Significant Decrease in U.S. Environmental Enforcement During Trump's Second Term

Enforcement actions against polluters in the United States significantly decreased during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, experiencing a far greater decline than observed during the same period of his first term, according to a newly released report by a watchdog group.

The nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project analyzed federal court and administrative data to reveal that civil lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in cases referred by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fell to only 16 in the first 12 months following Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025. This represents a 76 percent decrease from the number observed in the first year of the Biden administration.

During Trump’s first term, the administration filed 86 such cases in its initial year, which itself was a decrease from the 127 cases filed in the Obama administration’s first year, four years prior.

“Our nation’s landmark environmental laws are meaningless when EPA does not enforce the rules,” Jen Duggan, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project, emphasized in a statement.

These findings align with two recent analyses from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Earthjustice, both of which highlighted diminishing environmental enforcement under Trump's leadership.

Starting from the beginning of Trump’s second term, the administration has embarked on an aggressive deregulatory agenda, reducing regulations and important health safeguards across federal agencies designed to protect water, air, and other environmental components. This initiative has notably favored fossil fuel industries, with Trump declaring an “energy emergency” immediately after his inauguration.

At the EPA, Administrator Lee Zeldin initiated in March what the administration touted as the “biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history.” This included 31 distinct efforts aimed at rolling back restrictions on air and water pollution, transferring more regulatory authority to states—some of which have historically supported lenient enforcement—and withdrawing from EPA's mandate to address climate change under the Clean Air Act.