The Trump Administration has signaled that it plans to expand energy production, expedite energy permitting, and ‘roll-back’ regulations and practices that impede growth. As part of this effort, Mr. Trump has named Lee Zeldin, a former GOP member of Congress, to lead the EPA.
Mr. Trump has stated that Mr. Zeldin wishes to “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions” while maintaining “the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.’’ Further, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, heads of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, have vowed to work with the Trump Administration to use executive action “to pursue three major kinds of reform: regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings.”
Tag: supreme-court
Trump, Part Two
The second Trump Administration will likely usher in a pitched battle between its attempt to ‘roll-back the Biden Administration’s environmental rules and policies and environmentalists’ defense of those same rules and policies. The outcome is anything but clear.
The Biden Administration still has some time and power to cement its legacy. In this interim transition period, it can, among other things, deny requests for reconsideration of promulgated rules, grant petitions of objection to Title V permits, and seek expedited rulings in multiple court cases across the country. It can also finalize proposed rules and policies. However, those actions can be undone, delayed, or stymied once the Trump Administration assumes control of the EPA and the Department of Justice.
Continue reading “Trump, Part Two”Supreme Court Deals a Blow to the Administrative State
The Supreme Court has overruled Chevron, its forty-year-old decision which has allowed administrative agencies to impose their regulatory will on industries, small businesses, and individuals by requiring that courts defer to an agency’s interpretation of a statute. According to EPA Administrator Regan, the decision “hits EPA extremely hard.”
In general terms, Chevron provides guidelines for a court to review an agency’s action pursuant to an act of Congress using a two-step framework. First, a court must assess whether Congress, in the statute, has spoken directly to the issue at hand and, if so, that is the end of the inquiry as the clear will and intent of Congress must be followed. However, if the statute is silent or ambiguous as to the agency action at issue, the court must, as the second step, defer to the agency’s interpretation if it is based on a permissible construction of the statute. As many statutes are silent or ambiguous as to an issue, Chevron allowed agencies to wield great power to act as long as the action was based on a permissible reading, even if the court did not necessarily agree with that reading.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Deals a Blow to the Administrative State”
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