Burning Down the EPA: Documenting the Second Trump Administration’s Historic Assault

Under Administrator Zeldin, the EPA has begun incinerating many of the environmental and health protections this agency has provided for decades. Since January, the Zeldin-led EPA has:

  • pledged to unshackle industries from environmental rules and oversight while lowering costs for polluters; 
  • proposed a 54.4% cut in EPA’s budget for fiscal year 2026 that surpasses the high-water mark set by the first Trump administration as the most ambitious cut ever proposed for this agency by the Executive Branch; and  
  • pre-emptively made drastic cuts without consulting Congress.  

Building and expanding upon tactics of earlier EPA-hostile Administrations, the Zeldin-led EPA has launched the most damaging assault in the agency’s 54-year history. The report Burning Down the EPA: documenting the second Trump administration’s historic assault breaks down the tactics employed under Zeldin’s leadership and puts them in their historic context.

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Burning Down the EPA

Author(s): Chris Sellers, Scout Blum, Ellen Kohl, Marianne Sullivan, Leif Fredrickson, Shannan Lenke Stoll, Michael Legefeld, Kim Barrett, Anna Levy, and EDGI
Publication Date: September 3, 2025
Preferred Citation: “Burning Down the EPA: Documenting the Second Trump Administration’s Historic Assault”, (Environmental Data & Governance Initiative, September 3, 2025)

CONTACT: Report authors are available for interview. To set up media interviews or for other inquiries, please contact Shannan Lenke Stoll at shannanlenke.stoll@envirodatagov.org.