Profits over People: Trump Cuts Hurt Americans and Help Big Corporations

President Donald Trump's second administration has swiftly implemented a broad agenda of environmental deregulation and a significant shift in priorities within federal agencies. Key themes emerging from the first month include a reversal of Biden-era environmental justice and climate change initiatives, a push for energy dominance through expedited permitting and favoring fossil fuels, a freeze and potential rollback of numerous regulations, significant personnel changes and budget freezes at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies, and a withdrawal from international environmental agreements. These actions have been met with legal challenges and strong criticism from environmental advocates and the scientific community, who warn of detrimental consequences for public health, the environment, and scientific progress.

Main Themes and Important Ideas/Facts:

1. Reversal of Biden Administration Environmental Priorities:

• Environmental Justice and Climate Change: President Trump's Day One executive orders reversed the priorities of the Biden administration, which had emphasized environmental justice, regulatory enforcement, and addressing climate change.
• The EPA website has eliminated most instances of the terms "environmental justice" and "climate change."
• EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the "Powering the Great American Comeback Initiative," which does not explicitly prioritize environmental justice or climate change in the same way as the previous administration. Its five pillars are: Clean Air, Land and Water for Every American; Restore American Energy Dominance; Permitting Reform, Cooperative Federalism and Cross-Agency Partnership; Make the United States the Artificial Intelligence Capital of the World; and Protecting and Bringing Back American Auto Jobs.
• An executive order ended DEI initiatives, including the termination of "to the maximum extent allowed by law, all ‘environmental justice’ offices and positions." The EJScreen tool website is no longer functional.
• Staff in EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice & External Civil Rights were informed of the office's imminent closure.
• EPA linked to Administrator Zeldin's post announcing the administrative leave of DEI and environmental justice-focused employees, stating, "The previous Administration used DEI and Environmental Justice to advance ideological priorities, distributing billions of dollars to organizations in the name of climate equity. This ends now."
• Paris Agreement: President Trump issued an executive order withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement.