The Trump administration and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin have launched a broad attack on environmental protections that safeguard our drinking water, address the climate crisis, and protect public health. On March 12, Administrator Zeldin announced a sweeping giveaway to polluters—a move in contrast to EPA’s mission to implement our environmental protection laws to protect human health and the environment.
EPA announced they plan to review and revise the Clean Water Act definition of “Waters of the United States,” which determines what water resources are protected from pollution under the Clean Water Act. As a first step, EPA released new guidance and announced six listening sessions to obtain stakeholder input. The U.S. Supreme Court’s Sackett v. EPA decision in 2023 removed protections from most wetlands and streams. Narrowing these protections even further would put our communities and the drinking water of millions of Americans at risk. Clean Water Action released a statement here and a blog in 2024 detailing the importance of these protections.
Concessions to polluters didn’t stop there, EPA also called for the review and reconsideration of 31 critical regulations. Among the safeguards they plan to review (and attempt to weaken and rollback) are:
- The Supplemental Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category – This sets Clean Water Act pollution limits (or ELGs) for three of the largest, most harmful wastewater streams from coal fired power plants. This rule requires coal-fired plants to achieve zero discharge of pollutants from bottom ash transport wastewater, flue gas desulfurization (FGD) scrubber sludge, and leachate. It also sets stricter limits for legacy wastewater stored in coal ash ponds and for leachate discharged into groundwater. Reversing this would be a giveaway to polluters, allowing the fossil fuel industry to continue to discharge toxic wastewater into our drinking water sources. See our press announcement and blog to learn more about these critical safeguards.
- The Legacy Coal Combustion Residuals Surface Impoundments and CCR Management Units Final Rule (CCR Rule), which closes loopholes that allowed coal fired plants to avoid cleaning up their toxic coal ash. This rule was a significant step forward in safeguarding communities by cleaning up toxic coal ash sites across the country. Rolling back or changing authority to overburdened state agencies would be yet another giveaway to polluters, allowing the power plant industry to continue to contaminate groundwater with heavy metals and other harmful pollutants. See the testimony we gave in 2023 urging the EPA to implement strong coal ash regulations.
- Oil and Gas Extraction Effluent Limitation Guidelines - These are Clean Water Act limits (ELGs) that specify how produced wastewater generated from oil and gas drilling can be used in limited ways, specifically in the arid west for specific purposes like agricultural uses. Allowing treated oil and gas wastewater to be used in even more parts of the country would open doors for increased harmful pollution and threaten our water resources. See our 2021 Roadmap to Reform Paper addressing this and several other loopholes that let oil and gas producers pollute our water.
- The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) and new carbon pollution standards for fossil fuel-fired power plants are important Clean Air Act limits on global warming pollution from power plants. Together, these were long overdue standards that protect public health and curb climate change.
- The Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases Under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act (the Endangerment Finding) is based on the overwhelming scientific evidence that greenhouse gases, like methane, contribute to climate change and harm the public health and welfare of current and future generations. Reversing the endangerment finding would undermine progress in combatting climate change and jeopardize public health and environmental protections.
These actions would threaten our water quality and drinking water, reverse our progress on addressing the climate crisis, and put our most vulnerable communities at more risk. When paired with the dismantling of environmental justice programs, the closing of all EPA’s environmental justice offices across the country, devastating cuts to EPA’s staffing and spending, one thing is clear – EPA is focused on serving polluters rather than on its core mission of implementing our landmark environmental and health protection laws.
