In March of 2025 EPA Administrator Zeldin declared “the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen” as he announced that the EPA would cease enforcement of 31 environmental protection laws. Since then, moves have been made to cut back emissions standards, redefine protected waterways, expedite permitting and allow extraction in previously protected areas.

Your Environment: The Air We Breathe and the Water We Drink

You might want to know…

Do environmental rules just get in the way of progress? Where I live, there’s wilderness as far as the eye can see – why shouldn’t we get what we can from it? They told us the new plant would bring a lot of jobs – why wouldn’t we just let them build it? What if my kids develop asthma? Why are my eyes burning even though it’s not allergy season? Why does it seem like everyone has developed a cough? Why is my weather app showing an air quality alert even though it’s bright and sunny out? Is this headache really because “the air pressure is changing”? Who is making sure that our water is clean and healthy to drink? What kinds of things can be in the water that aren’t good for you? I heard about what happened in Flint. But, there’s no chance of that happening here, right? Why is that rusted shell of an old factory still standing there with that big fence around it? How come there’s nothing living in this pond? Why is that big area just outside of town all roped off? Generations of people in town have gotten sick from the pollution, why hasn’t it been cleaned up? What if the farm upstream contaminates the river downstream? Are the fish we caught safe to eat? Is the pond safe to swim in? Is this ground safe to build on? What if we stopped researching the environment? What’s the weather going to be like next week? There are always new chemicals or compounds that manufacturers claim are “safer” – how would we know if that were true? Is it really dangerous to sit out in the sun when it’s hot out? How does anyone know which places are more likely to experience extreme weather?

My State has good environmental laws. So nothing will change here, right?

All States have some environmental laws. Six states even have state constitutional rights to a healthy environment. But, these laws still leave a lot up in the air. They don’t protect state residents from pollution that can come from wastewater, emissions, industrial farming and other activities in neighboring states. And, because federal law can preempt state laws in many circumstances, the Trump administration is attempting to use federal preemption to force states to roll back their environmental standards.

Some states are trying to take stronger action on climate change. In 2025, the Department of Justice sued four of them to stop laws that would make polluters help pay for climate-related damage.

A year later, it sued California over rules designed to reduce pollution from cars and trucks.

What if emissions standards are not enforced, will the air in my town become polluted?

The EPA is attempting to repeal tailpipe emissions standards rules that both limit air pollution and have forced automakers to innovate and build more fuel efficient vehicles. Rolling back these standards will lead to increased pollution from car exhaust. Emissions and fuel efficiency standards have also lowered the cost of ownership of your car because they mean that you don’t have to fill your tank as often. 

In February 2026, the EPA scrapped the legal foundation for limiting climate pollution from vehicles, power plants, and factories.

What about our public lands? They’ll still be protected, won’t they?

There has always been limited extraction allowed on American public lands.  In exchange for access to these natural resources, extraction companies pay leases and royalties to the federal and state governments. Some of those royalties are used to maintain national parks, waterways and other conservation lands. There have been several moves by the executive branch and some members of congress to privatize, permit more extraction and gain access to the combustible fuels, minerals and other natural resources that lie within and beneath our public lands. This even includes a proposal to divert hundreds of millions of dollars away from conservation, to be spent on building access roads into our national forests. How many millions of acres of public lands are in danger of losing protections? Have a look HERE.

Protections are being weakened on millions of acres of public lands including:

  • National forests
  • The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
  • The Boundary Waters Watershed
  • Chaco Culture National Historical Park
  • Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument

Environmental laws and regulations are enforced by several federal government agencies, including but not limited to:

  • The Environmental Protection Agency. The agency responsible for protecting public health and the environment. Makes and enforces environmental rules and regulations. Enforces the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, and works to address climate change, improvement of air quality, sustainable development and prevention of pollution.
  • The Department of the Interior. Oversees our public lands, natural resources and cultural heritage. The Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance is meant to ensure that DOI, and DOI- allowed extraction operations are in compliance with NEPA – The National Environmental Policy Act of 1970.
  • The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. The NOAA is about a lot more than weather forecasting. It is the scientific agency charged with studying and protecting many aspects of our environment, including weather monitoring and forecasting and extending into our oceans, water safety and the regulation of marine commerce.  
  • The Department of Agriculture. DOA, in addition to its many many duties supporting subsidizing American farms and promoting rural development, regulates one of the most resource depleting and polluting industries in the country: Agriculture. Agricultural run-off is a leading cause of contamination in American waterways, while at the same time, agriculture businesses are the single largest consumers of fresh water.
  • The Department of Transportation. DOT regulates another major source of pollution and strain on the environment: Transportation. Runoff from roadways is yet another major source of pollution in waterways. Transportation infrastructure increases non-permeable surfaces, which increase flooding. Meanwhile, transportation via combustible-fuel powered vehicles is a major source of air pollution. DOT is responsible for ensuring industry compliance with emissions standards. 
  • The Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD performs an environmental review of all HUD-sponsored development sites for compliance with NEPA, and environmental impacts such as flood plain management, and the Environmental health of the site itself.
  • The Army Corps of Engineers. ACE has a massively important environmental mission which includes, but is not by any means limited to, cleaning up radioactive waste from military weapons testing sites. ACE is responsible for infrastructure projects, such as hydrodams, the health and navigability of our waterways, and the fresh water supply for much of the Western United States.
  • The Department of Justice. The Environment and Natural Resources Division of the DOJ is responsible for prosecuting violations of our nation’s environmental laws.
  • The Department of Labor. The DOL monitors and enforces rules regarding safe workplaces, including exposure to pollutants and toxic materials and healthy work environment and, crucially, whistleblower protections for workers who provide notice of violations of environmental laws.
  • The Department of Commerce. The job of the DOC is to promote and maintain the conditions for the growth and development of US commerce through, for example, sustaining initiatives that lead to job creation. The DOC economic development grant program, which includes(d) support for job-creating resilient infrastructure and renewable energy projects.
  • The Department of Energy. Energy production, mineral extraction, the disposition of spent energy sources like batteries, and the use of machines that require energy are major sources of pollution and waste and deplete natural resources. DOE is responsible for balancing the needs of people and industry with that environmental impact. Hence, it manages regulations pertaining to everything from the permitting of mineral extraction and powerplants to standards governing the battery life of consumer electronics.  
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC’s Center for Environmental Health is responsible for monitoring and preventing adverse health impacts from contact with the environment. This includes everything from monitoring outbreaks of water-born diseases caused by pollutants or lead pipes, to instances of Asthma caused by air pollution to mold to radio to noise pollution…and on to any other way in which contact with a contaminated environment can damage human health.

Many environmental laws, rules and regulations and most environmental branches of every federal government agency are currently experiencing severe downsizing, rule and priority changes, and rewriting of their missions.

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What the Cuts Cut

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