March 25, 2025
EPA headquarters arrests exceed 1,000 under federal trespass statutes
Scientists and parents risk jail blocking EPA entrances demanding pollution protection reversal
🌱Environment🤝Civic Action📜Constitutional Law
Over 1,000 protesters were arrested at EPA headquarters and regional offices on March 8, 2025, when activists blocked entrances to demand reversal of pollution-standard eliminations (Climate Action Campaign tracker: https://www.actonclimate.com/trumptracker/).
Extinction Rebellion and Sunrise Movement led the coordinated civil disobedience campaigns targeting EPA offices beginning March 8, 2025, with scientists, teachers and parents risking arrest to defend environmental protections (Earth Day protest coverage: https://www.outlookbusiness.com/explainers/earth-day-2025-trump-climate-protests).
On March 12, 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced what he called “the biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history,” advancing 31 actions to roll back environmental safeguards (EPA press release: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-launches-biggest-deregulatory-action-us-history).
As part of that rollback, Zeldin canceled 400 environmental justice-related grants—despite a court order barring the administration from freezing equity-based grants—and ordered closure of environmental justice offices at headquarters and all 10 regional EPA offices (Climate Action Campaign tracker: https://www.actonclimate.com/trumptracker/).
Analysts cited by protesters estimate the targeted rules would prevent 30,000 premature deaths and save $275 billion in annual health costs if maintained, figures drawn from EPA’s prior assessments and independent research (AP News analysis: https://apnews.com/article/epa-zeldin-pollution-rules-analysis-savings-health-0a289aec2507ed38d386680afdd0ea45).
🌱Environment🤝Civic Action📜Constitutional Law
Test Your Knowledge
10
Q1
The protests focused on intergenerational justice and protecting children's future climate.
Q2
What did EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin call the March 12, 2025 deregulation announcement?
Q3
What phrase did protesters use to describe Trump's approach to environmental policy during Earth Day 2025 demonstrations?
Q4
Name the EPA Administrator who announced the "biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history."
Q5
How many protesters were arrested during the March 8, 2025 EPA headquarters blockade?
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Lee Zeldin (EPA Administrator)
on March 12, 2025, unveiled 31 deregulatory actions labeled “the biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history,” revoked 400 environmental justice grants and ordered immediate closure of EPA’s environmental justice offices.
Chris Wright (U.S. Secretary of Energy)
at the CERAWeek conference characterized climate change as “a side effect of building the modern world,” a framing protesters challenged.