EPA begins to dismantle Biden's Green New Deal

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced on Wednesday that he is launching a full-scale effort to dismantle Joe Biden's Green New Deal. Zeldin stated that the 31 actions he is taking to undo the previous administration's green agenda are akin to "driving a dagger into the heart of the climate-change religion."

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Zeldin asserts that reversing Biden's radical climate policies will lead to "ushering in America’s Golden Age." According to the EPA Administrator:

"These actions will roll back trillions of dollars in regulatory costs and hidden taxes. As a result, the cost of living for American families will decrease, and essentials such as buying a car, heating your home and operating a business will become more affordable. Our actions will also reignite American manufacturing, spreading economic benefits to communities."

"Unleashing the full power of the U.S." and continuing to protect the environment

According to Zeldin, his agency's goal with this change is to "unleash the full potential of the United States" while "continuing to protect human health and the environment." To marry the two, the EPA began by revising "regulations that have restricted all sectors of the economy, such as the illegal Clean Power Plan 2.0, mercury and air toxics standards, and 2.5 particulate levels."

Of course, one of the first measures implemented has targeted electric cars, one of the great obsessions of the previous administration: "Under President Trump guidance, the EPA also has ended the electric-vehicle mandate that threatened to destroy America’s auto industry and made cars cost more. Instead of forcing Americans to buy expensive vehicles they neither want nor can keep powered up, we are restoring choice to consumers and bringing automaking jobs back home in line with our Great American Comeback initiative. This commitment to our manufacturing base contrasts with Biden administration policies that shipped jobs overseas."

"Innovation and not strangulation"

Related to the above, "energy dominance stands at the center of America’s resurgence. By reconsidering rules that throttled oil and gas production and unfairly targeted coal-fired power plants, we are ensuring that American energy remains clean, affordable, and reliable. This isn’t about abandoning environmental protection—it’s about achieving it through innovation and not strangulation."

Zeldin expects that his plan will receive criticism and will be branded as a "retreat from environmental protection. Nothing could be further from the truth. Under the Trump administration, the EPA’s core mission remains safeguarding human health and the environment. The difference lies in how we achieve these goals—through partnership rather than prescriptive bureaucracy, through collaboration rather than regulation."

"Common sense policies"

In closing, Zeldin defined these measures as "common sense policies" that "preserve our environment and work for all Americans. As we unleash American energy, revitalize domestic manufacturing, cut costs for families, and restore the rule of law, we do so with the firm belief that America’s greatest days lie ahead."