Regardless of who we are or where we live, we deserve to live in a healthy community and on a healthy planet. But the Trump administration’s recent attacks on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) -- including massive employee terminations, funding freezes, elimination of dozens of regulations, and gutting scientific research -- put at risk Minnesotans’ ability to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live healthy and safe lives.
Help guide the North Star chapter’s response against the Trump Administration’s attacks on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)! While recent events can feel overwhelming, there is power in acting together. We are inviting your input on what you are most concerned about, with respect to Minnesota and the chapter’s work and activities. Please share your experiences, expertise and passion to inform our response.
You can read more about the activities and structure of the EPA below, and then please fill out our survey no later than April 25.
The EPA: Then and Now
Brief for North Star Chapter
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a federal government agency created to protect human health and the environment. Its primary mission is to ensure clean air, land, and water for all Americans.
Activities
- Develops and enforces environmental laws and regulations, often setting national standards (air, water, toxins)
- Oversees implementation of regulations by states and tribes; has stepped in to implement regulations when states do not
- Supports implementation with community grants, ongoing or special
- Conducts scientific research to better understand environmental issues, set standards, and develop solutions
- Provides technical assistance and training to states, tribes, and organizations
- Supervises cleanup of contaminated sites and toxic waste
- Reviews chemicals and pesticides to ensure they are safe for humans and the environment
Focuses
- Sets standards for drinking water and regulates water pollution from industry, municipalities, and agriculture (the last primarily exempted)
- Regulates air pollutants from vehicles, power plants, and industrial plants
- Regulates storage, transport, and disposal of hazardous and solid waste
- Enforces the Clean Water Act passed by Congress to protect and restore waters
- Enforces the Clean Air Act passed by Congress to protect and improve air quality
- Oversees its Superfund program to address hazardous waste generation, transportation, and disposal
Structure
- Established in 1970 by the Nixon Administration to consolidate various federal environmental agencies
- Headquartered in DC
- Has regional offices – the Minnesota office is in Chicago
- Led by an administrator appointed by the president and approved by the Senate; currently Lee Zeldin
Trump Administration actions against EPA (as of April 4, 2025)
- Cut funding
- Ordered to cut 65% of budget
- Required approval from DOGE on spending over $50,000
- Terminated $14 billion in grants to three climate groups – blocked for now on March 19 by a federal judge for insufficient assertions of fraud
- Reduced staff
- Fired 400 probationary employees
- Fired or pushed out hundreds of career staffers
- Announced plans to dismantle the scientific research arm by firing more than 1000 scientific experts (chemists, biologists, toxicologists) – on hold for now after legal ruling
- Eliminated many jobs related to monitoring air and water quality, responding to natural disasters, and lead abatement
- Dismissed scientific advisory boards
- Eliminated dozens of environmental rules
- Climate pollution from power plants
- Climate pollution from trucks and care
- Limiting soot and mercury from the air
- Questioned constitutionality of “endangerment finding”
- Supreme Court’s 2009 ruling that human-caused greenhouse gases are heating up the planet
- Basis for many of the country’s climate regulations
- Removed climate change references from agency’s website