EPA Says It Will Protect Gulf Fishery With ‘Nonregulatory Actions’

An annual dead zone threatens the Gulf fishery each year, and the EPA is the country’s primary regulator of water pollution.

By Lisa Held

February 5, 2025

February 5, 2025 – In accordance with President Trump’s recent executive order, the EPA announced it has renamed the EPA’s Gulf of Mexico division to the Gulf of America division.

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In the announcement, newly confirmed EPA administrator Lee Zeldin first emphasized the Gulf as a source of oil and gas. Then, he said the agency is “ready to protect” one of the most productive fisheries in the world by “helping develop voluntary, nonregulatory actions and public-private solutions to improve water and habitat quality.”

The EPA is the country’s primary regulator of water pollution, but another executive order issued by Trump directs all agencies to deregulate. (It requires them to repeal 10 regulations, for example, for every new one proposed.)

Every year, runoff from agricultural fields that makes its way down the Mississippi River is the main contributor to a dead zone that kills aquatic organisms, harming fisheries. Oil spills and natural gas infrastructure also cause damage that threatens the fishery. It’s unclear what a new, “nonregulatory” approach might entail. (Link to this post.)

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Lisa Held is Civil Eats’ senior staff reporter and contributing editor. Read more >

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EPA Says It Will Protect Gulf Fishery With ‘Nonregulatory Actions’