After Improvements Under Biden, EPA Enforcement Office Would Be Eliminated Under “Project 2025” Plan
Note: For a copy of the report, click here. For a spreadsheet of EPA enforcement data over two decades that EIP analyzed, click here.
Washington, D.C. – After improving under President Biden, EPA enforcement of pollution control laws could drop dramatically in a second Trump Administration under Project 2025 recommendations to eliminate the agency’s enforcement and environmental justice offices. Hardest hit would be neighborhoods of color and low-income communities that already suffer from the most pollution, according to a new report by the Environmental Integrity Project.
This month, EPA released new data showing that EPA enforcement of environmental laws improved under Biden, with increases in penalties for polluters, inspections, and civil case conclusions in federal fiscal year 2024 (which ended on September 30) compared to fiscal year 2020.
By contrast, during the first Trump Administration, EPA inspections, penalties, and the enforcement of environmental laws all fell significantly, worsening a long-term decline in enforcement trends caused in part by budget and staffing cuts over more than 20 years, EIP’s analysis of EPA numbers found.
Heading into Trump’s second term, his allies in Project 2025 are calling for deep cuts to EPA, including the closure of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance and the shifting of enforcement staff into other programs. Project 2025 also recommends eliminating EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, as well as shifting responsibilities to state environmental agencies, which have suffered from budget and staffing reductions over the years.
“The Biden Administration took important steps forward to rebuild EPA enforcement after decades of decline, including focusing more effort on reducing pollution in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods,” said Jen Duggan, Executive Director of the Environmental Integrity Project. “It would be a tragedy – and cause real damage to public health — if the Trump Administration follows through with Project 2025 recommendations and reverses this progress.”
EIP’s report found that under President Trump’s first term, the average annual number of EPA inspections of polluters and penalties to polluters both fell by about a third, compared to during Obama’s second term. The total value of injunctive relief (i.e., installation of pollution controls and cleanup projects) fell by more than half. And the average annual number of polluters charged in criminal cases fell by about 40 percent.
After the Biden Administration took office in January 2021, some—but not all—enforcement measures began slowly inching upward.
According to EPA enforcement data compiled and analyzed by EIP:
- The number of EPA inspections of polluters under President Biden rose each year of his administration, to 8,533 in fiscal 2024, while they ultimately fell under Trump, ending at 3,200 in 2020 (although Covid likely had an impact that year and in 2021.)
- Under Biden, civil enforcement cases closed by EPA rose 16 percent from 1,602 in fiscal 2021 to 1,851 in 2024. Under Trump, they fell from 1,974 in 2017 to 1,590 in 2020.
- The costs defendants were expected to pay to address pollution problems under civil consent decrees rose under Biden, with a total of $23.7 billion between fiscal year 2021 and 2024 compared to a total $18.6 billion over the prior four years under Trump.
- The Biden EPA imposed an average of $239 million in civil penalties for environmental violations per year compared to an average of $169 million per year during the Trump years.
However, EIP’s report also found that some environmental enforcement trends at EPA continued downward under Biden. For example, the number of new civil cases referred by EPA to the U.S. Department of Justice for enforcement of environmental laws dropped from 98 in fiscal year 2021 to 60 in fiscal year 2024 under Biden. Under Trump, they fell from 115 in fiscal 2016 to 81 in 2020. In addition, the average number of criminal defendants charged during the Trump administration was 126 per year compared to 113 per year under the Biden administration.
The slow and only partial improvement in EPA enforcement under Biden may have been hampered by continuing budget cuts and constraints, as well as a need to rebuild staffing levels and train new employees after EPA lost approximately 277 enforcement employees during the Trump years. In addition, the U.S. Senate’s confirmation of David Uhlmann, the assistant administrator to run the EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, was also delayed for more than two years, until July 20, 2023, leaving the office leaderless for a long period.
Over the last two decades, EPA’s enforcement program has been battered by significant cuts to enforcement staff and budgets. The number of people in the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance declined by nearly a third, from 3,259 in the 2006 fiscal year to just 2,439 in 2020. Since 2020, under President Biden, staffing levels have increased by almost 10 percent, reaching 2,693 in 2024. But the enforcement program’s budget decreased by 17 percent between 2006 and 2020, adjusted for inflation, and declined to $569 million in 2023. Although the fiscal year 2024 budget for enforcement ($600 million dollars) is 5 percent higher than last year, it remains 6 percent below 2020 levels.
Even after some improvements under Biden compared to the Trump administration, environmental enforcement indicators are still nowhere near the levels they were under the Obama Administration or even under George W. Bush.
For a copy of EIP’s report, click here.
For a spreadsheet of EPA data that EIP analyzed, click here.
The Environmental Integrity Project is America’s environmental watchdog. We hold polluters and governments accountable to protect public health and the environment.
Media contact: Tom Pelton, Environmental Integrity Project (443) 510-2574
