You may not be aware of it, but my first job after I passed the Bar Exam was being hired as an attorney by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. I worked in the Division of Air Pollution Control and was involved in suing companies for air pollution violations.
We were so effective that industry hated us. This caused the State Attorney General Bill Scott to take our trial power back and forced us to have to go through his Assistant AGs to file cases against polluters. Guess what? They started holding up filing cases. It got to the point that I’d have nothing to do all day.
That’s when I left and started to move into what I do now – helping people! So, at one level, thank you Bill Scott for my speaking career.
However, the same type of thing is happening now with the Environmental Protection Agency, but it’s much, much worse.
I don’t usually write about politics; however, this situation is going to have a direct effect on everyone’s health and well-being if it’s not stopped. So…I hope you’ll indulge me and read on.
Since his confirmation as EPA Administrator on January 29, 2025, Lee Zeldin has swiftly moved to dismantle what many see as critical environmental safeguards - moves that have been sharply criticized by numerous environmental groups.
It’s Deregulation on a Grand Scale
In March, Zeldin unveiled plans to roll back 31 major environmental regulations, in what he called the “largest deregulatory announcement in U.S. history.” These include roll backs to limits on air toxins, carbon emissions, climate pollution from vehicles and power plants, and protections for water bodies under the Clean Water Act.
They are also rollbacking back the mercury and Air Toxics Standards, tailpipe pollution rules, methane limits, and national soot standards which are rules that were created to save lives and reduce illness.
Getting An Exemption to Pollute by Sending an Email
He’s enabled petrochemical and coal operations to apply for a presidential exemption from pollution safeguards. All they needed to do is send an email request – No Proof Necessary!
So far, almost 70 coal fired power plants have gotten this two-year free pass to ignore federal standards so they can pollute the environment. After 2 years, they can just email to renew the waivers.
Industry groups representing some of the country’s largest polluters – the American Chemistry Council and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers - have even asked Zeldin for a blanket exemption for more than 200 facilities.
The EPA is also refusing to announce who is applying and who is receiving these exemptions.
If you’re old enough, remember when many cities were totally covered in a layer of smog. Well, guess what’s coming back!
Undermining Climate Science
Let’s go one step further in this horror story – just a couple of day ago, Zeldin announced his intention to repeal what’s called the Agency’s 2009 “Endangerment Finding”, which declared greenhouse gases harmful to human health. This Finding underpins nearly every federal climate regulation since then, including tailpipe emission standards for vehicles.
The rollback is expected to trigger legal objections and has drawn strong criticism for defying decades of scientific consensus, while undermining federal authority to regulate carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases.
Attacks on Environmental Justice and Science
Zeldin has also slashed the EPA’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and moved to eliminate offices focused on environmental justice, dismantling the agency’s decades-long efforts to address pollution in historically marginalized areas. A quick example - how would you like to live next to a coal fired power station and a petrochemical refinery? You’d probably say no thanks. Well, there are lots of people who can’t say – no thanks – and they need to be protected from these harms.
The budget for that DEI department was slashed by around 65%, and internal dissent was met with administrative leave for 139 employees who signed internal declarations opposing agency policy - actions the EPA justified as not disciplinary but illustrative of its unwillingness to tolerate dissent.
What’s to Come
No doubt we are going to have more toxic chemicals, cancer, asthma attacks, and other severe health harms—especially impacting children, pregnant women, and low-income communities.
Former EPA administrators—including Republicans—have echoed the alarm. They have called Zeldin’s rollbacks “catastrophic” and warn they endanger current and future generations by abandoning core EPA values in favor of deregulation.
Hopefully, legal challenges by the states and environmental groups suing to stop this outrage will succeed, and, doubly hopefully, that the Supreme Court will agree to stop this in its tracks.
If not, we may need to change the name of the EPA from Environmental Protection Agency to EDA - Environmental Destruction Agency!
So…now’s the time to call your Congress Person and US Senators to complain about these changes. You can also donate to groups like the Environmental Defense Fund and NDRC that have been in this fight for decades.
That’s the end of my rant. If you finished reading this, thanks!
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