This article has been updated to include new information about the Trump administration’s plans.
President Trump stated at his first official cabinet meeting in his second term that the Environmental Protection Agency, an agency that the federal government is essential to protect our health and the environment, is one of the main goals of the next major wave of workforce reduction. About 65% of the approximately 15,000 people working there are likely to be fired, Mr. Trump said. EPA officials later said the president was referring to cutting the agency’s budget, not personnel.
Just like the former head of EPA under the Republican and Democratic administration, we fear that such cuts will leave the agency unable to protect Americans from serious threats in the air, water and land.
Despite the opportunity to make the agency more effective and better in enforcing the law, Americans in states, cities and local communities will suffer from the impact of deep cuts. EPA civil servants don’t defend us and the environment from harmful pollution every day for attention or greater salaries, nor do they execute the wishes, needs or needs of billionaires who want to play on a bigger stage. They are made for all Americans and are due to laws such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. This is an institution that develops standards and regulations based on science and laws and funds approved by Congress.
When the next disaster or pollutant that sprays pollutants into the air arrives to our drinking water or food supply, who will deal with the emergency and its consequences?
After wildfires destroyed Maui in 2023, EPA emergency workers worked with people on the ground to minimize residents’ exposure to dangerous air. After train derailments in East Palestine, Ohio, EPA monitored polluted air, water and soil on site, managed cleaning and put the railway company Norfolk Southern responsible for the illegal release of pollutants and hazardous substances. When states and cities suffer from floods, wildfires and leak disasters, they rely on the EPA to act quickly to mitigate harm to humanity, small businesses and local tourism can recover quickly.
Much of the EPA’s work took place behind the scenes, just like one of its law enforcement teams raided a warehouse full of tagged oil barrels in Colorado that had been prepared for landfills and found that they contained nuclear waste. When acid rain pollutes forests and water throughout the Northeast, EPA staff finds sources and reduces pollution. Asbestos, lead and copper in water were not found before agent scientists tested it. Without this department of administration, most of these problems will never be resolved. Threats like this will recur, but if Mr. Trump is brave enough to put the institution timidly, then no one will intervene.
The vacuum first led to the creation of the EPA – in 1970, President Richard Nixon. In the years that followed, the agency has implemented major legislation passed by Congress to clear our land, water and air. Between 1970 and 2019, the EPA reduced emissions of common air pollutants by 77%, while private sector work grew by 223%, and our GDP grew by nearly 300%. An analysis of the Clean Air Act estimates that many of its benefits, such as premature birth, heart attacks, emergency medical visits, and lost schools and workdays, cost more than 30 to 1.
EPA does not work in isolation. Each year, more than $4 billion, accounting for about 40% of the agency’s funding, is used in states, local governments, tribal states and other entities. Governments should not interfere with these long-standing partnerships. Abandoning them will have a ripple effect on businesses that clean up pollutants and slow down communities committed to enhancing grid reliability and investing in clean energy. It will damage our ability to use non-polluting, replacing lead pipes, block chemicals from entering our drinking water, deal with the most polluted and contaminated land in our country and concentrate resources in the most needed communities, preventing chemicals from entering our drinking water.
We are at a critical moment in our nation’s history, asking us all to work together and make our country stronger. We can’t do this by covering up the agencies we need to ensure we are safe.
William K. Reilly is the seventh EPA administrator. Christine Todd Whitman is the ninth EPA administrator. Gina McCarthy is the 13th EPA administrator.
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