U.S. EPA to ‘Immediately’ Revise Enforcement Policies on Climate Change, Environmental Justice

In a wave of orders on 12 March 2025, the Trump administration outlined aggressive plans to roll back dozens of the nation’s most significant environmental regulations, including a scientific finding that serves as a key U.S. action to fight climate change.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared the undertaking as “the biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history.”

Among the flurry of directives, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency will update its enforcement policies stemming from the agency’s National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives (NECIs). The EPA claims that the revisions aim to reduce pollution enforcement at U.S. energy facilities and prohibit consideration of environmental justice in any agency action, according to a memo obtained by Politico.

NECIs are selected by the EPA every four years to focus resources on serious and widespread environmental problems, such as cleaner air and water quality, where federal enforcement can make the greatest difference. During the Biden-Harris administration, the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) proposed six “priority areas” for the agency’s NECIs for the fiscal years 2024–2027, focusing on environmental justice, climate change mitigation, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) pollution, among other issues. The initiatives were finalized in August 2023.