13. Environmental Protection Agency · Notable
Restore the Trump EPA Once-In, Always-In position
Printed page 426 13. Environmental Protection Agency
“Restore the Trump EPA position on Once-In, Always-In (that major sources can convert to area sources when affiliated emissions standards are met).”
What has happened
- Done
The 2020 position is back in the regulations. EPA removed the 2024 provisions from the Code of Federal Regulations and restored the language of the November 2020 reclassification rule, so a major source that meets the applicable standards can again convert to an area source — including for the persistent and bioaccumulative pollutants the 2024 rule had carved out.
- Partially done
Congress voided the rule that had narrowed Once-In, Always-In. The President signed S.J.Res. 31, disapproving EPA's 2024 review of the major-source reclassification rule under the Congressional Review Act, which deprived that rule of legal force. The Code of Federal Regulations still carried its text.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- The 2020 rule is the Trump EPA’s Once-In, Always-In reversal: a major source of hazardous air pollutants that cuts its emissions below the major source threshold may reclassify as an area source. The 2024 rule carved persistent and bioaccumulative pollutants out of that, and the Congressional Review Act resolution wiped the carve-out out.
- Two actors, two steps: Congress voided the 2024 rule on 2025-06-20, and EPA’s conforming rule restored the 2020 text on 2026-01-02. The Status is done at the second, when the regulations actually read the way the Quote asks.
- Because the 2024 rule was disapproved under the Congressional Review Act, EPA may not issue a substantially similar rule without new legislation.
- Action
- restore
- Object
- Once-In, Always-In policy for major sources
- ID
- 1090