REGULATIONS & DEREGULATIONS
Since 2017, the Trump administration targeted many regulations which had been put in place to address climate change. A handful of major climate rules reversed or weakened under Mr. Trump could have a significant effect on future emissions. The New York Times has been covering the more than 100 environmental rules being repealed or weakened, and reported on 9/17/2020, that these rollbacks are expected to result in an additional 1.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 2035.
Columbia’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law has posted a Deregulation Tracker as well as a Climate Regulation database detailing regulations and other efforts undertaken by federal agencies to address the causes and impacts of climate change. Harvard is tracking, too.
President Joe Biden has his work cut out for him dealing with the many rollbacks that occurred under the Trump Administration. The Washington Post is tracking the success President Biden is having as he unwinds Trump’s legacy and forges his own.
The list below highlights some of the many policies enacted under the Biden administration and those overturned.
08/16/21
After pausing new oil and gas leasing for nearly seven months, the Biden administration said it would resume auctions in response to a preliminary injunction issued by a Louisiana judge in June.
By Dino Grandoni and Brady Dennis 08/05/21
President Biden signed an executive order calling for half of all new cars and light trucks sold in 2030 to be electric or plug-in hybrids.
By Juliet Eilperin 07/15/21
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the Biden administration would cancel three old-growth timber sales in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. It would still allow Alaska Natives and small-scale timber operators to selectively log some old-growth trees.…
05/08/21
The Biden administration said it had reached an agreement to phase out use of the chemical, which had been shown to harm an array of endangered species...
By Dino Grandoni 08/18/21
EPA to ban chlorpyrifos, linked to neurological damage in young children, on crops such as grapes, broccoli and strawberries – reversing a Trump public health decision...
08/10/21
The Energy Department proposed a rule making lightbulbs more efficient, reversing a Trump policy. The proposal would affect bulbs used in 2 billion sockets in the U.S...
The list below highlights 14 of the many dozens of Trump administration rollbacks which were enacted during the years 2017-2020.
11/04/20
Today we begin the formal process of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. The U.S. is proud of our record as a world leader in reducing all emissions, fostering resilience, growing our economy, and ensuring energy…
By Rebecca Hersher
11/04/20
The Trump administration has formally notified the United Nations that the U.S. is withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. The withdrawal will be complete this time next year, after a one-year waiting period has elapsed.
By Ciara Nugent
11/04/20
The U.S.—the world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases—formally withdrew from the U.N.’s 2015 Paris climate change agreement on Nov. 4.
By Lisa Friedman
11/04/19
The Trump administration formally notified the United Nations on Monday that it would withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change, leaving global climate diplomats to plot a way forward without the…
By Hai-Bin Zhang, Han-Cheng Dai
09/27/17
Applying qualitative and quantitative methods, this article explains the driving forces behind U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, assesses the impacts of this withdrawal on the compliance prospects of the…
03/31/20
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalize updated Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and greenhouse gas emissions standards for passenger cars and light trucks and establish new standards,…
By Coral Davenport
05/30/20
The Trump administration is expected on Tuesday to announce its final rule to rollback Obama-era automobile fuel efficiency standards, relaxing efforts to limit climate-warming tailpipe pollution and virtually undoing the government’s biggest effort to combat…
By David Shepardson 6 MIN READ
03/31/17
President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday completed a rollback of U.S. vehicle emissions standards adopted under his predecessor Barack Obama and will require 1.5% annual increases in efficiency through 2026 - far weaker than the…
11/03/20
For 50 years, NRDC has been suing polluters in defense of our health and environment—no matter what industry or political stripe those polluters represent. And sometimes we sue the president. Since the Trump administration assumed office…
11/03/20
We are tracking environmental regulatory rollbacks of the Trump Administration. The table below links you to pages that describe the history of each rule and its current status and rollback efforts, including litigation and court…
09/17/20
President Trump has made dismantling environmental regulations a priority during his time in office. While some of these moves remain mired in legal uncertainty, the Trump administration has successfully unraveled the majority of Obama-era climate…
02/14/20
The Environmental Protection Network was launched in January 2017 to harness the expertise of former EPA career staff and confirmation-level appointees from multiple administrations to provide an informed and rigorous defense against efforts to undermine…
01/27/20
This is a database of regulations and other efforts undertaken by federal agencies to address the causes and impacts of climate change. Regulations administered by EPA are organized by topic; other materials are organized by their…
01/27/20
Laws written by Congress provide the authority for EPA to write regulations. Regulations explain the technical, operational, and legal details necessary to implement laws.
08/31/19
Maintaining regulations gives the biggest players a competitive advantage....
05/03/19
The Trump administration has promised vast changes to U.S. science and environmental policy—and we’re tracking them here as they happen.
01/22/19
The Columbia Law School Tracker identifies steps taken by the Trump administration and Congress to scale back or wholly eliminate federal climate mitigation and adaptation measures. The tracker is linked to a database of climate…
08/02/19
Over four years in office, the Trump administration has dismantled major climate policies and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals.
