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How U.S. EPA Is Implementing President Trump's Regulatory Reform Agenda

Knowing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued the most and the costliest regulations over the last decade, President Donald Trump’s focus on rolling back federal agency rules appears to be hitting EPA the hardest.  Many of Trump’s executive orders during his first 100 days have focused on environmental matters; such as those that seek to expedite environmental reviews and permitting for infrastructure work and others that direct agencies to review (and then revise or repeal) key Obama-era rulemakings and practices (e.g., “Waters of the United States” definition, Clean Power Plan, mitigation policies and practices under the Endangered Species Act). 

EPA has launched a full-out regulatory review of the laws “on the books” – including the establishment of a Regulatory Task Force, consultations with stakeholders via a series of public meetings, and a request for written comment by May 15 (there are already more than 33,000 submissions in the online public docket).  The convergence of these many developments has presented a seemingly overwhelming mass of opportunities – and may prove to be a substantial challenge for the regulated community to navigate and for agencies to manage.

To this end, the president’s proposed budget cuts for EPA have the agency scrambling to identify how it would achieve the same goals at less cost or accomplish the same objectives more efficiently.  Budget aside, Trump’s comprehensive plan for reorganizing the executive branch calls for all federal agencies to begin taking immediate action to  eliminate, restructure, or merge programs or activities that are needlessly redundant, non-essential to the agency’s mission (i.e., should some functions be left to state or local governments or the private sector?).

With so many initiatives underway, what is AGC doing to keep its Chapters and members informed and to move its top agenda items to the front of the line?  Click here for an AGC UPDATE on important environmental actions taken by the Trump administration and how things are translating at EPA, with the president’s 100th day in office approaching.

For more information, contact Leah Pilconis at (703) 837-5332 or pilconisl@agc.org or Melinda Tomaino at (703) 837-5415 or tomainom@agc.org.

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