The Trump administration is moving to significantly weaken environmental protections, proposing rollbacks to coal ash regulations and rescinding rules designed to conserve public lands and national forests. These actions threaten to increase toxic pollution in waterways and open vast natural areas to industrial exploitation.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing changes to coal ash protections that would permit some of the nation's dirtiest coal plants to continue discharging hazardous waste, including arsenic, mercury, and lead, into water systems. This move is expected to endanger public health and further pollute the environment.
Additionally, the administration has rescinded the Public Lands Rule, which previously ensured conservation, climate, habitat protection, clean water, and Indigenous knowledge were considered alongside resource extraction on 250 million acres. This decision, made despite overwhelming public support for conservation, is seen as prioritizing corporate polluters over environmental and cultural resources.
Further environmental concerns arise from plans to repeal the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which protects nearly 60 million acres of undeveloped national forests and grasslands. This repeal would open these areas to extractive industries and coincides with efforts to dismantle the US Forest Service, the agency responsible for managing the national forest system. The EPA has also relaxed enforcement on certain air pollutants by rescinding the Endangerment Finding and parts of the Clean Air Act.