The Environmental Protection Agency has moved the deadline for large industrial emitters to report their 2025 greenhouse gas emissions to March 10, 2027, pushing it back for a second time. An interim final rule setting the new date took effect Wednesday with its publication in the Federal Register, replacing an Oct. 30 deadline. Administrator Lee Zeldin signed the rule, and the agency posted it on Oct. 8, listing it on its rulemaking page ahead of formal publication.
Reports for 2025 were originally due March 31, 2026. In February the agency moved that date to Oct. 30, and the latest change adds a little more than four months, leaving the reports due nearly a year after the original deadline. The rule covers about 8,200 facilities, suppliers and carbon dioxide injection sites that file each year and changes nothing else in the reporting regulations.
The program has collected emissions data since 2010 from power plants, refineries, manufacturers and other large sources, generally those emitting at least 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, along with suppliers of fossil fuels and industrial gases. In September 2025 the agency proposed to end reporting for 46 of its 47 source categories, leaving only petroleum and natural gas systems, and proposed that no industry would have to file reports for 2025. EPA said at the time that ending the program would save businesses up to $2.4 billion in regulatory costs, and Zeldin called it "nothing more than bureaucratic red tape that does nothing to improve air quality."
The agency says it needs more time to finish that work. The proposal drew more than 50,000 comments, and the extension is meant to let EPA weigh them and take any final action before the new deadline. The rule also cites a practical problem. EPA usually opens its electronic reporting system about six weeks before reports are due, and it says it cannot have the system ready in time for Oct. 30.
EPA argues the later date works either way. If it ultimately keeps all or many of the current requirements, facilities will still have time to prepare and file; if it finalizes most of the proposed cuts, they will be spared wasted time and effort. The agency classifies the change as a deregulatory action under President Trump's executive order on deregulation and says it relieves regulatory burden on those that report.
Saying there was not enough time for notice and comment before the Oct. 30 deadline, EPA issued the extension without first seeking public input, relying on the Administrative Procedure Act's good-cause exception. It is now taking comments through Nov. 30 and will hold a virtual hearing on Oct. 29 if anyone requests one by Oct. 19. Petitions challenging the rule must be filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by Dec. 14.
The Environmental Defense Fund condemned the extension, calling it the administration's third deadline extension for the program. "A wide variety of state and local governments, businesses and communities use information from the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program to better understand and address the pollution that causes climate change," EDF senior attorney Edwin LaMair said in a statement that the Washington Examiner also reported. "Without it, we'll all be less equipped to prevent the worsening storms, wildfires and floods that are driving up insurance costs and putting Americans everywhere at risk."
The group is already in court over the earlier extension. In April, EDF and the Environmental Integrity Project filed a challenge in the D.C. Circuit, and together with NRDC, the Sierra Club, Earthworks and the Clean Air Task Force they petitioned EPA to reconsider. That case has been on hold since June at the two groups' unopposed request. The court directed the parties to propose next steps within 30 days after EPA takes final action on the rest of its proposal, and on Oct. 6 the agency reported that its proceedings were ongoing.
Until EPA acts on that proposal, the obligation to report 2025 emissions remains in place. Only the due date has changed.