EPA Proposes Actions to Reconsider Biden-Era Rules

On March 12, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced 31 proposed actions to reconsider earlier EPA rules. The EPA has not yet initiated any formal action related to these proposals. Proposals particularly relevant to the propane industry include:

• Reconsideration of light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicle rules: The EPA will reconsider its emissions standards requirements issued by the Biden administration for light, medium, and heavy duty vehicles, as well as components of the 2021 Clean Trucks Plan, including the 2022 Heavy-Duty Nitrous Oxide rule.
• Reconsideration of the Social Cost of Carbon: EPA will revisit the use of the “Social Cost of Carbon,” including consideration of eliminating the calculation entirely from permitting or regulatory decisions. As we wrote in our summary of earlier Executive Orders, the Social Cost of Carbon is a methodology that only takes into consideration site emissions, not the full fuel cycle, and has been used to force a reduced usage of carbon in the U.S. without similar reductions in countries that are designated as developing nations.
• Reconsideration of Risk Management Program Rule: EPA will review the Risk Management Program, (RMP) which addresses chemical accident prevention at facilities. The agency’s risk management program added planning and reporting requirements for facilities and forced some to implement new safeguards. NPGA has commented on the RMP rule in the past, specifically focusing on the retail facility exemption.
• Plan to Work with States on SIPs to Improve Air Quality and Reconsider “Good Neighbor Plan”: EPA will consider ending the Good Neighbor Plan for the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards, issued in 2023 to address interstate transport of air pollution. The EPA posted a fact sheet describing its reasons for this proposed action on the Good Neighbor Plan website.

Questions? Contact Director of Regulatory Affairs and Associate General Counsel Kate Gaziano.