By: Jacob Kim
Under Trump’s renewed leadership, a series of legislative and executive actions have dealt devastating blows to environmental protections—many of which are already having long-term, potentially irreversible consequences for the planet. Chief among these is the dismantling of billions in climate research funding, including the abrupt cancellation of $7 billion in clean energy grants by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. Without offering any legitimate evidence of fraud or misuse, the administration halted support for programs that would have expanded renewable energy infrastructure and community-level climate resilience. Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan, who reviewed the case, openly challenged the government’s justification, noting the complete absence of evidence for wrongdoing.
This anti-climate agenda has gone far beyond defunding. Trump’s EPA has rolled back over 30 environmental regulations, including rules limiting methane emissions from oil and gas operations, pollution controls for power plants, and vehicle emissions standards. In one of the most controversial moves, the EPA began revisiting the “endangerment finding”—the foundational scientific determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. Undermining this would dismantle the legal basis for regulating carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act, setting climate action back by decades.
Meanwhile, Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement for a second time, weakening global climate cooperation at a moment when scientific consensus demands urgent and coordinated action. The administration has greenlit new fossil fuel drilling leases, fast-tracked pipeline approvals, and curtailed environmental review processes under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), giving polluters a freer hand to degrade public lands and waters.
These actions don’t just reverse progress—they create compounding harm. Climate mitigation is a race against time. Every year of delay locks in higher global temperatures, rising sea levels, and deadlier extreme weather. Slashing funding for clean energy, scrapping emissions rules, and suppressing climate science all contribute to a future marked by ecological instability, economic disruption, and humanitarian crises.
Trump’s environmental legacy is one of active destruction. By prioritizing corporate polluters and deregulation over public health and environmental stewardship, his administration has turned back the clock on decades of climate progress—and left future generations with the bill.
Sources
https://www.eenews.net/articles/usda-pulls-the-plug-on-climate-smart-farming-grants/
Energy Outlook 
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