Region
February 1, 2026
EPA advances proposal to reverse emissions rule, steel trade groups cheer
Written by Ethan Bernard
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed reversing the Biden-era “Good Neighbor Plan,” which mandated federal limits on certain industrial emissions.
Steel trade groups supported the news because the proposed rollback could lead to more flexible emissions standards for mills.
In Phase 1, unveiled Wednesday, EPA will approve eight states’ revised air quality implementation plans.
Back in October 2015, EPA released eight-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards. It required states to develop and send the plans the agency. Additionally, the states needed adequate provisions prohibiting “significant contributions to nonattainment,” or emitting across state lines. In 2023, the Biden administration finalized the rule.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the recent action is a return to “cooperative federalism.”
“The Trump EPA has shown that when we advance cooperative federalism, we are better able to protect human health and the environment,” he said in a statement. “We are taking an important step to undo a Biden administration rule that treated our state partners unfairly.”
The states affected include Alabama, Arizona, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, and Tennessee.
The EPA said it will hold a 30-day public comment period on the proposal following publication in the Federal Register. If finalized, the states could implement their individual plans.
SMA, AISI applaud deal
Philip K. Bell, president of the Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA), backed the move.
“Steel manufacturers thank President Trump and Administrator Zeldin for taking a strong action once again to right-size federal regulations and promote economic growth,” Bell said in a statement.
“American steel production is the global standard for environmental protection, including extensive controls for nitrogen oxide,” he added.
The EPA is returning to a “legal cooperative framework” with the states in environmental regulation. This allows “the steel industry to focus on creating community-sustaining jobs,” Bell said.
Likewise, Kevin Dempsey, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), favored the EPA’s new program.
“The so-called Good Neighbor rule, promulgated by the previous administration in 2023, for the first time ever imposed nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission limits on steel mills in a misguided effort to reduce ozone levels in other states,” Dempsey told SMU in statement.
“Yet the data available show that NOx emissions from steel plants have negligible, if any, impact on downwind ozone levels,” he added.
Meeting the limits set by the 2023 rule would unnecessarily require extremely costly technologies for NOx removal. And implementation wouldn’t lead to any “meaningful environmental benefit,” Dempsey said.
“EPA’s action this week to revisit this regulatory overreach is an important step toward returning to common-sense regulatory standards and places these important decisions back in the hands of states where they belong,” he said.
The full text of the EPA document can be found here.
