EPA enforcement actions drop 87% to record low of 16 in Trump second term

A report by the Environmental Integrity Project found that the EPA referred just 16 legal actions against alleged polluters to the Department of Justice in 2025 — 87% below Obama's second-term first year, 76% below Biden's first year, and 81% below the first year of Trump's own first term in 2017. Administrative penalties through September totaled $41 million, $8 million less than Biden's comparable period after adjusting for inflation. The EPA disputed the findings, while EPA staff cuts included hundreds of employees who monitored pollution threatening human health.