Biden Made Slow But Steady Progress on Climate. Trump Is Poised to Dismantle It.

While politicians and the media obsessed about the economy and immigration under President Joe Biden, his administration has been running the most robust Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a generation, making modest but steady progress on vexing problems such as environmental racism, toxic chemical contamination and updating infrastructure to run on cleaner energy.

Flush with nearly $29 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding, the EPA is stewarding billions of dollars in grants for upgrading water infrastructure, reducing climate-warming pollution and expanding renewable energy.

The climate work goes beyond the EPA, with multiple agencies implementing an expansive plan to drastically reduce industrial releases of methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide. For the first time, federal regulators are questioning whether permitting private companies to export vast quantities of fossil gas produced in the U.S. — including on publicly owned land — could be harmful to both the environment and consumers struggling to pay energy bills.

Such efforts to meet international climate commitments seem certain to stall, if not end abruptly, after Donald Trump is reinstalled in the White House and Republicans take over the Senate if not all of Congress.

The damage will go far beyond global warming. If Trump’s rhetoric and first-term record are any indication of what is ahead, the president-elect and the industries willing to curry his favor are poised to make the U.S. a more polluted and dangerous place to live.

“Make no mistake: We are in for the fight of our lives to maintain long-standing protections for safe food, clean water, the environment and our climate — to say nothing of our fundamental democratic functions and institutions,” said Wenonah Hauter, director of the environmental watchdog group Food & Water Watch, in a statement this week.

Trump and his allies in Congress may come under bipartisan pressure to refrain from dismantling popular Biden-era efforts to limit toxic “forever chemicals” in the water supply and replace lead pipes that damage young brains, but it’s not out of the question. The EPA will once again face steep budget cuts as enforcement of clean air and water standards plummets. Career public servants are expected to be replaced with loyalists from the private sector. Back in 2017, Trump appointed a former coal lobbyist to lead the EPA.

Project 2025, the far right wish list that Trump disavowed but is broadly seen as a blueprint for his second term, argues for dissolving the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. The agency tracks climate change for policy makers and the public while providing free weather reports through the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center.

Many of us remember when, for days in 2019, President Trump publicly contradicted reports from the National Hurricane Center as Hurricane Dorian approached Florida and the Bahamas, going as far as to “correct” a map detailing the path of the storm with a black marker. “Sharpiegate” was all about Trump’s ego, not science.

Trump went on to spew misinformation in the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene last month, baselessly accusing the Biden administration of diverting aid from Republican-leaning areas. Trump’s accusations were baseless but fueled online conspiracy theories that made a difficult situation more dangerous for storm victims and recovery workers.

Meanwhile, the fossil fuel industry is cheering Trump’s victory as the president-elect riffs about paying off national debt with “liquid gold” after he rolls back environmental regulations and opens more taxpayer-owned land to oil and gas drilling.

The reelection of a U.S. president who abandoned international climate commitments during his first term comes at a pivotal if not terrifying time. At this point, humans must rapidly slash greenhouse gas pollution or adapt to living on an increasingly unlivable planet. Climate scientists at the United Nations use words like “catastrophic” to describe our future without swift action.

Trump and the Republicans have told a convenient lie to voters, accusing the Democrats of throttling domestic oil and gas production and sending gas and energy prices through the roof. In reality, fossil fuel prices are set by global forces the U.S. president has little control over. The U.S. is already the world’s top producer of oil and gas, and domestic prices would likely come down if the industry didn’t export so much overseas.

However, messaging around the price of heating homes and filling gas tanks resonates during a nationwide affordability crisis, especially among working class voters who have abandoned the Democratic Party in droves.

“The exit of working-class voters from the Democratic Party didn’t start this election cycle. It’s been going on for years,” said Maurice Mitchell, director of the Working Families Party, in a statement. “Now, that realignment has put the authoritarian right in power.”

While the intensifying climate crisis is a threat to all of us, the brunt of Trump’s impact on the environment will be felt most by those living on the front lines of the crisis, whether that be in storm and flood-prone areas or the shadow of industries pumping poison into the air.

“The consequences of this election are clear for those on the frontlines of the climate crisis,” said Jennifer Krill, executive director of the environmental justice group Earthworks, in a statement. “Low-income communities and communities of color will bear the brunt of impact, from poisoned air and water to extreme weather events and rising sea levels, all within our lifetimes.”

However, the groups that are fighting to save the climate and end environmental racism have worked under a Trump administration and GOP-controlled Senate before. They know regulations aimed at toxic and climate-warming pollution will systematically be rolled back, just as Biden put them back in place after he took office. They know Trump will lie about climate change when pressed, regardless of any massive wildfires or hurricanes that occur on his watch.

If Democrats manage to retake the House, Hauter said they must strongly oppose Trump’s destructive agenda. Even in the face of a Republican trifecta, the people fighting for environmental justice and a livable future from the ground up must remain resilient.

“We’ve seen Trump’s playbook before, and we’re prepared to confront him head-on — through the courts, in Congress, and through determined grassroots organizing that has been responsible for great progress in the face of adversity for generations,” Hauter said.