President Trump’s budget proposal reduces funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by 52 percent ($4.6 billion). Those cuts would cause harm to the nation’s air and water, but the proposed budget frames the reduced funding as “a return to common sense environmental policy that works for Americans by providing clean water, clean air, and clean lands.”
“Budgets are statements of values. This offer fails to adequately fund the agencies and programs tasked with protecting our clean air and drinking water, lowering costs for families, and remaining good stewards of the national parks and public lands we all cherish. The cuts outlined in this proposal would be catastrophic for our nation and all who call it home.” Melinda Pierce, Sierra Club, Legislative Director
The Three Targeted Areas That Most Impact Communities
The EPA programs targeted for cuts include environmental justice, the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, and Superfund cleanup. Those are three areas that most impact communities.
Environmental justice
In the budget proposal, the Trump administration claims that DEI programs “promote divisive racial discrimination…that advance discriminatory and radical ideological projects.” However, an analysis found that environmental justice programs represent at least $6.4 billion in economic opportunity and 65,000 jobs.
The worst harm from climate change affects “underserved communities,” a 2023 EPA analysis found. Black people face the highest impacts of climate change, and they are 34 percent more likely to live in communities with the highest projected increases in childhood asthma. They are also 40 percent more likely to live in areas with the highest projected deaths from extreme temperatures.
Clean Water State Revolving Fund
The Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), which provides low-interest loans to communities to help them implement water projects, would lose $2.5 billion. The proposed budget claims that states should fund “their own water infrastructure projects.” However, clean water projects are important for communities. The CWSRF’s latest budget report mentions three different water projects it funded. One of them is the Ardmore wastewater treatment plant, which serves around 1,100 customers in Alabama and Tennessee. Built in the 1960s, it needed upgrading. The two states developed a plan to upgrade it with help from a CWSRF loan.
Superfund cleanup
The EPA’s Superfund program cleans up areas contaminated with toxic substances. The Trump administration believes that “there is no need for additional funding for Superfund cleanup.” But Superfund cleanup benefits local economies, as the EPA states on its website. Businesses and organizations reuse Superfund sites. In 2024, the EPA had economic data for 10,622 businesses reusing a Superfund site. They generated $71.8 billion in sales revenue, while employing 242,187 people who earn a combined annual income of $20.3 billion.
The Blackburn and Union Privileges site in Walpole, Massachusetts, has used chromium, arsenic, and mercury in industrial and commercial processes, such as manufacturing tires, rubber goods, and insulating materials, since the 1600s. In 1994, the EPA put it on the National Priorities List and awarded the town of Walpole a Superfund Redevelopment Program pilot grant to reuse the property. Walpole developed a new police state and a senior center there.
Image courtesy of Waterkeeper Alliance on Flickr
