We Will Not Just Watch Our Government Get Dismantled

Firings, employee buyout schemes, shutting down an entire agency. The Trump administration is gutting federal funding and attacking the public servants who are critical to making our government function. Hollowing out the agencies that oversee the environment will endanger all of us.

Federal agencies are responsible for making fair, fact-based policy decisions that protect our health, safety, and the environment. They set legal limits on toxic pollutants in our air and water, oversee the electrical grid that we rely on to power our homes, and determine whether chemicals are safe to use in consumer products, just to name a few examples.

This work requires impartially gathering scientific data and public comments as the basis for rulemaking. In order to do this, agencies need experts who work for the government, not the political party in office. The constitution gives Congress, not the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), control over the funding of federal agencies. Join us in calling congressional representatives to insist that they push back on the Trump administration’s attack on critical agencies.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• What it does: The EPA crafts and enforces environmental protections that safeguard our air and water from pollution. If polluters violate environmental rules, the EPA can levy fines or shut down projects. The agency is also an investigative and research body that releases information on emissions, industry pollution, or chemicals to warn the public about risks.
• Why it’s important: Without the EPA, everyone’s health, wildlife, and our natural ecosystems would be at the mercy of polluting industries that have historically valued profit above human health. The agency ensures that we are not kept in the dark about potentially toxic projects being proposed in our communities; it is the main federal body ensuring that our drinking water is safe and that our air is clean enough to breathe.
• The threat: In February, the EPA announced plans to close its environmental justice office, placing 168 civil servants on administrative leave. The office, created in 1992 under George H. W. Bush, addressed racial and economic discrimination in environmental conditions and identified ways to protect the hardest-hit communities.

Scientific Advisory Panels

• What they do: Federal agencies that issue rulemakings, such as the EPA and the Interior, depend on research panels. These are made up of experts such as scientists, lawyers, and economists. For example, when the EPA decides how much air pollution is safe to breathe, the agency consults closely with at least one panel of independent scientists. Input from the panel may lead the agency to adopt stronger protections to keep us safe.
• Why they’re important: These experts play a crucial role in the protection of our air, water, and food. They are the primary resource that agencies rely on to craft rules that avoid outbreaks of countless illnesses, balance economic stability with protecting natural ecosystems, and many other complex considerations. Without these experts, agencies cannot make informed decisions or fulfill the roles entrusted to them by Congress.
• The threat: In January, the EPA fired all members of two key advisory panels, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and Science Advisory Board. Both groups provide expert technical guidance and key checks to ensure that EPA policies are rooted in science, not politics. The agency gave no justification for their dismissal.

The Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice (ENRD)

• What it does: Once an environmental law or rule hits the books, the Environmental and Natural Resources Division may need to defend or enforce it in court. Its lawyers prosecute cases that enforce important environmental laws like the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Superfund law. ENRD has no policy agenda; they impartially defend agency actions. The agency’s lawyers also advise the administration on the legality of planned environmental or energy-related actions.
• Why it’s important: ENRD’s lawyers represent the government in cases involving everything from pollution crimes to administering public lands, protecting wildlife, or defending tribal sovereignty. This includes criminal cases against illegal chemical dumpers and wildlife traffickers. But more often, it handles civil enforcement cases against defendants like city governments that aren’t delivering clean drinking water, utilities that aren’t investing in up-to-date emissions controls, or oil companies drilling without proper safety equipment. Though ENRD is not widely known, it is essential to how our government prosecutes, defends, and administers our environmental laws.
• The threat: The Trump administration has cut or reassigned top attorneys at ENRD. Additionally, newly appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi formally rescinded all previous orders, memos, and directives regarding environmental justice informing the Department of Justice’s work.