U.S. EPA Ends Environmental Justice Considerations in Enforcement, Highlights Energy Production, Further Emphasizes Deregulatory Actions

On March 12, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an enforcement memorandum that provides important insights into the Trump administration’s EPA enforcement objectives and priorities. The memorandum eliminates the Biden EPA’s focus on Environmental Justice as an enforcement priority, reframes enforcement on sources in the energy sector, and announces EPA’s intent to revise the National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives for Fiscal Years 2024–27 (2024–27 NECIs) originally issued by the Biden administration. The revised initiatives are expected to match the direction provided by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s Powering the Great American Comeback Initiative and were released in concert with Administrator Zeldin’s deregulatory announcement that same day.

Here are three takeaways from EPA’s action.  

• EPA is ending its policy of broadly considering Environmental Justice in pursuing enforcement matters.  
  
  EPA directs its enforcement personnel to no longer consider Environmental Justice when engaged in enforcement and compliance assurance work, specifying that “no consideration may be given to whether those affected by potential violations … constitute minority or low-income populations.” In implementing that policy, EPA has disabled EJSCREEN, a tool previously used by EPA and stakeholders to determine whether certain actions affected disadvantaged communities. Any data previously provided by EJSCREEN will not be considered in enforcement decision-making. General considerations about whether certain communities are “vulnerable” or “overburdened” will be retained but must be limited to two topics: (1) any “physiological vulnerabilities of community members to the [relevant pollutant] and the attendant physiological effects” and (2) the level or amount of the relevant pollutant in a specific community “relative to others.” Any considerations outside of those two topics will require approval by the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA).
  
  
• EPA will promote the domestic energy sector by limiting EPA enforcement to violations that present an imminent threat, threaten worker safety, or disrupt production.  
  
  The enforcement memorandum makes clear that EPA enforcement and compliance assurance work should not disrupt the administration’s goal to promote energy development and power generation. Accordingly, EPA enforcement will not stop “any stage of energy production (from exploration to distribution) or power generation” unless there is an imminent and substantial threat to human health or “express statutory or regulatory requirement” that would require an enforcement action to stop such production.” Conversely, EPA personnel are to prioritize addressing violations that would threaten worker health and safety, disrupt energy production, or interfere with power generation. Any proposed enforcement action that would (1) “unduly burden or significantly disrupt” energy production or power generation; (2) shut down any energy production or power generation facility; or (3) otherwise “severely restrict capacity for energy production or power generation” will require advance approval by the Assistant Administrator for OECA.
  
  
• EPA outlines changes it will be making to its national compliance initiatives that will be the focus of EPA’s enforcement efforts over the next three years.
  
  The enforcement memorandum also lists specific current EPA national initiatives that it will revise to reflect the administration’s priorities.
  
  
  • Revised approach to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. One way the Biden NECI had sought to advance that administration’s climate goals was by prioritizing enforcement of certain GHG emissions regulations, such as rules governing methane emissions from oil and gas facilities. Consistent with broader administration goals to support energy development, enforcing those rules will no longer be prioritized. Similarly, enforcement relating to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) will be focused on addressing the unlawful import and sale of HFCs rather than their domestic production or use. Further, enforcement regarding landfills will not be directed to methane gas management but will focus on core landfill operating requirements.  
    
    
  • Revised approach to coal ash. Likewise, EPA will focus its enforcement of coal ash requirements on facilities at which there are truly imminent threats to human health. The enforcement memorandum ties this readjusted initiative to the broader Trump administration priority of increasing domestic energy production. Thus, any proposed enforcement action that would “unduly burden or significantly disrupt power generation” will require advance approval from the Assistant Administrator for OECA. 
    
    
  • Revised approach to air toxics. Similarly, in line with its other broad directive relating to Environmental Justice, the enforcement memorandum removes the Biden EPA’s particular focus on reducing air toxics in specified communities. Rather, enforcement and compliance assurance work will be focused on “the worst pollution from [hazardous air pollutants] affecting human health” without the prior administration’s Environmental Justice considerations.
    
    
  • Revised approach to chemical accident risks. The enforcement memorandum also revises EPA’s previous chemical accident risk enforcement focus on compliance with Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), often referred to as the CAA Risk Management Program. EPA will not prioritize enforcement actions and inspections at facilities using anhydrous ammonia and hydrogen fluoride, which are often associated with refining, but instead will consider enforcement at “high-risk facilities regardless of the regulated chemicals utilized at the facilities.”

It remains to be seen exactly how the directives of the enforcement memorandum will be applied by EPA in practice — or how EPA will approach enforcement generally, particularly if resources are constrained by budget limitations and reduced personnel. Regardless, the memorandum reflects EPA’s changing priorities in the new administration, including a focus on ensuring continued growth in the energy sector. It also highlights that EPA may deemphasize enforcement actions when there is not an imminent and substantial threat to human health or the environment. Stakeholders should monitor how these and other new directives will affect EPA enforcement actions already but also recognize that these adjustments reflect federal policy, and your state/local governments may take a different approach.