The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposed rule to end the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), a key source of transparency into industrial emissions through mandatory GHG disclosures from thousands of the most carbon-intensive facilities in the U.S.
In the agency’s announcement, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the rule “burdensome,” with the new proposal aligning with executive orders issued by President Trump on day one of his presidency, including a pledge to “to unleash American energy.” The EPA estimated that ending the rule will save businesses $303 million annually, with oil and natural gas companies as the main beneficiaries, representing nearly 85% of the savings.
Introduced by the Obama administration in 2009, and taking effect in 2010, the GHGRP required mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from sources that emit more than 25,000 metric tons of CO2e in the U.S. across most sectors, but excluding the agricultural sector. According the EPA, the collection of nationwide GHG data was intended to enable a better understanding of GHG emissions sources, and to help guide the development of policies and programs to reduce emissions.
The announcement marks the latest in a series of initiatives by the Trump administration and state-level Republicans to reduce transparency into emissions data, and to help spur the oil and gas industries, including actions such as proposing to scrap a scientific finding underlying key GHG emissions reduction regulations, canceling billions of dollars of funding for clean energy, ending the defense of the SEC’s climate reporting rule, and launching investigations into environmental reporting platform CDP and net zero target organization SBTi.
In its statement announcing the new proposal, the EPA noted that the GHGRP is not directly related to a potential regulation, unlike other mandatory collections under the Clean Air Act, meaning that there is no requirement “to collect GHG emission information from businesses nor is continuing the ongoing costly data collection useful to fulfill any of the agency’s statutory obligations.” The EPA added that the regulation “has no material impact on improving human health and the environment.”
The only remaining area that would be covered by the GHGRP under the proposal is reporting for the Waste Emissions Charge (WEC), although President Trump recently the application of the WEC to only begin data collection in 2034.
Zeldin said:
“Alongside President Trump, EPA continues to live up to the promise of unleashing energy dominance that powers the American Dream. The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is nothing more than bureaucratic red tape that does nothing to improve air quality. Instead, it costs American businesses and manufacturing billions of dollars, driving up the cost of living, jeopardizing our nation’s prosperity and hurting American communities. With this proposal, we show once again that fulfilling EPA’s statutory obligations and Powering the Great American Comeback is not a binary choice.”
