2025 – Present

Donald Trump takes office Jan 20, 2025 and immediately begins to dismantle environmental protections, climate science and renewable energy policy put in place by previous Republican and Democratic administrations.

Jan. 20 —  Trump declares a “National Energy Emergency“  claiming that the energy production capacity of the United States is “far too inadequate to meet our Nation’s needs.”   This is caused by “the harmful and shortsighted policies of the previous administration.”

Critics such as Public Citizen note:

It may seem absurd that, at a time when no country in the history of the world produces more oil and natural gas every day than the United States, that there would somehow be an energy emergency. But when radical, unhinged fossil fuel executives have the ear of the President, they see this fraudulent emergency declaration as their opportunity to destroy progress of wind and solar development, and maximize fossil fuel exports that increasingly dictate whether their fracking operations are profitable or not.

Jan. 20 — Trump withdraws US from Paris Climate Accords claiming that such international agreements ” do not reflect our country’s values or our contributions to the pursuit of economic and environmental objectives.” Another executive order withdraws the US from the World Health Organization.  which it claims “mishandled” the COVID pandemic.

February — Trump administration fires thousands of government staffers and scientists from EPA, NOAA, FEMA, the Dept. of Interior, the Dept. of Energy, the US Agency for International Development and the National Weather Service.  The firings violate civil service rules and defy common sense.  For example, US AID worked with global public health NGOs to monitor and fight contagious disease. No investigation into the pros and cons of the policies in place, nor any plan for new policies, is undertaken.

• The Trump administrations also administers a purging of federal information systems from any references to climate change or diversity and inclusion policies.
• The Trump administration also cancels billions in federal contracts designed to study public health and the environment.
• The Trump administration also attempts to cancel solar and wind projects nationwide, and orders the Dept. of Interior to defer to oil and gas development.

March 2 — “In a few short weeks, President Trump has severely damaged the government’s ability to fight climate change, upending American environmental policy with moves that could have lasting implications for the country, and the planet,” says the New York Times “With a flurry of actions that have stretched the limits of presidential power, Mr. Trump has gutted federal climate efforts, rolled back regulations aimed at limiting pollution and given a major boost to the fossil fuel industry.”

March 12 —  Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced 31 actions to revise pollution standards and study the benefits of climate change. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin says this is “driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion.”  The Guardian newspaper says this day is just one example of Trump’s anti-environmental blitzkrieg.

April 8 — Trump says he will rescue the coal industry and signs a set of executive orders that he claims will clear away roadblocks to new power generation from coal. For a variety of economic and environmental reasons, no new coal fired power plant has come online since 2013, and there are no plans to build any now.  In a news analysis, the Associated Press says that Trump is misrepresenting problems in the coal industry.  like many of his policy initiatives, is based on ideology rather than science, economic logic or public health.  In any event, it is misleading, says FactCheck.org, to claim that the coal industry’s problems come from environmental regulations.

April 11 — Trump orders an end to all climate science research at NOAA and NASA. Meanwhile, the administration attempts to show that a warming world will benefit humanity, which is a “highly misleading” claim that ignores “decades of scientific researching” showing climate change having dire effects. A BBC article explores Trump’s contradictory and confusing ideas on climate science.

May 1 — Trump has done more to attack environmental policy in his first 100 days in office than in his previous administration, according to the Guardian.

May 5 — Trump administration attempts to stop renewable energy projects.

May 8 — Pope Leo XIV installed as the new head of the Catholic Church following the death of Pope Francis April 21.  Leo concern for the environment is similar to that of his predecessor.  According to The Associated Press:

Pope Leo XIV (formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost) “deepened his ties with interfaith environmental networks like the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative and Indigenous organizations” which place “forest protection and rights at the center of Church concern.” He was also the president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, which connected him with neighboring countries that are also home to the Amazon. 

And, according to Inside Climate News:

The new pope could guide the Catholic Church into a new era of care for the environment. Pope Leo XIV, once known as Robert Prevost, previously served as a bishop in Chiclayo, Peru, a city not far from the Amazon rainforest.

May 14 — Repeal of clean energy tax credits is part of sweeping new federal spending bill being proposed in Congress.