Washington, D.C. – President Trump signed into law legislation introduced by U.S. Senator John Curtis (R-UT) to overturn the Biden Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Review of Final Rule Reclassification of Major Sources as Area Sources. This rule prevented many industries vital to our nation’s economic and national security from reclassifying as Area Sources and discouraged efforts to reduce emissions. The Senator’s Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval received a vote of 52-46 in the Senate and 216-212 in the House prior to being sent to the President’s desk.
“The rule put forward under the former administration shut the door on progress. It told companies that no matter how much they invest to reduce harmful emissions, they would still be punished with permanent red tape. That’s not good science, it’s not good governance, and it certainly isn’t good for the environment,” said Senator Curtis.
Background:
Major Sources are industrial facilities—like chemical plants, refineries, or large factories—that emit high levels of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and are subject to strict pollution control standards. Area Sources, on the other hand, are facilities that emit smaller amounts of HAPs and generally have less strict pollution control requirements.
The Biden Administration’s EPA, in its Review of Final Rule Reclassification of Major Sources as Area Sources, required any facility reclassifying as an area source to remain subject to the strict major source pollution control standards if their facility emitted certain pollutants.
If a facility made substantial efforts to reduce emissions beyond what was required for a major source, but still couldn’t escape the major source category, there was no direct regulatory “reward” for that extra effort. By effectively making it impossible for many facilities to truly escape the major source standards even after significant emission reductions, the Biden-era rule ultimately disincentivized proactive efforts to reduce pollution below the thresholds to gain a lighter regulatory burden.
By overturning the rule, Senator Curtis’ legislation removes burdensome red tape on U.S. energy producers and industrial facilities while restoring incentives to reduce pollution.
Senator Curtis’ resolution was filed under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), a mechanism that allows Congress to overturn certain federal agency rules with a simple majority vote in both chambers. Importantly, a CRA resolution bars the agency that issued the disapproved rule from issuing a new rule that is “substantially the same” as the disapproved rule unless specifically authorized by subsequent law.
The full text of the legislation can be found here.