By Jarrett Renshaw and Siddharth Cavale
WASHINGTON/NEWYORK, Oct 6 (Reuters) – The Environmental Protection Agency official who has overseen some of the Trump administration’s most consequential efforts to roll back climate and air pollution regulations resigned effective last week, the agency said on Tuesday.
Aaron Szabo, an attorney who led the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation since 2025 as an assistant administrator, departed on Friday. The EPA had previously said Szabo would leave in July but asked him to remain longer. Reuters reported at the time that his planned move to a law firm had fallen through.
At EPA, Szabo oversaw programs covering air pollution, vehicle emissions, blending gasoline with renewable fuels and other major Clean Air Act provisions.
During his tenure, the EPA moved to repeal its 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, a step that could substantially limit its authority to regulate climate pollution. The office also worked on rolling back emissions rules covering power plants, vehicles and the oil and gas industry.
The EPA, in an email to Reuters, thanked Szabo for his “tremendous work” advancing President Donald Trump’s agenda. The agency said his office helped deliver “the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history” and valued deregulatory cost savings during Szabo’s tenure at more than $1.6 trillion.
The EPA said Justin Schwab, who serves as a senior adviser to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, has been nominated to replace Szabo.
Szabo and Schwab did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw in Washington, Siddharth Cavale in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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