"WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency has told staff overseeing the country’s industrialized Midwest — a region plagued by a legacy of pollution — to stop enforcing violations against fossil fuel companies, multiple sources told CNN.

The directive, which sources say was issued verbally to stunned staff in recent months, comes as EPA insiders say there is broad pressure within the agency to ease scrutiny of the industry.

Efforts — implicit and explicit — to reduce enforcement fit with an ambitious deregulation agenda being enacted by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin at the behest of President Donald Trump, who entered office promising to slash “burdensome” oil and gas industry regulations and increase production.

At the EPA, this has meant unwinding climate and pollution regulations finalized under former President Joe Biden, particularly those that curbed fossil fuel emissions. Just last week, Zeldin proposed weakening limits on air toxins and repealing a rule cutting climate pollution from coal and gas-fired power plants.

But even before these policy changes have been formalized, the EPA is pulling back in a way that agency insiders haven’t seen in previous administration changes."

Rene Marsh and Ella Nilsen report for CNN June 16, 2025. [2]