Tracking the Environmental Harms of Trump Actions

• February 2025: Trump blocked funding that was being disbursed to farmers, cities, and Native American tribes to offset Colorado River conservation and water quality efforts. This freeze will accelerate the shrinking of the river’s water supply and increase pollution in the water, which provides drinking water for one in ten Americans and a huge percentage of water needed for farming and raising cattle. 
• February 2025: Trump blocked funding to a non-profit group in New Orleans that plants trees to replace those lost in hurricanes over the past two decades. The city has one of the lowest tree canopy rates in the country and suffers as a result – sufficient tree cover makes a tangible difference in ambient temperature, air conditioning costs, air quality, and flood resilience. The non-profit that takes on most of this work has had to cancel contracts for tree seedlings and rescind job offers as a result of the funding freeze. This is only one example of many cities that lost funding for tree planting. 

• February 2025: Trump blocked funding for school districts who had been promised money to replace their entire fleet of diesel school buses with electric school buses. These districts, including the Ritenour School District in St. Louis, MO, were aiming to replace the buses because diesel exhaust increases cancer and asthma risk, is linked to negative cognitive developmental impacts, and emits high levels of CO2 into the atmosphere.

• May 2025: The EPA cut off funds intended to provide clean drinking water to a rural Black community in Maryland, California farmworkers, and tribal villages in Alaska. It also cut off funds that  would have addressed cancer-causing radon gas in rural Utah homes and support air pollution monitoring in Louisiana communities suffering from high rates of respiratory illness in the petrochemical corridor. 

• June 2025: Trump revoked a Biden-era memorandum instructing federal agencies to restore salmon, steelhead, and other fish native to the Columbia River Basin. Biden’s memorandum was issued in part to uphold the U.S. government’s duties under treaties with tribal nations. In addition to being deeply rooted in the traditions and spiritual beliefs of Indigenous peoples, restoring native fish like salmon to the Columbia River Basin would have improved the health of local habitat and waters via reestablishing ecosystem processes supported by keystone species. 

• June 2025: The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has terminated over 145 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)-focused federal grants, totaling $148.6 million. These included funding for disadvantaged farmers using conservation practices, as well as initiatives promoting equitable access to green spaces, and fair access to land, capital, and market opportunities for underserved producers in the Bay Area. As noted by Climate Action Campaign (CAC), “cutting this type of funding further entrenches existing inequalities within the agricultural sector and limits the ability for farmers to effectively address climate and other environmental issues.” DEI and environmental justice initiatives are essential to effective sustainability efforts. They help ensure that benefits are shared widely and that those most affected by climate change, pollution, and environmental degradation are prioritized. Environmental injustice disproportionately impacts low-income and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, who are more likely to lack access to clean drinking water and green spaces, live near polluting industries, and experience climate-related disasters such as wildfires, intense storms, and flooding. Defunding programs designed to support these communities leaves millions more exposed and unprepared in the face of escalating climate threats.

• July 2025: The Department of Energy (DOE) rescinded the Weatherization Program Notice 22-10 policy “considering social cost of carbon and other non-energy impacts within WAP. ” Issued by the DOE in October 2022, Weatherization Program Notice 22-10 urges WAP grantees to consider two types of non-energy impacts (NEI) from weatherization when determining how to implement a home retrofit: the Social Cost of Carbon and Water Usage Reduction. Including NEIs allows programs to offer more comprehensive and impactful services. For example, considering the Social Cost of Carbon and water usage in WAP can enable the adoption of measures that might not save much energy on their own but still deliver important environmental or social benefits, such as reduced emissions, water conservation, and electrification. The DOE’s decision to rescind Weatherization Program Notice 22-10 is a failure to recognize the broader social, environmental, and health benefits of weatherization efforts, potentially limiting the ability of WAP to implement more holistic, equity-driven energy solutions for low-income households.

• August 2025: Trump blocked funding to rebuild a Tennessee hospital in Unicoi County destroyed by Hurricane Helene. The move would leave “the county without any hospitals or emergency rooms,” leading to serious health risks in the community.

Oil and Gas Industry

• January 2025: Trump ordered rapid fossil fuel expansion and prioritization of LNG projects in Alaska. The main Alaska LNG project in question would result in over 50 million metric tons of CO2 emissions annually, threaten wetlands, forests, and permafrost habitats, and threaten endangered species including beluga whales, polar bears, and caribou. 
• February 2025: DOE Secretary Chris Wright issued an export authorization for the Commonwealth LNG project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana that will have an export capacity of 1.2 billion cubic feet per day. This project is predicted to add 3.6 million tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere every year, the equivalent of adding 700,000 new cars to the road, and release over 500 tons of nitrogen dioxide per year, a dangerous air pollutant. Low-level exposure to nitrogen dioxide irritates the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs, leading to coughing, shortness of breath, tiredness, and nausea. High levels of nitrogen dioxide exposure can cause rapid burning, spasms, and swelling of tissues in the throat and upper respiratory tract, reduced oxygenation of body tissues, a build-up of fluid in the lungs, and death. Longer term exposure to elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide could contribute to asthma and increase susceptibility to respiratory infections. People with asthma, children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to the health effects of nitrogen dioxide.
• April 2025: The Department of the Interior adopted emergency permitting procedures to fast-track the development of fossil fuel resources in response to Trump’s National Energy Emergency declaration, which framed fossil fuel expansion as a critical part of safeguarding America’s national and economic security. The Interior Department will invoke emergency powers under the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act to speed up the permitting process. The new procedures are expected to reduce multi-year permitting processes down to just 28 days. Interior’s plans to expedite fossil fuel projects will likely result in a surge of new extraction projects, even as the U.S. already leads the world in oil and gas production. This is happening at a time when we need to halt all new developments to effectively limit global warming. Furthermore, environmental advocates warn that the Interior Department’s actions could harm public lands and water resources, jeopardize the existence of federally protected species, and undermine the public’s ability to participate in decisions about projects affecting their communities. 
• April 2025: The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) implemented new parameters that will allow companies to drill from multiple reservoirs at higher pressure levels, expanding the allowable pressure differential from 200 psi to 1500 psi. The rule is expected to increase offshore oil production from the Gulf of Mexico by about 10%, which would translate to over 100,000 barrels per day production increase over the next 10 years. Increased offshore drilling raises the risk of oil spills, which harms animals and habitats such as wetlands and oyster reefs. Habitat losses could disrupt migration patterns and life cycles of animals and result in erosion of shorelines. Increased production could also mean more abandoned and orphaned oil wells. When an operator shuts down an oil well—usually because it is no longer profitable—the company is required to remove its equipment and help restore the area damaged by its operations. However, this does not always happen. There are over 3.5 million abandoned oil and gas wells across the United States and approximately 14 million Americans live within a mile of one of the wells. Abandoned oil wells are dangerous because many remain uncapped and leak oil, methane, and other pollutants into oceans and the atmosphere every day. Abandoned wells typically emit methane, a highly combustible and potent greenhouse gas. However, wells can also emit carcinogenic benzene and hydrogen sulfide or H2S, an extremely deadly gas that can kill humans even during short exposures.
• May 2025: The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced it would expedite oil and gas leasing on public land. (The action does not apply to tribal lands.) For the past two years, the lease parcel review process took between 8-15 months. Now, the goal is to complete the entire lease parcel review process, from the start of scoping to the lease sale, within 6 months. Producing oil and gas on public land contributes to climate change via emissions from drilling, venting, transportation, processing and combustion of fossil fuels. According to Resources for the Future, if oil and gas leasing returns to its fastest pace in the past decade (which was in 2019 under Trump), it could add a cumulative 1.2 billion metric tons of CO₂-equivalent greenhouse emissions between 2024 and 2050. 
• June 2025: Interior Secretary Burgum and Energy Secretary Wright secured a deal between several U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) companies and Tokyo-based JERA Co. to sell up to 5.5 million tons of American LNG annually over the next 20 years. LNG emits methane at every stage of its life cycle—a greenhouse gas that is 85 times more potent than carbon dioxide over the first 20 years after release. LNG is especially carbon-intensive because it requires significantly more energy to chill, ship, and reheat compared to ordinary (unliquefied) gas, and it carries a higher risk of methane leaks along the way. Locking in LNG for decades to come makes it even harder to meet the 1.5°C global warming limit set by the 2015 Paris Agreement. Expanding fossil fuel projects in this context is not just short-sighted—it’s profoundly destructive.
• October 2025: Interior Department reopened 1.56 million acres of Alaskan Coastal Plain to oil and gas leasing. This area is part of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge and has previously not been developed. Interior Secretary Burgum also issued permits that will allow the Ambler Road to be built, which will pave the way for potential new mines to be built. This road has been opposed by 88 Alaska Native Tribes and First Nations and will significantly harm native animal and plant species, including caribou, which the Gwich’in people have stewarded and depended on for generations. These announcements will have disastrous effects; Alaska’s Arctic is already warming three to five times faster than the rest of the planet, which has already increased the rate of thawing permafrost, melting sea ice, and coastal erosion. 
• October 2025: Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed the final export authorization for the Venture Global LNG project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. This authorizes exports of up to 3.96 billion cubic feet per day of liquefied natural gas. Venture Global’s Louisiana export facilities have been found to be in “near continuous” violation of the Clean Air Act for at least the past three years, flaring planet-warming methane, cancer-causing benzine, and other toxic contaminants. A Biden-era Energy Department report found that increasing U.S. natural gas exports will increase the cost of natural gas by over 30% in the U.S. and will worsen climate change and harm public and environmental health.

Coal Industry

• April 2025: The Interior Department announced it would begin revitalizing the coal mining industry by ending its moratorium on federal coal leasing, reopening federal lands in Montana and Wyoming for coal mining, and lowering royalty rates for coal companies. When burned, coal releases airborne toxins and pollutants that cause asthma, brain and heart problems, cancer, and premature death, and Trump also announced in April that coal-fired power plants would be exempt from complying with new EPA emissions standards for air pollutants for two years beyond the original compliance date of July 2027. Coal plants also already produce more than 100 million tons of coal ash per year, which typically ends up in waterways where it contaminates the water supply for all living creatures, and as of 2025, coal accounted for roughly one quarter of all carbon emissions in the U.S. Expanding the production and burning of coal will have devastating impacts. 
  • September 2025: Interior Department announced the opening of 13.1 million acres of federal land for coal leasing. Coal mining and processing on public lands causes erosion, destroys critical wildlife habitats, deteriorates drinking water, and harms human health. A July 2025 study found that when one coal plant near Pittsburgh was shut down, emergency visits for respiratory issues decreased by 20% in the month following the closure. 
  • October 2025: Department of Energy announced a $625 million investment in America’s coal industry. These funds are intended for recommissioning coal power units, instituting water management systems that will enable coal plants to have longer service lives, and developing natural gas “cofiring” systems to increase coal production and processing. See above for the multitude of real-life harms that will be caused by increased coal production. 
  • November 2025: Department of Energy announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity for $100 million to modernize and refurbish existing coal plants. These funds will be used to increase the lifetime of coal plants and invest in coal-gas co-firing technology. Coal miners in the U.S. are already suffering from increasing rates of black lung disease, and funds that help coal plants to be more profitable will only increase the carbon emissions, air pollution, and toxic byproducts of coal.
• May 2025: In accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order entitled “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry”, the DOE announced the designation of (metallurgical) coal used in the production of steel as a critical material under the Energy Act of 2020. Issued in April 2025, the executive order directed the Secretary of Energy to evaluate whether coal used in steelmaking meets the criteria for a “critical material” as defined by the Energy Act. If so, the Secretary was instructed to begin the process of adding coal to the DOE’s Critical Materials List. Under the Act, a critical material is defined as “any non-fuel mineral, element, or substance that (i) faces a high risk of supply chain disruption and (ii) plays an essential role in energy technologies, including those that generate, store, transmit, or conserve energy.” President Trump’s order built on Executive Order 14241 by aiming to (a) designate coal as a critical mineral eligible for federal funding and deregulation, and (b) declare its use vital to U.S. national and economic security. Globally, around 70% of steel is produced using metallurgical coal. However, this method has significant environmental and public health consequences. For every tonne of steel produced, approximately 2.3 tonnes of CO₂ are emitted. If current practices continue, coal-based steelmaking could consume nearly 25% of the world’s remaining carbon budget by 2050. An October 2024 report by Industrious Labs highlights the health impacts: coal-based steel production is projected to cause between 460 and 892 premature deaths, 443 respiratory-related emergency room visits, and 250,504 asthma cases in the U.S. each year.
• November 2025: The Department of Energy used emergency powers to extend a Michigan coal plant’s life beyond its intended retirement date for the third time. The order extends the burning of coal at this plant, which lies on the shores of Lake Michigan, for another 90 days. The plant was intended to close in May as Consumers Energy, the company which owns the plant, attempted to transition to “greener” electricity generation. Energy Secretary Chris Wright intervened, claiming the plant’s operation would be critical to avoid blackouts with rising demand from AI data centers and manufacturing. Consumers Energy said it lost $615,000 per day running the plant through the summer and would pass those costs on to consumers in 11 states.

Timber Industry

• March 2025: Trump ordered “immediate expansion” of American timber production across 280 million acres of forest. This order also directs the circumventing of critical endangered species protections for over 400 species using unspecified emergency powers. A single tree is understood to store as much as 28,000 pounds of CO2 in its lifetime, so this order will increase the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, endanger critical species, and increase fire risk. 

Nuclear Industry

• May 2025: In a series of executive orders, President Trump promoted the expansion of nuclear energy by ordering the Department of Energy to build nuclear energy generation capacity, directing the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to advance the use of nuclear energy generation in military installations and for AI data centers, and reforming nuclear reactor testing procedures and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Radioactive waste, which poses significant health and environmental risks, is produced at every step of the nuclear power process, and that waste remains radioactive for thousands of years. According to the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, “For every pound of ‘enriched’ uranium that goes into a nuclear reactor, there are, on average, over 5,000 pounds of radioactive waste…produced in the mining and processing of uranium.” In addition to creating radioactive waste, nuclear energy is highly water-intensive, contributes to thermal pollution which could be deadly for aquatic species, and requires uranium mining which increases lung cancer rates.

Data Centers

• October 2025: Energy Secretary Chris Wright directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to initiate rulemaking to accelerate the production and interconnection of data centers to help the U.S. “lead in AI innovation.” AI data centers use an extraordinary amount of energy, which outstrips current electricity supplies. It’s estimated that consumers will see 70% increases in electricity bills by 2029 due to the energy demand from AI data centers. Data centers also strain fresh water supply, using millions of gallons per day per data center, and has already been linked to increased rates of rare and deadly cancers.

• January 2025: Trump ordered the end to offshore wind leasing. Wind power currently provides for 10 percent of the nation’s electricity. A 2024 study found that developing 32 planned or proposed offshore wind farms in the Atlantic and Gulf would lead to a decrease in emissions and pollution such that they would prevent 2,100 premature deaths each year, have a 14:1 benefit to cost ratio, reduce U.S. emissions by 5 percent by 2035 and improve fine particulate air quality by 5 percent, and decrease electricity and gas bills. These benefits will be off the table with Trump’s new order. 
• April 2025: The Department of Commerce’s Patent and Trademark Office officially terminated its Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program, which launched in 2022 with the goal of accelerating review of patent applications for innovations that could reduce emissions and mitigate climate change. It’s hard to know exactly what kind of innovations the country will miss out on, but the administration has made clear that it doesn’t want to know.
• June 2025: In its Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) volume requirements for 2026 and 2027, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced regulatory changes that eliminated renewable electricity from qualifying under the program. The RFS program (authorized by the Clean Air Act) is a federal program that requires transportation fuel, home heating oil, or jet fuel sold in the U.S. to include a minimum volume of renewable fuels. The goals are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, expand the renewable fuels sector, and reduce U.S. reliance on imported oil. A study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that transitioning to renewable electricity would substantially reduce emissions: CO₂ from direct combustion fell by about 95% in a 90% renewable electricity scenario by 2050, compared to a low-demand baseline.  Using renewable electricity would also have major health benefits by addressing air and water pollution caused by coal and natural gas plants, which is linked to breathing problems, neurological damage, heart attacks, cancer, premature death, and other serious conditions. Additionally, the renewable energy industry is more labor intensive than the fossil fuel industry, meaning it creates more jobs per unit of electricity generated. By removing renewable electricity from the RFS program, the EPA has missed an opportunity to reduce a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, improve public health, and generate employment in a growing sector.
• July 2025: In an executive order entitled “Ending Market Distorting Subsidies For Unreliable, Foreign Controlled Energy Sources”, President Trump ordered the Department of Treasury (USDT) to immediately implement the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which according to Columbia University’s Climate Backtracker “repealed certain tax credits for wind and solar energy.” Trump also instructed USDT to identify and eliminate any regulations or policies that give “preferential treatment to wind and solar facilities in comparison to dispatchable energy sources.” In the executive order, Trump claimed wind and solar energy development “displace[d] affordable, reliable, dispatchable domestic energy sources, compromise[d] our electric grid, and denigrate[d] the beauty of our Nation’s natural landscape.” This echoes a July 2025 Department of Energy (DOE) report that claimed that renewable energy would increase the risk of power outages by a factor of 100 and could not keep up with the demands of AI data centers. Trump also argued wind and solar energy subsidies undermined national security because it made the U.S. dependent on supply chains controlled by “foreign adversaries.” By reducing reliance on combustion-based electricity generation, wind and solar energy yield “air-quality, public health, and greenhouse gas emission benefits.” A study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (funded by the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy) found that between 2007 and 2015, wind and solar energy reduced 1.0, 0.6, and 0.05 million tons of SO2, NOx, and PM2.5 emissions respectively. The reduced emissions prevented between 3,000 and 12,700 premature deaths, which, alongside other public health impacts, were estimated to be worth between $30 billion and $113 billion. Trump’s decision to go after wind and solar energy will put thousands of lives at risk. 
• October 2025: Department of Energy announced the cancellation of $7.5 billion for innovative clean energy projects. These projects included efforts to expand battery recycling and heat pump technology and improve grid reliability. The results of these canceled projects will be higher energy prices and a less reliable energy grid. 
• November 2025: Trump cuts and attacks on the solar and storage industry have been found to threaten over 500 projects totalling more than half of all new power planned to be built through 2030. A new report out from the Solar Energy Industries Association found that new Interior Department policies to put solar and wind energy through stricter political review have threatened over 500 projects totaling almost 116 gigawatts of capacity. These delays or potential cancellations will increase energy prices and lead to more fossil fuel production and pollution.

• May 2025: The EPA withdrew a November 2024 rule that required the agency to impose an annual fee on methane emissions from petroleum and natural gas infrastructure that surpassed certain thresholds established by Congress. Had the methane fee been in effect from March 2022 to March 2023, the top 25 oil and gas producers in the U.S. would have faced a combined liability of up to $1.1 billion. For 2024, the EPA was directed to charge $900 for every metric ton of methane above the threshold. Without this fee, the government will lose revenue, and polluting companies will have less of an incentive to reduce emissions from fossil fuel infrastructure, including venting and flaring. Rising methane emissions means more air and earth-warming pollution which is detrimental to human health and the planet. 
• February 2025: In response to Executive Order 14154 entitled “Unleashing American Energy” requiring the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to “propose rescinding” its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations and form a working group to accelerate permit approvals, the agency removed its regulations implementing NEPA. In its interim final rule effective April 11, 2025, the CEQ stated it had “serious concerns about its statutory authority to maintain its NEPA implementing regulations.” Although NEPA does not require agencies to adopt the least environmentally-harmful alternative, it has played a critical role in shaping more informed and environmentally conscious decision-making. NEPA ensures the public has informed access and input into federal agency decisions that could affect people’s lives and the environment. Without these regulations, corporations and agencies may fast-track harmful projects without fully considering their impact on nearby communities, public health, or the climate. 
• May 2025: The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) withdrew its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Guidance on Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change. The guidance, issued by the CEQ in January 2023, helped agencies analyze greenhouse gas and climate change effects of their proposed actions under NEPA. By withdrawing guidance, the CEQ is going against its mandate and disempowering ordinary Americans by weakening their ability to influence decisions that impact public health, ecosystems, and climate resilience.
• July 2025: A flurry of federal agencies coordinated a sweeping attack on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). On that day, the Department of Transportation (DOT),  the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Department of Commerce (DOC), the Department of Interior (DOI), the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) all announced they were either revising, modifying, or removing NEPA procedures and regulations. Please stay tuned for more information about NEPA’s demise from RDP later this summer. 
• June 2025: The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has launched its Categorical Exclusion Explorer, a tool that allows users to search for possible exclusions from the procedural requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) across federal agencies. The CEQ’s new tool will make it easier for agencies to bypass environmental review regulations that preserve nature, protect local communities, and promote environmentally conscious decision-making. 
• The Department of Interior (DOI) adopted 33 categorical exclusions under National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Section 109. Section 109 of NEPA, added through the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, permits a federal agency to adopt a categorical exclusion from another agency’s NEPA procedures, as long as it applies to a similar category of proposed actions. 
• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) adopted 27 categorical exclusions under National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Section 109. Section 109 of NEPA, added through the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, permits a federal agency to adopt a categorical exclusion from another agency’s NEPA procedures, as long as it applies to a similar category of proposed actions. 
• June 2025: The Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced nearly $4.9 billion in available funding for major bridge projects, alongside up to $500 million for repairing or replacing bridges in rural areas, but removed climate change and environmental justice requirements from its funding criteria. Removing climate change and environmental justice requirements may hinder the development of climate-resilient infrastructure, leaving communities more vulnerable to climate risks. Bridges may be built or repaired without accounting for risks such as sea-level rise, intense storms, and increased flooding. This could lead to shorter infrastructure lifespans, more frequent and costly repairs, and even catastrophic failures. A 2019 study published in the journal PLOS ONE found that rising temperatures could cause 25% of all US steel bridges to collapse by 2050. At a time when climate threats are accelerating, sidelining these factors from infrastructure planning is dangerous and irresponsible.
• June 2025: Trump removed regulations for toxic fire retardants and preventative prescribed burns. In Executive Order 14308 entitled “Empowering Commonsense Wildfire Prevention and Response”, Trump directed agencies to ​​streamline wildfire response efforts, promote local preparedness, and revise wildfire mitigation policies. These changes include modifying or rescinding any federal regulations that hinder the use of fire retardants, preventative prescribed fires, and more. However, these regulations exist for important environmental and public health reasons. For example, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) are prohibited from spraying retardants within 300 feet of any waterway (unless human life or property is in danger) due to their harmful effects on aquatic ecosystems. Fire retardants feed harmful algal blooms along waterways and are toxic to fish like Chinook salmon, a native species already at risk and critical to California’s river and ocean ecosystems. While fire retardants are generally not toxic to humans (though they should not be ingested), little is known about inhaling fire-retardant chemicals once they’re burned off by wildfires. In addition, fire retardants can increase the presence of non-native plant species, which often die off during very dry summers, leaving behind dead plant material that can fuel wildfires. Although prescribed burns are important for land management and preventing wildfires, a new study found that they can significantly contribute to air pollution in the southeastern United States, especially for minority and low-income communities. The study warns that these air quality effects may intensify as climate change progresses. Thus while improving wildfire management is important, changing or eliminating federal regulations may have adverse effects on the environment, ecosystems, public health, and long-term wildfire resilience.
• June 2025: Trump signed H.J. Res. 87 and H.J. Res. 88 into law — two joint resolutions of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act that nullified the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s preemption waiver allowing California to set its own motor vehicle pollution control standards. Under the Air Quality Act of 1967—later amended and incorporated into the Clean Air Act (CAA)— Congress generally prohibits states from setting their own emissions standards for new motor vehicles. However, under Section 209 of the CAA, the state of California can apply for a waiver from the federal preemption through the EPA. Congress initially allowed California to apply for waivers because the state had “demonstrated compelling and extraordinary circumstances sufficiently different from the Nation as a whole to justify standards on automobile emissions which may, from time to time, need to be more stringent than national standards.” The EPA is expected to grant waivers except where disqualifying conditions apply. As of 2025, California has received over 100 federal preemption waivers for new and amended state-level vehicle emissions standards. Some members of Congress also believed California’s “pioneering” efforts “offer[ed] a unique laboratory, with all the resources necessary, to develop effective control devices which can become a part of the resources of this Nation.” As of 2025, 17 states and the District of Columbia have adopted some subset of California’s standards. H.J. Res. 87 nullified 88 Fed. Reg. 20688 (published in April 2023), in which the EPA granted the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB’s) requests for waivers for the following California regulations: the Heavy-Duty Vehicle and Engine Emission Warranty Regulations and Maintenance Provisions, the Advanced Clean Trucks Regulation, the Zero Emission Airport Shuttle Regulation, and the Zero-Emission Power Train Certification Regulation. H.J. Res. 88 nullified 90 Fed. Reg. 642 (published in January 2025), where the EPA granted CARB’s waiver request for California’s Advanced Clean Cars II (“ACC II”) regulations. Trump signed H.J. Res. 87 and H.J. Res. 88 into law to “prevent California’s attempt to impose a nationwide electric vehicle mandate and to regulate national fuel economy by regulating carbon emissions.” Nullifying these waivers blocked California from advancing key zero-emission vehicle policies—despite the transportation sector being the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. Zero-emission vehicle policies can help improve air quality, lower smog, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. 
• June 2025: Trump’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration voided a requirement for pipelines to have updated inspection and maintenance plans. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) voided Advisory Bulletin ADB-2021-01, issued under the Biden Administration in June 2021, which clarified that Section 114 of the 2020 Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety (PIPES) Act required all operators of PHMSA-regulated pipeline facilities—including those not transporting natural gas—to update their inspection and maintenance plans. Advisory Bulletin ADB-2021-01 also outlined specific considerations for compliance, including measures to prevent and mitigate both unintentional fugitive emissions and intentional vented emissions. The PHMSA allegedly justified the withdrawal by claiming the bulletin overstepped the statutory language of Section 114 by applying its requirements to facilities that do not transport natural gas and by introducing new, undefined terms—such as fugitive and vented emissions—which do not appear in existing law or regulation. Section 114 of the 2020 PIPES Act was designed to improve public safety, modernize aging infrastructure, and reduce environmental harm from pipeline leaks—particularly methane emissions. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, with a global warming potential 84 times higher than carbon dioxide (CO₂) over a 20-year timeframe, and 30 times higher over a 100-year period. The Environmental Defense Fund found that U.S. natural gas pipelines leak between 1.2 million and 2.6 million tons of methane per year, which has the same climate impact as almost 50 million passenger cars being driven for a year on near-term warming scales. Efforts to reduce methane emissions could slow the rate of near-term warming by 30% and prevent 0.25°C of additional warming by midcentury. Mitigating pipeline methane leaks also helps improve public safety by reducing the possibility of fires or explosions caused by ignition of escaped natural gas. PHMSA’s decision to void Advisory Bulletin ADB-2021-0 undermines efforts to reduce methane emissions and weakens critical safety and environmental protections at a time when both are urgently needed.
• June 2025: The Department of the Interior (DOI) weakened environmental protections overseeing offshore mineral exploration and development. Its policy changes, including undermining environmental reviews and extending permit durations, effectively give polluters more time to operate without adequate oversight. Noise and light pollution from deep-sea mining can destroy habitats, kill marine life, and disrupt essential behaviors such as feeding and reproduction. The resulting lack of deep-sea biodiversity can reduce the ocean’s ability to help regulate global temperatures.
• March 2025: Trump ordered “immediate measures” to increase American mineral production, which he says will create jobs and fuel prosperity. This executive order directed each department or agency head involved in the permitting of mineral production to identify within 10 days priority projects that can be immediately approved or expedited. While some minerals are critical to certain renewable energy goals, the process of mining requires significant water resources, produces toxic, radioactive, or acidic substances, significantly impacts the land including deforestation, and has a greenhouse gas emission footprint of its own. And it is hard to understand why mining “gold” is critical in the 21st Century.
• April 2025: Trump issued an executive order titled “Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals And Resources” asserting that expanding U.S. leadership in seabed mineral development was vital for national and economic security. The order instructs several federal agencies, including the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the State Department, the Department of Energy, and other relevant agencies, to expedite deep-sea mineral exploration, extraction, and processing, both within the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf and internationally. Deep sea mining could kill marine life, destroy their habitats, and disrupt the feeding and reproduction patterns due to noise and light pollution. The ocean serves as the planet’s largest carbon sink, absorbing approximately 25% of global carbon dioxide emissions. The loss of deep-sea biodiversity from mining activities could interfere with the ocean’s carbon cycle and weaken its capacity to moderate global temperature increases.
• July 2025: The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) delayed the compliance deadline on National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) for Coke Oven Batteries and Coke Ovens. The deadline was pushed from July 7, 2025 and January 6, 2026, to July 5, 2027. Coke ovens turn coal into a solid, carbon-rich material called coke, which is used in making iron and steel. According to Science Direct, coke ovens emission “arise from the noncarbonaceous materials present in the coal prior to processing and are complex mixtures of dusts, vapors, and gases that typically include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, aliphatic aldehydes and hydrocarbons, phenols, heterocyclic compounds, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury.” Coke oven emissions are classified as Group A, a known human carcinogen, by the EPA. The population at large but especially workers in the aluminum, steel, graphite, electrical, and construction industries are at risk of long term exposure to coke oven emissions. Long term exposure can result in conjunctivitis, severe dermatitis, lesions of the respiratory and digestive system, and cancers of the lung, trachea, bronchus, kidney, prostate, and other sites. Animals are also at risk—exposure to coal tar (via inhalation) can lead to lung and skin tumors. Extending compliance deadlines for a known human carcinogen is a betrayal of communities most vulnerable to exposure.
• July 2025: President Trump issued four proclamations exempting several major industrial sectors from EPA emissions standards. The exemptions apply to taconite iron ore processing facilities, coal-fired power plants, chemical manufacturers, and commercial sterilization facilities. The emission standards for taconite iron ore processing set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in March 2024 were designed to reduce toxic mercury pollution, but those requirements have been suspended for two years. Coal-fired power plants are now exempt from the EPA’s May 2024 hazardous air pollutants standards for two years. The May 2024 standards strengthened the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule. One of Trump’s proclamations extended the compliance deadline by two years for some chemical manufacturing facilities, delaying their obligation to comply with the EPA’s New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and its National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP). Additionally, commercial sterilization facilities that use ethylene oxide, a human carcinogen, are exempt for two years from complying with the EPA’s April 2024 national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants, which aimed to reduce ethylene oxide emissions by 92%. These rollbacks carry serious public health and environmental justice implications. For example, more than 14.2 million people live within five miles of a U.S. ethylene oxide-emitting facility, and in 2021, the EPA found that most ethylene oxide-emitting facilities that heightened cancer risks were located in majority low-income and/or BIPOC neighborhoods.
• July 2025: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a direct final rule extending the compliance deadline for coal ash disposal under the Coal Combustion Residual Management Unit (CCRMU) requirements for certain coal combustion residuals (CCR) facilities. The new proposed deadline is February 8 2027, almost one year and nine months later than the original deadline. The EPA also pushed back groundwater monitoring requirements by 15 months, moving the deadline to August 8, 2029. Coal ash is a mix of toxic pollutants including arsenic, boron, cadmium, chromium, lead, radium, and selenium. These toxic pollutants are associated with cancer, heart disease, reproductive failure, strokes, and lasting neurological damage. Delaying compliance on how to safely dispose of coal ash will expose more people to harmful toxins. 
• November 2025: EPA finalized a delay until 2027 for a requirement for oil and gas companies to begin reducing methane emissions. A Biden-era rule that would have forced oil and gas companies to contain methane leaks on federal land and limit the amount of methane they emit is now delayed and may be repealed completely.The Trump administration claimed this delay will save fossil fuel companies $750 million over 11 years, but will lead to 3.8 million more tons of methane released into the atmosphere. Methane emissions trap far more heat than other types of emissions and causes air pollution that is linked to cancer, respiratory issues, and strokes.

• October 2025: Massive flooding in Alaska was worsened by Trump administration cuts to weather forecasting and flood protection. February cuts and layoffs to the National Weather Service meant there was no weather balloon tracking of Typhoon Halong as it approached Alaska, which led to poor forecasting and last-minute updates for people in Western Alaska, including Alaska Natives in the village of Kipnuk. More than one thousand people were displaced. Five months prior to the flooding, the EPA cancelled a 20 million dollar grant designed to help stabilize the riverbank of Kipnuk to help prevent dangerous flooding. It was canceled due to its designation as a wasteful environmental justice and DEI project. 

• March 2025: Trump administration announced employee firings and potential closures of NOAA facilities. At least 800 workers have been fired, meaning the people who monitor the intensifying climate change-driven storms will struggle to adequately monitor, predict, and communicate the dangers to American residents. This will be especially dangerous for hurricanes, tornadoes, and fires characterized by rapid intensification. 
• April 2025: Trump announced sweeping cuts to 11 area offices of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as well as cuts of over two thirds of the staff from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). These offices, which are housed in different departments but have related mandates, prevent work-related injury, illness, and death via research, recommendations, and enforcement. As temperatures rise, with Earth’s 10 hottest years on record being the last 10, this will have an enormous impact on worker safety and heat-related workplace injuries. Workers at the most risk include those in agricultural, construction, and warehouse jobs, which are made up of disproportionately immigrant and poor populations. 2300 people died from heat-related illness in the U.S. in 2023 with a functioning OSHA; these cuts will undoubtedly cause more deaths. NIOSH, which has been severely downsized and moved to RFK Jr.’s Administration for a Healthy America, was also responsible for testing and certifying personal protective equipment including respirator masks, which workers use to protect themselves against pesticides, oil and gas fumes, and wildfire smoke. See more information on NIOSH’s many critical jobs, including protecting firefighters and mine workers from dangerous environmental hazards, here. 
• June 2025: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., fired the research team studying the deadly effects of extreme heat and how to safeguard against them right before the start of the summer, which is expected to be hotter than usual nationwide. The heat team RFK Jr. fired was housed at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), an agency within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The firings also come right before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is set to hold a hearing on the first-ever federal rules to protect workers from extreme heat. Announced in 2024, the proposed rule would require employers to provide paid water and rest breaks to outdoor workers when combined heat and humidity exceeds 80°F. Nearly every element of the proposed rule relied on research conducted by the heat team at NIOSH. OSHA relied on the NIOSH team’s expertise to define heat stress, explain how heat affects the human body and explain how staying hydrated helps prevent heat-related dangers, including kidney damage and sudden death from heat stroke. Without the researchers that were instrumental in drafting the rule, OSHA might have more trouble finalizing and defending the rule. Additionally, losing the heat team halts research on extreme heat, which kills more U.S. residents each year than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined. Furthermore, the firings have paused public communications about how to stay safe in extreme heat. The heat team’s social media accounts have been silent since April 1st 2025, when RFK Jr. announced the layoffs.
• April 2025: Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) issued layoff notices to roughly 90% of the staff at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Among those placed on administrative leave were members of the mobile clinic crew, a group of employees who reviewed coal miners’ lung disease test results and researchers working to prevent these diseases. While the mobile clinic workers have since been reinstated, many other NIOSH researchers working on lung disease prevention remain at risk of being laid off. These cuts come at a time when lung disease among coal miners is on the rise.  A 2023 national NIOSH study found that coal miners were twice as likely to die of lung diseases than non-miners. In Central Appalachia, nearly one in five coal miners suffer from black lung disease (for which there is no cure). Between 1970 and 2016, black lung disease was listed as the underlying or contributing cause of death for over 75,000 miners across the country. According to a 2018 NIOSH study, black lung cases have been increasing for the past two decades, with the most severe cases returning to record-high levels. Due to layoffs at NIOSH, the agency paused its black lung programs which restricted some coal miners’ access to federal “Part 90” benefits. “Part 90” benefits re-assign coal miners to jobs with less dust exposure, which could stop black lung disease from getting worse. Beyond black lung, a 2023 CDC study found that coal miners are also dying from a broader range of lung diseases at higher rates than in the past, with some dying at younger ages. Layoffs at NIOSH means less research, testing, and prevention of lung diseases, potentially leading to delayed diagnoses, weaker protections, and limited treatment options for miners.
• May 2025: The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Cameron Hamilton was fired by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem the day after he testified before the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, where he rightfully stated that eliminating FEMA would not be in the best interest of the American people. Hamilton’s statements contradict Trump and Noem, both of whom have been critical of FEMA and suggested shrinking or eliminating the agency entirely. Hamilton was replaced by David Richardson, a senior Trump official at the Department of Homeland Security with no disaster response experience. Hamilton’s firing comes right before the onset of hurricane season on June 1st. This is especially concerning given that the number of climate disasters will increase as climate change intensifies. Last year, there were 27 individual weather and climate disasters, costing at least $1 billion in damages and resulting in at least 568 direct or indirect deaths. A leadership change weeks before hurricane season could compromise FEMA’s ability to coordinate the federal government’s response to disasters and help states and local communities prepare. Without a strong FEMA, millions of Americans are vulnerable to destruction, injury and death. 
• July 2025: Trump cuts have left offices at California’s National Weather Service (NWS) understaffed ahead of another fire season and extreme weather. The Hanford and Sacramento offices are among the hardest hit by staffing cuts, with Hanford experiencing the nation’s highest meteorologist vacancy rate at 62% (tied with Goodland, Kansas) and Sacramento close behind at 50%. The Trump administration brushed off claims that recent cuts have undermined the Weather Service’s ability to operate effectively, but those claims are being increasingly scrutinized following catastrophic flooding in Texas that killed at least 134 people in July 2025. With fire season approaching, understaffed offices will struggle to manage large-scale emergencies or issue timely alerts, such as fire weather watches and heat advisories, putting lives (and property) at greater risk.
• September 2025: The Financial Stability Oversight Committee disbanded two committees responsible for monitoring and advising on climate-related financial risk. The committee, led by the Treasury Department, disbanded the Climate-related Financial Risk Committee, and the Climate-related Financial Risk Advisory Committee. These committees existed to safeguard the financial system from impacts related to extreme weather events and a warming world. The end of this oversight will increase financial risk for homeowners, investors, and insurance providers, and working people will end up paying the price. 
• October 2025: Interior Department announced plans to immediately fire two thousand employees, including several hundred at the National Parks Service. This includes 80% of employees at a critical environmental research center in Missouri that investigates how pollution and PFAS impact ecosystems as well as Utah employees who manage mineral permits and employees tasked with Chesapeake Bay recovery efforts. This will have far-reaching impacts on critical research tasks and biodiversity protection efforts. 

• March 2025: Trump’s DOJ dismissed a lawsuit against the operators of a synthetic rubber plant in Louisiana for its release of chloroprene, a likely human carcinogen. This was a landmark environmental justice case seeking to improve air quality in Cancer Alley, the stretch of land between New Orleans and Baton Rouge that has extremely high cancer rates due to the petrochemical plants that pollute the air. Unchecked, this chemical plant (and many others like it in the area) will continue to release carcinogenic pollutants into the air that Louisiana residents, many of them Black and poor, are forced to breathe. 
• March 2025: The State Department ended air quality monitoring at 80 embassies and consulates abroad. This data was used primarily to track air pollution in areas U.S. officials worked, but also benefited global coordination of air quality measurement and anti-pollution efforts. 
• March 2025: Trump signed a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) into law that voided the EPA’s final rule on methane waste emissions. This removes a fine system that would charge large emitters of methane waste that exceeded certain emission levels set by Congress. Methane gas is responsible for 20-30% of global heating since the Industrial Revolution. The rule, which Democrats passed late enough that it could be easily repealed using the CRA, had not gone into effect, but would have applied to roughly a third of the methane emissions that come from oil and gas infrastructure in the U.S and diverted 1.2 million metric tons of methane through 2035, the equivalent of taking nearly 8 million gas-powered cars offline for a year. Methane is a major contributor to climate change as it is 28 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Additionally, when methane is leaked, it releases other pollutants like volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Breathing in VOCs can cause cancer, affect the nervous system, and cause birth defects. Everyone is vulnerable to breathing in VOCs because they can travel far from source.
• May 2025: The EPA issued guidance to lift air pollution regulations in the name of AI data centers. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued guidance interpreting the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) to allow up to 50 hours of non-emergency use of Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines (RICE). The goal is to use RICE to power the nation’s power grid and artificial intelligence (AI) data centers to “maintain America’s lead on artificial intelligence.” Expanding energy use to encourage the expansion of AI is a growing problem and has multiple harmful consequences, including that exposure to air toxics emitted from RICE can irritate the eyes, skin and mucous membranes, and cause central nervous system problems. Expanding RICE use could expose more people to these harms. Generative AI also consumes vast amounts of energy, contributing to higher carbon emissions and straining the electric grid. In addition to its massive energy consumption, AI also has significant water demands. Large volumes of water are needed to cool the hardware used in training, deploying, and fine-tuning generative AI models which can strain municipal water supplies and disrupt local ecosystems.
• August 2025: Trump’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cut back on the number of weather and climate satellites it will launch in coming years, and removed planned components designed to measure air pollution and ocean conditions. This move is one of several by the Trump administration to not just ease rules on climate pollution, but undercut our ability to measure and understand pollution.
• September 2025: The federal government took no responsibility for holding accountable a corporation whose oil and lubricant factory blew up and rained toxic substances down on a Black community in rural Louisiana. Weeks after the explosion, residents still struggled to breathe outside and feared letting children play outdoors, as oily residue continued to coat homes and other structures. The EPA claimed that the explosion presented “no imminent threat to public health,” despite confirming the presence of toxins including “arsenic, barium, chromium, lead, & other hazardous materials like cancer-causing nitrobenzene.”
• November 2025: Trump signed a proclamation excusing an Arizona copper refinery from air pollution standards for two years. This refinery is one of only two active copper smelters in the country, and will now be exempt from pollution standards for harmful chemicals including lead, arsenic and mercury. These heavy metals can cause acute or chronic poisoning via water, air, and food consumption, actualizing as cancer, neuropsychiatric disorders, kidney failure, and DNA damage.
• November 2025: An analysis by the Center for International Environmental Law found that a new two-year exemption from emissions standards for five petrochemical facilities in Texas and Louisiana will lead to 5.3 million additional tons of air pollution per year. In July 2025, Trump announced “regulatory relief” for 52 chemical facilities, delaying for two years a rule that would have required chemical facilities across the country to monitor and limit cancer-causing emissions.

• May 2025: To the chemical industry’s delight, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced plans to weaken limits on some Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), also known as forever chemicals, in drinking water. The limits, first established during President Biden’s term, were meant to lower PFAS levels in drinking water for millions of people. PFAS do not easily break down in nature and have been linked to increases in cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and babies being born with low birth weight.

• April 2025: The EPA shut down a website that was used to track the locations of thousands of dangerous chemical facilities throughout the country. This occurred at the request of chemical industry lobbyists. As a result, the public can no longer easily access information about the locations of pesticide, fertilizer, and plastic production facilities, which pose risks to neighboring communities including significant health-harming pollution and chemical fires requiring evacuation.
• April 2025: The Trump administration ended funding and halted work on the National Climate Assessment, which is required by Congress and has been released every five years since the 1990s. This report is intended to be a trusted source of information on how climate change is impacting the U.S. and is designed for use by the public, including local city planners, fire and emergency officials, homeowners, and judges and juries regarding environmental cases. It has been considered the most widely trusted source of information on climate impacts, so without it, city planners won’t know where to put buildings and roads, fire and emergency officials won’t be able to design comprehensive disaster preparedness plans, homeowners won’t know their risk, and judges and juries won’t have a common source of information on which to base their decisions. 
• April 2025: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced it will be archiving and no longer updating its “Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters” tracker.  Since 1980, the tracker has allowed taxpayers, the media and researchers to track the cost of natural disasters like floods, heat waves, wildfires and other disasters that result in billions of dollars in damages. Without tracker updates, it will be more difficult to assess the ways climate change, building patterns and population trends are exposing the public to weather hazards. Furthermore, without updates, more people will be vulnerable to insurance premiums hikes, especially those living in flood, storm, and fire-prone areas. Though imperfect, the NOAA’s tracker was an extremely valuable, unduplicable resource because it drew on non-public data (shared with the government by private industry) such as reinsurance loss estimates, localized government reports, private claims databases, and information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s assistance data, insurance organizations, and state agencies. The NOAA’s announcement comes as the agency is discontinuing other products, mainly due to staffing reductions. These moves are in line with the Trump administration’s laser focus on attacking climate-related programs and departments, and downplaying how fossil fuel pollution is making extreme weather more costly. Scientists who worked on the tracker, including someone who led the billion-dollar disaster program for 15 years, were either fired or accepted early retirement and buyout offers as part of workforce reduction efforts by the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which sought to downsize the agency along with other parts of the federal government. And it doesn’t end there. The White House is proposing a 24% cut to NOAA’s FY2026 budget, along with plans to shut down its research division and weather and climate labs. These measures would further limit the agency’s ability to collect data and reduce public access to vital information. 
• May 2025: In a memo from the acting administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Jeffrey Clark, the White House directed agencies to stop using a metric that estimates the economic impact of carbon dioxide and other climate pollutants when developing policies and regulations. The “social cost of carbon” is a metric that calculates the dollar amount “of damage caused by one ton of carbon pollution, so as to more accurately assess the costs or benefits of federal policies.” The Biden administration used the “social cost of carbon” to implement stronger regulation on greenhouse gas emissions from cars, power plants, factories and oil refineries. When the metric is used, the economic benefits of climate-conscious actions like reducing emissions from power plants and cars rises, which helps the government justify why industries must cut down on pollution. With the metric no longer in use, the Trump administration will have an easier path to dismantling climate regulations. Weaker climate regulations will lead to increased emissions of climate change-driving pollutants, posing risks to both human health and ecosystems. 
• July 2025: The Department of Commerce (DOC) indefinitely suspended a tool from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Atlas 15 project that helped communities predict how global warming will change the frequency of extreme rainfall. Despite this news, the agency is still expected to publicly release preliminary data that will help communities predict the amount of annual rainfall and rare storms. Sadly, this preliminary data will likely soon be outdated because of the speed at which global warming is altering precipitation patterns. A director at NOAA’s National Water Center who worked on the Atlas 15 project fears delaying or cancelling work regarding Atlas 15 climate projections leaves communities unprepared for extreme weather events and makes it more difficult for engineers to build resilient buildings, bridges and other projects. As a relatively recent and authoritative climate dataset, the Atlas 15 project helped city and state regulators, as well as civil engineers devise building codes, development plans, road calverts and stormwater drainage systems. Suspending its future climate projections takes away a vital resource just as the need for accurate, science-based planning becomes more urgent than ever.
• September 2025: The EPA ordered scientists to “immediately pause almost all efforts to publish research,” the Washington Post reported on September 20th, as a new review process was to be implemented.  

• January 2025: Trump changed criteria for a transportation funding grant program so it now penalizes projects that aim to reduce driving, increase electrification, or incentivize walking and biking, while favoring highway expansion projects. Highway expansions are always a negative for increased CO2 emissions and air and noise pollution for those living nearby. Highway expansions will put more people at risk of developing respiratory illnesses and cancer due to greater exposure to traffic-related air pollution from cars and trucks. Racist interstate citing policies in the 1960s and 1970s led to major highways cutting through Black and Latinx neighborhoods. As a result, those communities are more likely to live near highways and bear the disproportionate health impacts of traffic pollution. Highway expansions (especially under Trump) will continue to disproportionately impact BIPOC communities.  
• July 2025: Trump’s Transportation Department withdrew federal funding for a high speed rail project in California. After the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) concluded that the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) could not deliver the Merced-to-Bakersfield segment of California’s high-speed rail project, Transportation Secretary Duffy terminated Cooperative Agreement No. FR-HSR-0118-12 and withdrew approximately $4 billion in federal funding allocated for the project. California’s high speed rail project aims to connect the state’s regions, promote economic development and create jobs, and preserve the environment, agricultural lands and protected lands. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that road vehicles account for 70% of direct transport carbon emissions, whereas rail accounts for only 1%. Defunding high speed rail projects undermines efforts to reduce transportation-related carbon emissions, limits opportunities to reduce reliance on cars, and robs the public of its economic, climate, and public health benefits. 

• March 2025: Trump rescinded two orders made under Biden that determined renewable energy resources, including solar panel components and heat pump technology, were critical to national security and therefore deserved federal resources under the Defense Production Act. Keeping renewable energy costs low helps people save on utility bills, which have gone up 51% since 2019. Investing in renewable energy sources like solar is likely to increase a home’s value which benefits homeowners in the long run. As showcased during Winter Storm Elliott, America’s fossil fuel-powered energy grid is becoming more unreliable, leading to outages and grid failures during extreme weather events. Using renewable energy can build out a clean, more reliable electricity grid which will benefit everyone by reducing the likelihood of power outages and disruptions. 
• May 2025: In a memorandum, Trump instructed the Secretary of Energy to rescind or amend several water conservation and efficiency standards established by the Energy Policy Act of 1992. He argued that these requirements—for faucets, showers, bathtubs, toilets, washing machines, dishwashers, and other fixtures—made the products “more expensive and less functional.” However, water-efficient plumbing can save people hundreds of dollars annually, a benefit particularly significant for low-income households. Other benefits of water conservation and efficiency include lower water infrastructure costs, reduced energy use and emissions associated with heating, pumping, and treating water and wastewater, protection against property damage, and improved community resilience to water shortages related to water quality problems. By rolling back these standards, Trump’s directives risk depriving Americans of these important economic and environmental benefits.