Cutting Environmental Regulation

CUTTING ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) was created by Pres. Nixon in 1970 “with a mandate to protect the environment and public health.” But instead of investigating pollution, hazardous waste and other violations, the new EPA administrator Lee Zeldin wants to shift the EPA’s mission to “lower the cost of buying a car, heating a home and running a business.” Mr. Zeldin also wants to cut the EPA’s budget by 65% and eliminate its scientific research arm. Concrete examples of the rollback at the EPA include: dropping a lawsuit against a company emitting carcinogen chloroprene; allowing exemptions from the Clean Air Act on emissions of toxic substances like mercury, arsenic and ethylene oxide; allowing energy companies exemptions from rules addressing the health risks of coal ash.

Environmental protection under Trump will increasingly be a state, not a federal concern. But if a state wants to regulate more than Trump likes, as in the case of New York State’s congestion pricing initiative for New York City, it will be threatened by a cut-off of federal funds.

Sources: The New York Times, 3/25/25 and 3/ 28/25