Taking Stock of the Trump Administration’s Assault on the Environment at One Year

Our nation’s environment, energy security, and public health is suffering, and the United States has become a drag on the energy revolution it was poised to lead.

Since taking office last January, the Trump administration has waged the worst assault in history on the environment and public health. It has taken or proposed nearly 400 reckless and misguided actions that undermine clean air and water, healthy wildlife, and public lands, all of which sabotage a safe and climate-friendly future.

In just one year, this administration has taken a wrecking ball to the commonsense safeguards and foundational institutions we all depend on to stand sentry against industrial-scale pollution and the harm it brings. It has upended five decades of responsible public oversight that has strengthened the economy, defended public health, and vastly improved our quality of life.

Amid the staggering pace of this administration’s broadside attacks on sound governance, constitutional norms, and the rule of law, much of the environmental assault has been waged without the public attention, scrutiny, or review it deserves.

And yet, the consequences of these actions strike a profound blow at the daily lives of working Americans everywhere; in urban areas, in rural communities, in blue and red states alike. In its zeal to hobble the government’s ability to safeguard the environment, the administration has gone beyond what even industry desires.

The Trump administration’s attacks include actions that:

• Dramatically increase dangerous air pollution by, for example, granting exemptions to allow scores of coal-fired power plants,  chemicals manufacturers, and copper smelters to release toxic chemicals into the air
• Put millions of miles of streams and roughly half the nation’s wetlands at risk by working to gut the Clean Water Act and roll back standards that protect drinking water
• Expose vast tracts of ocean waters, public lands, and Arctic wilderness to the catastrophic risk and ongoing harm of oil and gas drilling while fast-tracking fossil fuel projects to avoid responsible environmental review
• Drive up costs to consumers and reduce showroom choice by abandoning clean car standards that were on track to spur domestic manufacturing and save drivers billions of dollars a year at the pump
• Block or delay wind and solar projects that together could power millions of homes, at a time when those sources provide the lowest-cost source of reliable electricity

Against that background, the administration has purged hundreds of career professionals with deep expertise in the science, technology, and law that a modern society needs to confront existing and emerging environmental and health risks.

As it has enfeebled essential institutions like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the administration has placed the U.S. Department of Energy in the hands of a fossil fuel executive and handed over U.S. energy policy to the oil and gas industry.

While the administration rigs the game to further enrich oil and gas billionaires, the rest of us are paying the price—in our homes, communities, factories, and farms.

Since Trump took office, home electricity bills have spiked 9.6 percent, on average. One reason is that power companies are spending money to upgrade aging transmission and distribution lines. Another is the soaring demand for power from the energy-guzzling data centers overtaking much of rural America.

The Trump administration’s policies are directly driving up costs

Backed by its allies in Congress, this administration is ending clean power incentives that were catalyzing innovation and investment, creating thousands of jobs, and saving billions of dollars each year for power providers and consumers alike. This administration is trying to suppress the cheapest form of new electricity generation—wind and solar power.

The administration has blocked or delayed wind and solar projects that could power millions of homes, at a time when that power is desperately needed to counter rising pressures on price and demand.

In the process, the administration is handicapping U.S. workers and companies in the economic play of our lifetime—the global clean energy transition that attracted a record $2.2 trillion in investments in this year alone. The Trump administration’s policies won’t stop the historic global shift to clean energy; they’ll just make it harder for U.S. workers, and easier for our competitors, to benefit from it.

It’s worth recalling where we were when the second Trump administration began

At that time, the United States was helping to lead the world toward a clean energy future that promised to deliver cleaner air and lower utility bills while also sharply mitigating the cascading impacts of rising seas, hotter heat waves, and raging wildfires, storms, and floods.

Across the United States, clean energy jobs were growing at three times the level of the economy overall, with more than 3.5 million Americans working each day to help make our homes, cars, and factories more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

And, supported by federal incentives, American corporations announced more than $120 billion in investment in new factories to build solar panels, transmission and grid components, advanced batteries, and electric vehicles, all of which had created more than 106,000 jobs across the country between 2022 and 2024.

Under President Trump, the United States has become a climate denier and a drag on the energy revolution it was poised to lead. The Trump administration’s actions have moved the United States from the forefront of the emerging energy revolution to the role of spoiler.

Americans didn’t ask for this reckless assault on the nation’s environment, energy security, and public health. On the contrary, nearly 6 in 10 Americans (57 percent) say the U.S. government is doing too little to protect the environment. Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) say environmental quality is getting worse. And across the nation, people understand that the benefits of responsible environmental safeguards far exceed the cost of compliance—by more than 30 to 1, in the case of the Clean Air Act.

The public doesn’t want these manifest gains turned back, but someone else does: the oil and gas billionaires and other big polluters.

With the Trump administration’s return to office, those billionaires got what they wanted. Now, the rest of us are paying the price.

Cover photo: By Cleantechnica