The U.S. EPA is moving to end greenhouse gas emissions reporting requirements for electricity generators and dozens of other industrial sources. 

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the proposal Sept. 12, saying the reporting is not mandated under the Clean Air Act, has no bearing on the environment or public health, and imposes hundreds of millions of dollars a year in compliance costs on American businesses. 

Eliminating the requirement will help streamline operations, unleash American energy and advance EPA’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment, he said. 

More than 8,000 facilities and suppliers in 47 source categories are subject to the requirements of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. 

The move was not unexpected. Zeldin announced March 12 that EPA was reconsidering the program. 

It is the latest of many attempts to roll back regulations and protections, and it fits with the Trump administration’s skepticism regarding global climate change. 

“It costs American businesses and manufacturing billions of dollars, driving up the cost of living, jeopardizing our nation’s prosperity and hurting American communities,” Zeldin said Sept. 12. “With this proposal, we show once again that fulfilling EPA’s statutory obligations and Powering the Great American Comeback is not a binary choice.” 

Environmental advocates expressed dismay and vowed to fight. 

The Sierra Club countered that the program was in fact fully authorized under the Clean Air Act and said: “EPA cannot avoid the climate crisis by simply burying its head in the sand as it baselessly cuts off its main source of greenhouse gas emissions data.” 

The Environmental Defense Fund said it would fight the move because “the information shows the sources and scale of pollution that causes climate change, including from oil and gas facilities, landfills, and power plants, allowing for better decisions about how to address that pollution. The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program allows us to create policies that make life safer, healthier and more affordable for all Americans.” 

The proposed amendments to the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program run 114 pages. EPA will accept comments for 47 days after it is published in the Federal Register. 

EPA indicated in a fact sheet that it is proposing to permanently remove reporting requirements for 46 source categories because there is no statutory requirement for it to collect that data except for petroleum and natural gas emitters in Subpart W subject to the Waste Emissions Charge. 

(Subpart W is being undercut as well: EPA proposes to halt reporting for one of the 10 industry segments and suspend reporting for the other nine until 2034, as directed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.) 

EPA estimates the proposal will save businesses $303 million a year through 2033. That breaks down to $256 million for Subpart W sources and $47 million for the other 46 sources.