Again and again over the last 18 months, the Trump administration has doubled down on its assault on public health and environmental protections. Since March, we’ve seen them weaken protections for toxic chemicals, like the cancer-causing sterilizer ethylene oxide and PFAS “forever chemicals,” fire an entire science advisory board, and delay the phaseout of climate-warming hydrofluorocarbons. And that is just the start.
Tell Congress: Hold Zeldin Accountable for Corrupting EPA’s Mission
At EPA especially, Administrator Lee Zeldin continues to make easing restrictions on polluters his priority, at the expense of his agency’s mission to protect public health and the environment. Read on for a summary of some of EPA’s most corrupt and harmful decisions from the last three months, each one a shocking step backward for clean air and climate stability.
- Sacrificing our children to potential chemical disaster. In March, Zeldin proposed rolling back the 2024 Safer Communities by Chemical Accident Prevention Rule, which ensures that toxic chemical facilities adhere to safety standards to prevent deadly accidents, which happen more than once every two days across the U.S. This rule doesn’t just protect our homes and families: More than a third of U.S. children attend school near a hazardous chemical facility, and half of these children are in schools near more than one chemical facility. Why on earth would we eliminate a rule meant to protect these kids from a very real and shockingly frequent threat?
- Greenlighting more toxic pollution from the plastics industry. EPA also issued a proposal in March to remove “advanced recycling” plastic incineration from Clean Air Act protections. If finalized, this dangerous proposal would allow these incinerators to smother communities with unlimited amounts of toxic chemicals released from burning plastic, like dioxins, lead, mercury, and other potent carcinogens. It’s horrifying, and we’re outraged. That’s why more than 20,000 Moms members sent comments to EPA urging them to rethink this disastrous policy before the comment period closed in May.
- Delaying protections for deadly tailpipe pollution. Earlier this month, EPA proposed a delay in implementing the 2024 Clean Cars Standards for two years. This delay will mean thousands more asthma attacks and lives lost, and potentially billions in additional U.S. health care costs. Feel free to blink; you won’t miss this pattern. Under Zeldin, EPA has opened doors wide to more and more dangerous pollution, deadly disease, and astronomical medical bills.
- Hitting mute on public input on major industrial projects. Under current law, companies must get air pollution permits before breaking ground for facilities from AI data centers to power plants to chemical factories. This process gives people a say in industrial development that could lock our families and neighborhoods into decades of added health risks. So naturally, Zeldin’s EPA wants to strip us of this opportunity. It’s another deeply corrupt move by a reckless agency bent on prioritizing polluters over people.
Tell Congress: Hold Zeldin Accountable for Corrupting EPA’s Mission