EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is creating chaos and confusion with massive attempts to rollback protections from pollution. He and President Trump are also inventing ways to go around the legal and regulatory processes to shortcut and evade requirements for pollution controls.
Zeldin has deviated far from EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment. He is attacking and undermining the bedrock, foundational U.S. law that protects our air: the Clean Air Act.
BLUE: The administration’s actions—such as policy attacks, agency purges, and the weakening of protections.
RED: The human costs of these actions, including job losses, health impacts, environmental harms, and threats to public safety.
POLICY ATTACK
January 21: President Trump issues the “Unleashing American Energy” executive order, which directs EPA to submit recommendations on the Endangerment Finding within 30 days.
AGENCY PURGE
January 24: Trump says he wants to “get rid of FEMA” during a briefing in North Carolina.
AGENCY PURGE
January 28: Acting EPA Administrator James Payne fires all members of EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee.
LEADERSHIP SHIFT
January 29: Lee Zeldin confirmed as EPA Administrator.
JOB LOSS
February 3: Over 1,000 EPA employees warned that they may be fired.
AGENCY PURGE
February 6: Trump administration announces plans to close EPA's Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights.
JOB LOSS
February 14: EPA fires nearly 400 probationary workers after an order from the Office of Personnel Management.
JOB LOSS
February 18: News breaks that hundreds of FEMA employees have been fired.
ENVIRONMENTAL HARM
February 20: Trump administration attacks the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires agencies to consider community and environmental impacts of infrastructure projects.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
February 26: News leaks that EPA is urging the White House to strike down the Endangerment Finding.
JOB LOSS
February 26: Trump says Zeldin expects to cut 65% of EPA staff. Later, Zeldin walks back this comment, saying he intends to cut EPA’s budget by 65%, not staff.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
February 27: Congress scraps the methane polluters fee.
JOB LOSS
February 27: Mass firings announced at NOAA, National Weather Service.
AGENCY PURGE
March 6: Legislation introduced in Congress to prohibit EPA from using the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), the science research program that assesses the toxicity of dangerous chemicals, and uses this information for rulemakings and in efforts to map the health risks of toxic chemicals.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
March 6: Congress introduces Congressional Review Act resolutions for the Reclassification of Major Sources as Area Sources Rule, which, if successful, would remove control requirements from some of the nation’s worst polluters: chemical plants, refineries, and pesticide manufacturers, to name a few.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
March 7: Congress introduces Congressional Review Act resolutions to reverse the ban on trichloroethylene (TCE), a highly toxic chemical found in industrial solvents and degreasers, adhesives and coatings used for arts and crafts, and cleaning products like carpet stain removers.
BUDGET CUTS
March 10: Zeldin announces the cancellation of over 400 grants totaling $1.7 billion designed to reduce air and pollution and protect communities from extreme weather.
BUDGET CUTS
March 11: Zeldin announces the cancellation of $20 billion in climate grants.
AGENCY PURGE
March 11: Zeldin releases a memo directing the closure of all of EPA’s environmental justice offices.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
March 12: Zeldin announces the “greatest day of deregulation” in U.S. history, promising to "reconsider” over a dozen clean air, clean water, and climate protections.
JOB LOSS
March 17: News leaks that the Trump EPA plans to eliminate its scientific research arm, potentially firing over 1,000 scientists.
AGENCY PURGE
March 21: Government agencies ordered to purge climate language from websites, prompting scientists to race to preserve information on climate change and the environment.
RESEARCH & SCIENCE IMPACT
March 24: News leaks that NIH ends funding to study the health impacts of climate change.
RESEARCH & SCIENCE IMPACT
March 24: NIH cancels major infectious disease grants essential to future pandemic preparedness.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
March 24: Congress introduces legislation attempting to undo the Biden administration’s strengthening of particle pollution standards.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
March 27: Trump administration announces “email exemptions” that would allow power plants, chemical plants, sterilizers, and other facilities to email the president for a free pass to release hazardous air pollutants.
ENVIRONMENTAL HARM
March 27: News breaks that Colstrip, the dirtiest coal plant in the nation, asked for a pollution exemption via email. In addition, the chemical industry asked for exemptions for all 218 chemical manufacturing facilities in the nation.
JOB LOSS
April 1: Trump’s HHS fires the entire staff of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP provided critical financial support to help people pay energy bills, such as life-saving air conditioning during extreme heat.
HUMAN HEALTH & SAFETY
April 4: News breaks that CDC division responsible for asthma control and lead poisoning effectively eliminated.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
April 4: Congress introduces Congressional Review Act resolutions to undermine California’s Clean Cars and Clean Trucks waivers, which allow California and other states to set health-protective tailpipe emissions standards.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
April 4: Trump administration ends FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, which helped communities prepare for natural disasters.
HUMAN HEALTH & SAFETY
April 7: The National Weather Service stops translating products for non-English speakers, threatening the accessibility of life-saving emergency alerts.
POLICY ATTACK
April 8: Trump signs executive order attacking state climate laws, including laws in California, New York, and Vermont.
POLICY ATTACK
April 8: Trump signs executive order attempting to reinvigorate the coal industry.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
April 8: Trump announces compliance exemptions for certain coal plants, letting these facilities spew emissions without complying with the recently updated Mercury and Air Toxics protections.
BUDGET CUTS
April 10: News breaks that Trump has cut funding crucial for the National Climate Assessment, a critical report for U.S. climate policy.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
April 10: News breaks that Trump’s EPA plans to stop collecting greenhouse gas emissions data from most polluters.
RESEARCH & SCIENCE IMPACT
April 11: News breaks that Trump administration wants to end NOAA’s work on climate change by abolishing its primary research office.
POLICY ATTACK
April 11: Trump signs "showerhead" executive order that rescinds rule without notice, flouting the notice-and-comment process in the Administrative Procedures Act.
HUMAN HEALTH & SAFETY
April 11: FEMA removes requirements for local disaster plans to address climate impacts and risks to vulnerable communities.
ENVIRONMENTAL HARM
April 14: Trump administration removes websites that track climate and pollution impacts from low-income communities, prompting lawsuit from environmental groups.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
April 15: After the Trump administration announces its decision to "reconsider" the Good Neighbor smog rule, federal judges call off oral arguments in an ongoing legal battle about the rule, dealing it another blow.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
April 15: Dozens of coal plants, including some of the nation's leading power producers, allowed to sidestep updated limits on toxic pollutants, including mercury and other hazardous air pollutants.
RESEARCH & SCIENCE IMPACT
April 16: EPA misses deadline to report U.S. climate emissions to United Nations for the first time in nearly 30 years.
ENVIRONMENTAL HARM
April 17: EPA weakens implementation of a Clean Air Act program geared toward clamping down on pollution that contributes to hazy conditions and poor visibility in national parks and wilderness areas.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
April 18: The Federal Highway Administration ends requirement that states report climate-heating greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles on highways.
JOB LOSS
April 21: Trump EPA issues layoff notices targeting hundreds of staffers in the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights and Regional Environmental Justice.
POLICY ATTACK
April 21: Zeldin says EPA will launch formal rulemaking effort to overturn the Endangerment Finding, the legal and scientific foundation of EPA’s ability to protect people in the U.S. from the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.
HEALTH & HUMAN SAFETY
April 21: EPA set to cancel grants aimed at protecting children from toxic chemicals like PFAS.
AGENCY PURGE
April 23: Trump administration eliminates the State Department climate office, which worked on engaging other countries in cutting climate pollution.
POLICY ATTACKS
April 23: Trump releases executive order ordering the Justice Department to repeal or amend regulations for EPA that rely on consideration of "disparate impacts," attacking a critical environmental justice tool.
WEAKENING PROTECTIONS
April 25: EPA hires climate skeptic Michael Bastasch, who has criticized calls to address global warming as "alarmist frenzy," as senior communications adviser (undermining efforts to combat climate change).
JOB LOSS
April 25: More than 1,000 NOAA staffers take early retirement after being offered a buyout, raising the number of staff reductions since February to more than 2,200 employees.
JOB LOSS
April 28: EPA urges staffers to quit voluntarily ahead of additional expected layoffs.
BUDGET CUTS
April 28: National Science Foundation cancels over 1,000 research grants in April, including grants for research addressing climate change and biodiversity loss (cutting critical climate and biodiversity research).
AGENCY PURGE
April 29: Trump administration dismisses all authors of the National Climate Assessment, a critical report addressing how global warming is impacting the country (removing expert input on climate science).
BUDGET CUTS
April 29: April 29: Court filing reveals that EPA is canceling nearly 800 environmental justice grants.