Trump Administration Targets EPA, Guts Jobs, Grants, Regulations and Warns of More
The Trump Administration comes out swinging against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with plans to dramatically reduce the agency’s workforce and cut some long-standing regulations.
First to the jobs. The agency already eliminated EPA offices related to diversity and environmental justice, with nearly 200 employees placed on administrative leave.
Among those closing: the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, the Environmental Justice Division within all EPA regional offices, and the Office of Inclusive Excellence within the Office of Mission Support.
The Environmental Protection Network (EPN), a group of former EPA employees, says the move could have devastating consequences.
“By shutting down environmental justice, Trump’s EPA is turning its back on protecting clean air and safe drinking water for every American, regardless of where they live or who they voted for,” said EPN executive director Michelle Roos.
And the cuts may be the tip of the iceberg. President Trump said in a cabinet meeting he intends to cut 65 percent of the EPA workforce, although the White House later clarified the statement to say the President meant he would slash 65 percent of the EPA’s “wasteful spending.”
Grants Cut
Also getting scrapped are grants. With the assistance of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the EPA says it canceled 400 plus grants in a fourth round of program cuts, bringing total taxpayer savings to more than $2 billion.
“Working hand-in-hand with DOGE to rein in wasteful federal spending, EPA has saved more than $2 billion in taxpayer money,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. “It is our commitment at EPA to be exceptional stewards of tax dollars.”
According to ABC News, EPA staffers were told they can no longer communicate with grantee partners they are supposed to supervise.
Meanwhile, DOGE must sign off on any EPA spending over $50,000.
“Greatest” Day of Deregulation
And the Trump Administration is taking an ax to regulations, announcing 31 regulatory actions for potential repeal.
Calling it the “greatest and most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history,” EPA Administrator Zeldin said, “We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more.”
In a flurry of news releases posted on the EPA news page, the agency detailed the regulations it wants to throw out. Many of them are climate change-related rules enacted by the Biden Administration.
Regulations on the chopping block include:
Reconsideration of regulations on power plants
Reconsideration of regulations throttling the oil and gas industry
Reconsideration of mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program that imposed significant costs on the American energy supply
Reconsideration of light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicle regulations that provided the foundation for the Biden-Harris electric vehicle mandate
Reconsideration of multiple National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for American energy and manufacturing sectors
Restructuring the Regional Haze Program that threatened the supply of affordable energy for American families
Reconstituting Science Advisory Board and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee
The agency is also going to work with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to deliver on President’s Trump’s promise to review the definition of “waters of the United States.”
None of these changes will take effect immediately and will require a long rulemaking process.
Environmental Health Fund executive director Amanda Leland said it would lead to “the greatest increase in pollution in decades’’ and is an “unlawful attack on the public health of the American people.’'
