On March 26, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a temporary "enforcement discretion policy," relaxing some regulatory requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move followed a request from the American Petroleum Instiute, an oil-industry trade group, seeking "non-essential compliance discretion," citing disruptions arising from quarantine and other measures taken to deal with spread of the disease. The EPA said it would indefinitely waive penalties for most pollution rule violations as long as they proved to be related to the pandemic.
One former EPA official told Inside Climate News the move was effectively "a license to pollute." A law firm predicted that any legal challenges would "face significant legal hurdles" given the nature of the temporary measures.