Clean Wisconsin has been keeping track of the many attacks on bedrock environmental safeguards being carried out by the Trump Administration. Dozens of rules and regulations that protect our air, water, land, endangered species and more are being targeted. With so much happening in such a short time, how do you know what’s important, what’s just a lot of bluster, and what’s even legal? 

Host: Amy Barrilleaux

Guest: Brett Korte, Clean Wisconsin attorney

Resources for You:

Running list of attacks on environmental safeguards

1/20 Freeze All In-Progress Standards 

EO - Freezes in-progress climate, clean air, clean water (including proposed limits on PFAS in industrial wastewater) and consumer protections.

1/20 Energy Emergency Declaration

EO - Authorizes federal government to expedite permitting and approval of fossil fuel, infrastructure, and mining projects and circumvent Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act requirements.

1/20 Withdrawal from Paris Climate Agreement

EO - Reverses the US' international commitment to tackling climate change and reducing pollution.

1/20 Revokes Biden Climate Crisis and Environmental Justice Executive Actions

EO -  Reverses U.S. commitment to fight climate change and its impacts, and protect overburdened communities.

1/20 Attacks on Clean Car Standards

EO -  to stop clean car standards that required automakers to reduce tailpipe pollution from vehicles beginning in 2027.

1/20 Resumes LNG Permitting

EO - Expedites Liquid Natural Gas export terminal approval over analysis finding exports raise energy costs for consumers.

Attacks Climate and Clean Energy Investments from IRA and BIL

EO - Freezes unspent funds from the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and directs agencies to reassess.

1/20 Attacks NEPA Protections

EO - Rescinds order requiring White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to assess environmental and community impacts and allow community input into federal infrastructure projects.

1/21 Expands Offshore Oil Drilling

EO - Reopens U.S. coastlines to offshore drilling.

1/21 Terminate American Climate Corps

EO - Ends all programs of the American Climate Corps, which created thousands of jobs combatting climate change and protecting and restoring public lands.

1/21 Freezes New Wind Energy Leases

EO - Withdraws wind energy leasing from U.S. waters and federal lands.

1/21 Open Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other Alaska Lands for Drilling

EO - Reopens sensitive federal lands and waters in Alaska to drilling.

1/28 EPA’s Science Advisory Panel Members Fired

Memorandum - Acting EPA administrator James Payne dismisses members of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and Science Advisory Board, which provides independent expertise to the agency on air quality standards and sources of air pollution.

1/28 EPA Suspends Solar For All Grants

Memorandum - The EPA halted $7 billion in contractually obligated grants for Solar For All, an Inflation Reduction Act program that delivers clean energy and lower prices to vulnerable communities

1/31 Trump administration scrubs "climate change" from federal websites

Memorandum - Mentions of climate change have been removed from federal websites such the Department of Agriculture, which includes the Forest Service and climate-smart agriculture programs, and the EPA.

2/3 Trump requires removal 10 existing rules for every new rule

EO - The order requires that when an agency finalizes a new regulation or guidance they identify 10 existing rules to be cut.

2/3 Interior secretary weakens public lands protections in favor of fossil fuel development

Sec Order - After Trump’s "Unleashing American Energy" executive order, Interior Secretary Burgum ordered the reinstatement of fossil fuel leases, opened more land for drilling, and issued orders weakening protections of public lands, national monuments and endangered species, and overturned advanced clean energy and climate mitigation strategies.

2/5 Energy secretary announces review of appliance efficiency standards

Sec Order - Energy Secretary Wright ordered a review of appliance standards following Trump’s Day One order attacking rules improving the efficiency of household appliances such as toilets, showerheads, and lightbulbs as part of a secretarial order intended to increase the extraction and use of fossil fuels.

2/5 Army Corps of Engineers halts approval of renewables

Guidance via DOD - The Army Corps of Engineers singled out 168 projects – those that focused on renewable energy projects – out of about 11,000 pending permits for projects on private land. Though the hold was lifted, it was not immediately clear if permitting had resumed.

2/6 Transportation Department orders freeze of EV charging infrastructure program

Memorandum - A Transportation Department memo ordered the suspension of $5 billion in federal funding, authorized by Congress under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, for states to build electric vehicle chargers.

2/11 SEC starts process to kill climate disclosure rule

Memorandum - The acting chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission paused the government’s legal defense of a rule requiring companies to identify the impact of their business on climate in regulatory findings. The rule was challenged in court by 19 Republican state attorneys general and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/02/17/trump-climate-sec-rule-suspended-oil-donors/" rel="