas emission endanger public health and welfare. Even though the required public comment and hearing period for the proposal closed on Sept. 22, the matter has been slow to move forward because of ongoing lawsuits. In addition to meeting strong objections from the scientific community, the US Department