Fifteen years. That's how long American businesses have been saddled with the additional cost and responsibility of collecting and reporting to the federal government nannies in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on their "emissions" of carbon, methane, and other gases in the normal process of manufacturing products and otherwise running a law-abiding business.
The EPA on Friday formally proposed ending longtime requirements for many polluters to collect and report emissions of heat-trapping gases responsible for climate change.
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The 15-year-old program requires reporting of carbon dioxide, methane and other emissions data from about 8,000 facilities.
You might well ask, "What kind of reporting are we talking about?" I have that answer for you, reader. Here's some insight into the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), from the EPA's homepage:
The GHGRP requires reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) data and other relevant information from large GHG emission sources, fuel and industrial gas suppliers, and CO2 injection sites in the United States. Approximately 8,000 facilities are required to report their emissions annually, and the reported data are made available to the public in October of each year.
Luckily, when President Trump signed that slew of executive orders on Day One of 47, scrapping wasteful and unscientific bureaucracy that puts its foot on the neck of American energy production in the name of the climate hoax was one of his directives. A Friday press release from the agency explains:
Today, in accordance with President Trump’s Day One executive orders, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a proposed rule to end the burdensome Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), saving American businesses up to $2.4 billion in regulatory costs while maintaining the agency’s statutory obligations under the Clean Air Act (CAA). Unlike other mandatory information collections under the CAA, the GHGRP is not directly related to a potential regulation and has no material impact on improving human health and the environment. If finalized, the proposal would remove reporting obligations for most large facilities, all fuel and industrial gas suppliers, and CO2 injection sites.
Read More: A Young Meteorologist Questioned Climate Change. The Scolds Tried to Silence Him.
Big News! The Climate Catastrophe That Wasn't.
The program began during fiscal year 2008 under then-President Barack Obama, with the funds duly appropriated by Congress. But it was in Nov. 2024, after Pres. Biden lost the election to Trump, that some of the more onerous burdens were quietly larded on through the green energy provisions of the badly-named Inflation Reduction Act:
November 18, 2024, the Biden EPA issued the final WEC rule to implement the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act’s methane tax provisions. Congress amended the CAA by adding section 136, “Methane Emissions and Waste Reduction Incentive Program for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems.” Among other things, CAA section 136 (c)-(g) required EPA to impose and collect a waste emission charge on methane emissions that exceeded specified thresholds from applicable facilities that reported more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e) of GHGs under the petroleum and natural gas systems subpart W source category.
Secretary Zeldin teased that this was on its way back in March, as my colleague Ward Clark wrote:
The winning continues apace: On Wednesday, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the EPA will be undertaking what is liable to be the largest deregulation effort in American history - for now.
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There is a list of proposed actions at the link, but let's just look at a few:
- Reconsideration of regulations on power plants (Clean Power Plan 2.0)
- Reconsideration of regulations throttling the oil and gas industry (OOOO b/c)
- Reconsideration of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards that improperly targeted coal-fired power plants (MATS)
As Zeldin said in a video announcing the 31 proposed changes, he declared without flinching, "Today, the Green New Scam ends."
Now, this isn't official official until after a public comment period, and lawsuits are expected from the Left closer to when the proposed changes would happen, according to the Axios piece linked up top. Regardless, it's happening, folks. Here was the EPA secretary on Friday:
“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.”
And all we needed to "change" was not the climate; it just took was a new president. I have a feeling the South Carolina steel workers in the image above, at an event earlier in 2025 with VP JD Vance and Sec. Zeldin, are cheering about this. In any case, this is what I voted for!
