Environmental policies are experiencing a rollback under President Trump’s second administration. In early March, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, Lee Zeldin, announced 31 deregulations — the largest in U.S. history.
“We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more,” Zeldin said in a statement posted by the EPA.
In the 31 deregulations, the agency is reevaluating power plant regulation, Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program and Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
The Trump administration is also proposing a 65% reduction to the EPA’s workforce and activities, a move that could affect the enforcement of environmental regulations.
They also plan on ending the Biden Administration’s “Good Neighbor Plan” which reduced ozone-forming emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from industrial facilities and power plants. States that partook in the plan saw an 18% decrease of NOx emissions in 2023, according to a report from the EPA.
Regulations like the Air Quality Standards for Fine Particle Pollution (Soot), have previously avoided 85,595 cases of premature mortality, 15,200,000 symptomatic asthma incidents and 12,540 Cardiovascular ER visits, according to a report from the Environmental Protection Network (EPN), a group of about 650 former EPA staff.
Rolling back key EPA rules over the next 25 years could result in nearly 196,000 premature deaths, over 100 million asthma incidents, 89 million restricted-activity days and more than 20,000 cardiovascular ER visits, according to a report from the LA Times.
Robert Anderson is the CEO and president for Respiratory Health Association. This Chicago-based charity tackles asthma, COPD, lung cancer, tobacco control and air quality through education and policy reformation.
“We’re really concerned about the effects of these deregulations which could honestly be a generational setback to a lot of the progress that we’ve made to fight for respiratory health across the country,” Anderson said. “Deregulation is a nice way of saying allowing greater abilities to pollute and to put harmful toxins and emissions into our air — which is at the cost of every single person who breathes in the country.”
Low-income and minority communities in Los Angeles have historically faced disproportionate environmental burdens, according to the County of Los Angeles public Health.
“I think it is a huge social justice issue in our country. The places that have the worst air quality and the highest emissions and standards are often those communities that are more disadvantaged economically,” Anderson said.
The EPA’s enforcement actions have previously targeted these areas to address environmental justice concerns.
“This is not the Industrial Revolution anymore. We need to better understand the importance of air quality and the impact that has [on] everybody’s lives, and we have a responsibility for every single person to do something about that,” Anderson said. “It is in direct opposition to a goal of community health.”
USC adjunct professor of environmental studies and adjunct faculty for Price School of Public Policy, James Fawcett, said that when offshore pollution gets blown into the L.A. Basin, it stays there because of the city’s geographical features.
“One of the problems that we have in Southern California is that we are in an air basin that is pretty enclosed by mountains,” Fawcett said. “We just are in an area that traps air pollution. That’s all there is to it — so it will be reflected in respiratory health.”
Fawcett is more concerned about the privatization of natural resources, rather than regulation cutbacks.
“When we talk about logging, we’re talking about turning something that is public, which is the trees and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service, into private goods. And that’s the part that is especially troubling,” Fawcett said. “Those public goods belong to all of us, and when you log them and lease those resources, then you’re allowing entrepreneurs to come in and privatize what belongs to all of us.”
The 65% cut in EPA workforce will further add to health and environmental implications. James Hiemstra, an environmental engineering junior, says there is hesitation not only about air quality and health but also about prospective jobs.
“We’re going into the workforce in a couple years and a lot of people that are coming into this workforce under the new administration probably won’t be too excited about the lack of jobs specifically in the EPA,” Hiemstra said.
Hiemstra, however, doesn’t think these extreme cutbacks will deter him and his peers from the field.
“But I think people are very passionate about sustainability in this major and I think they’ll do anything to work in that field,” Hiemstra said. “There’s a lot of sustainability at USC and that’s gonna continue no matter what administration is [in] control of the US government.”
Anderson feels that education and passion for environmental and health fields is needed more now than ever.
“It’s when it’s darkest, that you need the light, right? These people will be able [to] make a difference in the future,” Anderson said. “If we give up on that, we’re not going to have the expertise and the knowledge and the people in place to help us know how to make a difference.”
Zeldin’s proposed deregulations will take time to be fully implemented. Hiemstra said these regulations could take a long time to go into effect.
“Environmental deregulations of the federal level probably don’t directly affect other levels of government and private industry –at least not immediately — just because of how long it takes to put [new regulations] in place,” Hiemstra said.