Call on Congress to defend critical government agencies

What's At Stake

In just a few short weeks, President Trump has closed critical environmental enforcement offices, frozen federal funding for environmental projects, and laidoff thousands of federal workers.

The administration just closed important offices within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice tasked with holding polluters accountable and ensuring vulnerable communities have equitable access to a healthy environment. They have fired nonpartisan public servants with deep scientific knowledge and ousted staff who provide impartial expertise to ensure policies are rooted in equity and science.

It’s time for Congress to fight back.

Tell Congress to do everything in their power to hold the line and ensure agencies like the EPA have the tools and expertise to continue protecting our health and the environment.

Weakening these offices and other important federal agencies is a gift to polluting industries seeking to skirt oversight and accountability. Our communities and the environment will pay the price.

As the weeks go by, more agencies responsible for upholding bedrock environmental protections that protect wild spaces, safeguard our clean air and clean water, and protect our planet could be next.

The Trump administration has been issuing statements, orders, and memoranda at a frantic pace designed to confuse us and cause chaos, but we can’t let that overwhelm us. We have made too much progress in the last few years, and we will not let up the pressure to continue fighting.

Given the stakes we are facing, this is a call to act in the most consequential fight of our lifetimes. The majority party has a very slim margin in Congress so every message from constituents truly counts.

Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) speaks during a demonstration. (Al Drago / Getty Images)
Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) speaks during a demonstration. (Al Drago / Getty Images)

Delivery to U.S. Congress

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Your Actions Matter

Your messages make a difference, even if we have leaders who don't want to listen. Here's why.

You level the playing field.

Elected officials pay attention when they see that we are paying attention. Read more.

They may be hearing from industry lobbyists left and right, but hearing the stories of their constituents — that’s your power.

Our legislators serve at the pleasure of the people who gave them their job — you.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. When you contact your elected official, you’re putting a face and a name on an issue.

Whether or not you voted for them, they work for you, for the duration of their term.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. (Find your local, state, and federal elected officials.)

Your action is with us in court.

If a federal agency finalizes a harmful action, the record of public comments provides a basis for bringing them into court. Read more.

Throughout each of the public comment periods we alert you to, Earthjustice’s attorneys are researching and writing in-depth, technical comments to submit — detailing how the regulation could and should be stronger to protect the environment, our communities, and our planet.

We need you to join us — your specific experiences, knowledge, and voice are crucial to add to the Administrative Record through the comment periods.

Lawsuits we file that challenge weak or harmful federal regulations rely on what was submitted during the comment period. The court can only look at documents that are in the Administrative Record — including the public comments — to decide if the agency did something improper.

Your actions aid our litigation. Taking action and submitting comments during a comment period is substantively important.

It’s the law.

Federal agencies must pause what they’re doing and ask for — and consider — your comment. Read more.

Many of us may have never heard of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), but laws like these require our government to ask the public to weigh in before agencies adopt or change regulations.

Regulations essentially describe how federal agencies will carry out laws — including decisions that could undermine science, or weaken safeguards on public health.

Public comments are collected at various points throughout the federal government’s rulemaking process, including when a regulation is proposed and finalized. (Learn about the rulemaking process.) These comments become part of the official, legal public record — the “Administrative Record.”

When the public responds with a huge outpouring of support for environmental protections, these individual messages collectively undercut politicians' attempts to claim otherwise.

What this means is each of us can take a role in shaping the rules our government creates — and ensuring those rules are fair and effective.