Trump transition: Updates and impacts on the environmental and regulatory landscapes

The first month of President Donald Trump’s second term has seen a flurry of Executive Orders (EOs) impacting a swath of agencies, departments, and legislation. The environmental sector has been a particular focus of these actions.

In this alert, we provide an overview of key activity from the new administration that are set to impact the environmental regulatory landscapes.

Senate confirms key cabinet officials: The Senate has confirmed the three individuals who will implement President Trump’s environment and energy policies:

• Former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin was confirmed as the 17th Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)


• Former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum was confirmed as the 55th Secretary of the Interior, and


• Former Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright was confirmed as the 17th Secretary of the US Department of Energy.

Administrator Zeldin’s “Five Pillars”: On February 4, 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the Trump Administration’s EPA agenda for the first 100 days and beyond. This plan – or the “Five Pillars,” as referred to in an Agency press release – focuses on several key areas:

• Providing clean air, land, and water for every American


• Restoring American energy dominance


• Focusing on cooperative federalism, cross-agency partnership, and permitting reform


• Making the US the artificial intelligence (AI) capital of the world by powering data centers sustainably, and


• Protecting American jobs in the automobile sector.

Temporary pause on federal environmental litigation: Leadership at the US Department of Justice (DOJ) directed the Environment and Natural Resources Division to pause new and ongoing litigation, as well as other matters such as consent decrees, for review. The temporary pause is intended to allow the new administration time to reconsider its litigation posture in various high-profile environmental matters nationwide.

Environmental policy changes: On February 5, 2025, US Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memorandum ending the DOJ’s environmental justice programs, offices, and positions, thereby implementing President Trump’s week-one EO, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” The Bondi memorandum does not prohibit educational, cultural, or historical observances that celebrate diversity, recognize historical contributions, and promote awareness of such events. Examples of such events include Black History Month and International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Also on February 5, the Attorney General issued a memorandum rescinding several of the prior administration’s policies at the DOJ, including the prior Attorney General’s memorandum, “Actions to Advance Environmental Justice,” and the prior Associate Attorney General’s memorandum, “Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy.” The current Attorney General also rescinded any other memoranda, guidance, or similar directives that implement the prior administration’s environmental justice policies, including any such policies that may have been in place in US Attorneys’ Offices nationwide. These actions, as well as those outlined below, will almost certainly affect the legal positions that the DOJ asserts in future and ongoing litigation, as well as other matters before it, such as the negotiation of consent decrees.

Correspondingly, at the EPA, more than 150 employees who had worked on environmental justice matters were placed on administrative leave. The EPA is in the process of reevaluating its structure and organization to align with the above mentioned EO and other policy directives.

Courts find that the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) lacks the authority to promulgate binding regulations: President Trump’s EO, “Unleashing American Energy,” which we covered in our week-one client alert on the new administration, called for CEQ to propose rescinding its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. These regulations have traditionally required federal agencies to assess the environmental impacts of their proposed actions prior to proceeding with actions, such as federal decisions on permitting applications, land management, and highway builds.

Last week, a federal district court in North Dakota found that CEQ has no authority to promulgate NEPA regulations, including those finalized by the Biden Administration in 2024 and referred to by President Trump in the abovementioned EO. The court also found that CEQ had no authority for past revisions CEQ made to NEPA and that the last valid guidelines from CEQ were those set out under President Richard Nixon’s administration. See Iowa, et al. v. Council on Environmental Quality, et al. This decision follows that of the DC Circuit, which in December of 2024, held that CEQ’s NEPA regulations are unlawful. See Marin Audubon Society, et al. v. Federal Aviation Administration, et al. Follow-on lawsuits and additional action from the Executive Branch on CEQ’s authority and NEPA regulations are expected.

Temporary pause of federal funds: Recently, the acting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director issued a “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs.” This memorandum temporarily paused some federal assistance so that the new administration could review federal award programs and ensure they are consistent with its policy preferences, to the extent permitted by law. To that end, the memorandum directed all federal agencies to complete an analysis of their financial assistance programs by February 10, 2025 and report back to the OMB.

Special interest groups and various State Attorneys General filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the administration’s temporary funding pause on First Amendment and statutory grounds. As a result, a federal district court in Washington, DC paused that funding pause. The Trump Administration responded to this court order by rescinding the OMB memorandum but not the temporary funding pause itself.

This funding pause impacts several EPA grant programs, including the $7 billion Solar for All program and the $5 billion Climate Pollution Reduction Grants. These specific programs fund solar projects in low-income neighborhoods and provide grant money to state and local governments so that they may reduce emissions. At this time, it appears that some of the funding that was temporarily paused, including funding for the abovementioned programs, has been released.

EO responding to California wildfires: On January 24, 2025, President Trump signed an EO titled, “Emergency Measures to Provide Water Resources in California and Improve Disaster Response in Certain Areas.” This EO directs the US Secretary of the Interior and the US Secretary of Commerce to revisit the Biden Administration’s implementation of a Trump-first-term Record of Decision governing water management in California’s Central Valley Project (CVP), which is a complex network of dams and reservoirs providing water to roughly one-third of California’s agricultural land.

Over the years, the CVP has faced legal challenges related to balancing California’s need for water with potential impacts on wildlife. Such challenges include a lawsuit over the CVP’s long-term operations, including an increase in water supplies for Californians, as laid forth in the abovementioned Record of Decision.

Now, further affecting the state’s environmental policy, including as it relates to the CVP, President Trump’s EO directs the Secretaries of Interior and Commerce “to override existing activities that unduly burden efforts to maximize water deliver[y]” to Californians. The EO also directs Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to use his discretion in operating the CVP to deliver more water and produce additional hydropower to high-need communities – “notwithstanding state or local laws.”

Further, this EO directs the Secretary of the Interior to expedite exemptions under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for threatened and endangered species in the CVP. It also directs the Interior and Commerce Secretaries to identify all major water-supply and storage projects within the state for which the Secretaries have joint responsibility under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) or individual responsibility under the NEPA.

While these actions are intended to allow additional water to flow to locations impacted by California’s wildfires, they also intersect with several environmental statutes, as mentioned above. As such, the DLA Piper Environmental practice group, including our California-barred attorneys, will continue to monitor these developments and provide updates.

Separately, this EO directs relevant department heads to expeditiously provide an Integrated Federal Housing Strategy and Implementation Plan to OMB Director Russell Vought so that he may accelerate options for housing relief to survivors displaced by the California wildfires and by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. Further, to expedite rebuilding and community recovery, the EO directs Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell, and Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler to expedite roadway clearance or rebuilding in North Carolina, including the section of Interstate 40 in North Carolina that remains closed and the repair or rebuilding of roads and bridges on private property in areas of North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene.

EO on regulatory reform: On January 31, 2025, President Trump signed an EO titled, “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation.” This EO sets a regulatory cap for 2025, meaning that unless prohibited by law, whenever an executive department or agency – such as the EPA – proposes a new regulation (eg, rules, memoranda, administrative orders, guidance documents, policy statements, and interagency agreements), it must also identify at least ten existing regulations for repeal. Further, this EO directs department heads to ensure that the cost of all new regulations finalized during the federal government’s current fiscal year (which runs until September 30) must be significantly less than zero. Accordingly, the costs associated with new regulations will be offset by the elimination of repealed regulations.

To implement its regulatory reform, the OMB Director is to provide department heads with guidance addressing, among other topics, standards for the measurement and estimation of regulatory costs. This includes determining what 1) qualifies as new and offsetting regulations, 2) the costs of existing regulations that are considered for elimination, and 3) processes for accounting for costs in different fiscal years.

President Trump’s EO also revokes the Biden Administration’s revisions to OMB Circular No. A-4. This circular outlines OMB’s best practices for conducting cost-benefit analysis, which are used in rulemaking across the federal government. Among other changes, the Biden Administration revised Circular A-4 so that OMB could take the “global effects” of climate change into account when reviewing agency regulations. President Trump’s EO reinstates the prior version of Circular A-4 (which had been in place since 2003) and does not include discussion on global effects. This action, coupled with the above ten-to-one regulatory reform, will likely mean that fewer environmental regulations are finalized in aggregate and that costly or outdated environmental regulations will be repealed.

Looking ahead

After an eventful first few weeks, President Trump and his administration continue to evaluate, scrutinize, and act on notable environmental and energy matters. DLA Piper’s Environmental practice group monitors the Trump Administration’s actions in real time and assists clients in navigating the evolving regulatory landscape. For questions or requests for assistance, please contact the authors.