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We’re back with ESCN’s March BADness tournament pitting the 64 worst environmental actions taken by the Trump Administration to see which is the worst of the worst.
It takes a lot for a policy to reach the Awful Eight in our tournament – a combination of harm to the environment, flouting of public opinion, just the right amount of corporate favoritism, and maybe a bit of brazen corruption.
While Trump’s attacks on our environment have been unsurprising, the Scandalous Sixteen was full of surprises and upsets. Despite being pre-tournament favorites, the DOGE Bros finally met their match with Militarizing Public Lands to Stage ICE Raids. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Another tourney favorite, Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, fell to Revoking the Roadless Rule and opening ancient forests to logging – a real Euro Mis-step.
But do these Cinderellas have what it takes to make it to the Final Four of our Tournament of Badness? Make your picks on our Facebook and Instagram pages. And while you’re at it, make your voice heard and stand up for our communities, our air and water, and our lands and wildlife! Learn more about each action and add your name to protect what matters for the next generation at the links below.
Rollbacks Regional
- Withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement
- (WINS) Revoking the Roadless Rule, opening up nearly 60 million acres of national forests to logging
- (WINS) Revoking the Public Lands Rule to prioritize corporate drilling, mining, and logging on public lands. Take action, Protect Public Lands from Corporate Polluters and Billionaires!
- Revoking decades-old protections for 2 million acres of northern Alaska to benefit the oil and gas industry
Executive (Dis)orders
- Empowering Elon Musk and DOGE to fire thousands of federal workers and throw the federal government into chaos
- (WINS) Militarizing public lands to stage ICE raids in Los Angeles
- (WINS) Abusing an obscure law to cut out public input and overturn public lands protections. Take action, Congress: Protect the Boundary Waters Wilderness from Toxic Mining!
- Firing wildfire firefighters before fire season and downsizing federal wildfire management to a single office
Energy Vampires
- Illegally extending the operational lives of coal plants
- (WINS) Exempting coal plants from toxic mercury pollution standards
- Excluding solar and wind from the definition of energy under its phony energy emergency
- (WINS) Reinstating illegal oil and gas leases in the Arctic Refuge
Corporate Giveaways
- (WINS) Pushing to privatize millions of acres of public lands, locking out the public from the great outdoors
- Removing the public from public lands management by cutting NEPA requirements at the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management
- (WINS) Trying to open Boundary Waters, one of the most popular recreation areas in the country, to toxic sulfide mining. Take action, Congress: Protect the Boundary Waters Wilderness from Toxic Mining!
- Delaying protections against methane and other harmful pollution