Earth Day Reality: Trump’s EPA Decimates Environmental Protections While Energy Costs Skyrocket

The Trump administration has removed all accountability from polluters, and Wisconsin families are paying the price

Madison, WI – Over the past year, Trump’s EPA has rolled back protections and canceled crucial funding for communities across Wisconsin. These actions threaten Wisconsinites’ access to clean air and water and make communities across the state less resilient to the impacts of climate change. This Earth Day, we’re highlighting just a few of the many ways in which Trump’s EPA is making Wisconsin families less safe—all while electricity and gas prices are through the roof:

• Trump’s EPA repealed the endangerment finding, which obligated the federal government to protect Americans from climate pollution.
• Trump’s EPA terminated the Solar for All program, which expanded low-income communities’ access to residential solar. 
• Trump’s EPA delayed releasing funds by six months to remove and replace lead pipes in Wisconsin. The plan prioritized economically distressed neighborhoods with the most lead-poisoned children.
• Trump’s EPA pushed to roll back protections on four types of PFAS that contaminate our water supplies, withdrew a rule requiring PFAS manufacturers to monitor and reduce their pollution, and proposed scaling back requirements for chemical manufacturers to report their PFAS use. 

“This Earth Day is highlighting the vast disparity between what the Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to be doing, and what it’s doing under Trump: protecting polluters,” said Alex Witt, Senior Advisor for Accountability at Climate Power. “Every EPA policy that has been rolled back or repealed since Trump took office is making it more dangerous for Wisconsinites to breathe our air and drink our water. We’re getting sicker and spending more on healthcare because Trump apparently wants to protect oil and gas billionaires above everyone else. Any celebrating of Earth Day that Trump’s EPA does is as much of a joke as its name has become.”

Read more: Climate Power’s New Energy Crisis Snapshot highlights how the Trump administration is making life increasingly unaffordable for Wisconsinites while gutting clean energy production.