The budget blueprint includes a massive 24 percent cut to funding for the agency—which will prevent it from carrying out its mission to safeguard public health and the environment.
The Trump administration omitted the names of individuals working with the EPA transition team, including that of former tobacco and coal lobbyist Steve Milloy.
Some of the changes to the site so far: Carbon pollution is no longer listed as a contributor to climate change; Obama’s legacy is being scrubbed; international commitments could be in jeopardy.
While the move brought some relief to state environmental agencies—which rely on federal funding for programs like pollution monitoring and cleanups—the hiring freeze and communications restrictions remain.
A leaked memo reveals explicitly orders for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to cease communicating with or responding to requests from elected lawmakers.
The Trump administration has moved to muzzle federal officials. The EPA; Departments of Health & Human Services, Transportation, Agriculture, and Interior; and the National Institutes of Health were ordered to halt press releases, social media, blogs, and web content.
In an unprecedented move, the administration has imposed not just a federal hiring freeze but also a suspension of grant awards and contracts by the EPA—which are for a wide range of functions, including important environmental testing work and remediation…
This freeze, which will make it more difficult for agencies to carry out their missions, is part of the opening salvo of Trump’s full-scale assault on our government’s ability to protect public health and the environment.
Among the environmental rules impacted by Trump’s move is a set of energy-efficiency standards that would save consumers billions of dollars' worth of wasted electricity, standards to improve pipeline safety, and the addition of bumblebees to the Endangered Species List.
