"The Trump administration won’t have an easy time legally defending its massive regulatory rollback. It could still cause major damage."

"EPA’s massive regulatory rollback may struggle to survive the scrutiny of the courts — but in its attempt to undercut environmental protections, the Trump administration may succeed in creating enough havoc to delay the nation’s response to the urgent problem of climate change.

In his Wednesday announcement of EPA’s deregulatory assault, Administrator Lee Zeldin offered few details on how the agency plans to dismantle dozens of climate, air and energy rules — and the science underpinning those regulations — particularly in light of the Trump administration’s push to shed thousands of EPA staffers and 65 percent of the agency’s budget.

To many legal experts, Zeldin’s effort echoes the rule-slashing strategy embraced by former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt during the early days of President Donald Trump’s first term. The courts repeatedly struck down those efforts for violating the Administrative Procedure Act, a federal statute that sets the terms for how agencies can write — and rewrite — rules."

Pamela King, Niina H. Farah, and Sean Reilly report for E&E News March 13, 2025. [2]