Environmental groups prepare to fight a new Trump administration

Environmental groups are preparing to push back against the incoming Trump administration, which they expect to make sweeping policy changes sooner than Donald Trump appeared when he took office in 2017.

Based on Trump’s previous actions as president and statements he made during the last election campaign, pundits, lawyers and advocates have made a number of predictions about his agenda in office. They expect him to focus on expanding oil and gas drilling, reducing federally protected lands, and repealing or rolling back two of President Joe Biden’s signature legislative achievements: the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Environmentalists see the Cabinet picks announced by Trump as the first steps toward that agenda — people who agree to the goal of “drilling, drilling, drilling” on day one, as Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in December. Trump has already appointed North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, who has called for increased domestic oil production. his choice for interior secretaryand CEO of the oil industry Chris Wright as the energy secretary he wanted.

The first Trump administration took at least 74 steps perceived as weakening environmental policy. according to the viewer from the nonpartisan Brookings Institution. Given Trump’s promises to significantly change the regulatory landscape, that number could be even higher in the near future.

“I think what we’re preparing for more is potential aggression and disregard for the rule of law,” said Brett Hartl, director of government relations for the Center for Biological Diversity. He added that his group will also monitor changes or processes that are “simply, clearly illegal”.

The center and other environmental organizations, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, anticipate a major legal battle ahead and are already fundraising to fund the effort. Pop-up ads on every site require support to counter the expected changes in environmental protection.

Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment.

NRDC and the Center for Biological Diversity both have a track record of successfully challenging Trump’s agenda in court. During Trump’s tenure, the center has filed 266 lawsuits against government actions it sees as threats to the environment, winning 87% of them, by its own count. Some of the group’s biggest victories have been halting an offshore drilling project in Alaska’s Arctic and reversing the delisting of grizzly bears as an endangered species. Meanwhile, NRDC says it has filed 163 lawsuits during that time and won about 90% of those that were settled.

Despite Trump abandoning Project 2025 during the campaign, several environmental groups said they expect the incoming administration to follow suit. conservative policy roadmapit was created by the Heritage Foundation, a right-leaning think tank. They prepare accordingly.

“We’re already seeing people involved in Project 2025 being appointed to the administration,” said Andrew Wetzler, who directs NRDC’s nature program. “And when you look at it, it’s pretty exciting from a broader climate perspective.”

The plan calls for achieving “America’s energy dominance” by partially ending what it calls the “war on oil and natural gas.” This recommends halting federal climate research and favors repealing Biden-era policies that provided billions of dollars in renewable energy funding.

Jillian Blanchard, who heads the climate change and environmental justice program at Lawyers for Good Government, a nonprofit legal advocacy group, said the group is working to make sure that dollars earmarked for clean energy projects under the Inflation Reduction Act can’t be easily rolled back. by the new administration.

“We’ve worked with a lot of federal grantees who have received money or are announced to receive money,” Blanchard said, describing his group’s efforts to help those clients expedite the payment process and resolve any regulatory compliance issues that arise.

“We intend to continue this work so that this money goes through the doors of grant recipients for climate justice, climate crisis response, environmental justice, transit, and more,” he said.

Conservation groups expect renewed fighting over federally protected lands, particularly in the Southwest. After President Barack Obama created Bears Ears National Monument in Utah in 2016, Trump reduced its size by more than 1 million acres after taking office the following year. A delegation of environmental groups sued and the monument was fully restored by Biden in 2021.

Many expect Bears Ears to be retargeted, as is Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah.

“We anticipate that day one of these national monuments could be demolished,” said Ethan Aumack, executive director of the Grand Canyon Trust.

He said the group had planned a scenario to be able to quickly respond to any such attempt.

“I’ll just say this: we’re not operating from a blank slate. We saw what happened in the first term of President Trump,” Aumak said. “We believe it is illegal for any president to tear down national monuments, and if he does the same thing again, we are prepared to take the matter to court.”

While there are fierce battles ahead, Wetzler also pointed to several types of environmental policies that the new Trump administration may find difficult to dismantle.

Pointing to the Biden administration’s infrastructure and clean energy investments, he said many elected Republicans may not want to lose money going to their districts, including leaders in Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina.

“The vast majority of clean energy investments — new battery technologies, electric car factories, solar manufacturers — are located all over the country and in red states,” Wetzler said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of pressure on Congress, from the Republican Party, from their own constituents, not to disrupt these investments.”

Second, he said, clean water has emerged as an area of ​​relative bipartisan consensus.

“Some of the most passionate conservationists are actually Republicans and people who actually live close to the land,” Wetzler said. “My experience tells me that when it comes to protecting access to water, fishable, swimmable lakes, places where people can hike and camp, hunt and fish, there’s going to be a lot of resistance, no matter which political party is in charge. in Washington.”