Trump EPA needs to get smart

Published March 17, 2025 12:01am ET



Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced more than two dozen regulatory actions last week, almost all of which can help progress President Donald Trump’s promised “Golden Age of America.” But one of the actions will almost assuredly fail in court. We hope the EPA is not basing any other regulatory steps on this lost cause. Its limited resources would be better spent fighting other regulatory battles.

Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA must regulate any pollutant that can “reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.” The act defines a pollutant as “any physical, chemical, biological … substance or matter which is emitted into or otherwise enters the ambient air.”

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