Under Trump 2.0, the Environmental Protection Agency has gone after the nation’s pollution rules the way a hyena devours a gazelle. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin proudly depicted the abandonment of the finding that climate change endangers human health as “the single largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States.”
The agency has also moved to weaken limits on mercury releases from coal-burning power plants, rolled back vehicle emission standards, and eased restrictions on ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing gas used to sterilize medical devices. And much more.
Amid this environmental demolition derby, it was a shock to see a recent press release from the EPA touting that in fiscal year 2025 the agency produced its “strongest enforcement and compliance results in years.” Among what it presents as “highlights from President Trump’s first year back in office” is the claim that the EPA concluded over 2,300 civil enforcement cases, which is said to be “over 400 more than the final year of the Biden Administration and more than the last nine fiscal years.”
The first thing to point out is that nearly one-third of fiscal year 2025, which began in October 2024, occurred while Biden was still in office. Second, it is unclear whether the reference to concluded cases included those in which no penalties were imposed.
According to data collected for Violation Tracker, the EPA announced 727 civil penalty cases during FY 2025, which is far less than the 2,300 figure, and more than one-quarter of those occurred while Biden was still in office. The penalty total for the fiscal year was about $1.1 billion, a fraction of the $6 billion the EPA claims it collected in “commitments to return facilities to compliance.”
During the first 12 months of Trump 2.0, the EPA announced 586 civil penalty cases, well below the total of 889 cases during the final 12 months of Biden. The Trump cases entailed $722 million in penalties, which is vastly below the $3.2 billion total for the Biden cases during that period.
It is no surprise that an agency overseen by Donald Trump would grossly exaggerate its accomplishments. The question is why it is choosing to inflate those accomplishments that run contrary to its larger mission of weakening the country’s environmental safety net while promoting fossil fuels and sabotaging wind and solar energy.
In issuing that press release, the EPA may in effect be acknowledging that there is still a large portion of the public that cares about clean air and water and wants to control toxic substances. The agency seems to be betting that it can persuade those people it is still doing its traditional job even as it hacks away at the underpinnings of that mission.
For the time being, environmental enforcement is not defunct. But neither is it thriving in the way the EPA wants us to believe. As more and more regulations are weakened or eliminated, the amount of enforcement will continue to decline, as will the health of the country.
You must be logged in to post a comment.