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Trump Invokes Authoritarian Powers on Day One to Gut Environmental Protections
WASHINGTON, January 20, 2025 — President Trump ordered federal agencies today to begin unlawfully gutting protections for the climate, clean air and water, and public lands. Following through on his threat to act like a dictator “on day one,” Trump also ordered a massive expansion of oil, gas and coal extraction from public lands and waters — actions that could lead to irreversible climate catastrophe if they go unchallenged.
“No one in American history has shown more disdain for the environment than Donald Trump. His reckless contempt for our nation’s natural heritage and people’s health will only get worse, but we’ll fight him at every step,” said Kierán Suckling, executive director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “No matter how extreme he becomes, we’ll confront Trump with optimism and a fierce defense of our beloved wildlife and the planet’s health. His anti-environment agenda is overwhelmingly unpopular and truly a threat to life on earth.”
Trump’s day-one executive orders include:
* A sweeping “national emergency” on energy prices designed to expand onshore and offshore oil drilling and fossil fuel extraction, increase drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and greenlight immediate fracked gas exports.
* Withdrawing from the Paris agreement on climate change.
* Rescinding California’s ability to restrict emissions from cars, light trucks and other polluting fossil-fuel motors, as well as rescinding EPA auto emissions and Department of Transportation fuel economy standards that address the largest sector of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
“The United States has some of the strongest environmental laws in the world, and no matter how petulantly Trump behaves, these laws don’t bend before the whims of a wannabe dictator,” said Suckling. “The use of emergency powers doesn’t allow a president to bypass our environmental safeguards just to enrich himself and his cronies. We’ll see Trump in court to challenge each of these horrific, senseless attacks on wildlife, public lands and our health.”
President Trump’s apparent use of the National Emergencies Act to try to increase drilling on public lands and waters comes despite the U.S. being the world’s largest producer and exporter of fracked gas. Domestic oil production hit a record high in 2024, which was also the hottest year in recorded history because of fossil fuel pollution.
Trump’s executive order to pull out from the 2015 Paris Agreement will set in motion a withdrawal process that will take one year to complete under the rules of the accord. Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement in his first term, followed by Biden rejoining the accord quickly after taking office. The U.S. ratified the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the foundational global climate change treaty aimed at stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions, under President George H.W. Bush and two-thirds of the Senate ratified the treaty.
Trump’s attack on California’s clean vehicle authority is likely illegal. In March 2022 the EPA restored California’s ability to set its own vehicle and tailpipe standards, reversing a decision by the previous Trump administration. In 2024 a federal court upheld California’s longstanding waiver, confirming that the state faces “significant pollution and climate challenges” that have “particularly harmful impacts on California”.
“Nobody voted to wipe out America’s endangered wildlife, despoil our public lands, and pollute our air and water. Trump’s actions make a mockery of his own cynical pledge to make America healthy again,” said Suckling. “Trump’s always been a con artist at his core, and this extreme attack on our environment shows his true colors.”
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-invokes-authoritarian-powers-on-day-one-to-gut-environmental-protections-2025-01-20/
Trump’s day-one executive orders include:
* A sweeping “national emergency” on energy prices designed to expand onshore and offshore oil drilling and fossil fuel extraction, increase drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and greenlight immediate fracked gas exports.
* Withdrawing from the Paris agreement on climate change.
* Rescinding California’s ability to restrict emissions from cars, light trucks and other polluting fossil-fuel motors, as well as rescinding EPA auto emissions and Department of Transportation fuel economy standards that address the largest sector of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
“The United States has some of the strongest environmental laws in the world, and no matter how petulantly Trump behaves, these laws don’t bend before the whims of a wannabe dictator,” said Suckling. “The use of emergency powers doesn’t allow a president to bypass our environmental safeguards just to enrich himself and his cronies. We’ll see Trump in court to challenge each of these horrific, senseless attacks on wildlife, public lands and our health.”
President Trump’s apparent use of the National Emergencies Act to try to increase drilling on public lands and waters comes despite the U.S. being the world’s largest producer and exporter of fracked gas. Domestic oil production hit a record high in 2024, which was also the hottest year in recorded history because of fossil fuel pollution.
Trump’s executive order to pull out from the 2015 Paris Agreement will set in motion a withdrawal process that will take one year to complete under the rules of the accord. Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement in his first term, followed by Biden rejoining the accord quickly after taking office. The U.S. ratified the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the foundational global climate change treaty aimed at stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions, under President George H.W. Bush and two-thirds of the Senate ratified the treaty.
Trump’s attack on California’s clean vehicle authority is likely illegal. In March 2022 the EPA restored California’s ability to set its own vehicle and tailpipe standards, reversing a decision by the previous Trump administration. In 2024 a federal court upheld California’s longstanding waiver, confirming that the state faces “significant pollution and climate challenges” that have “particularly harmful impacts on California”.
“Nobody voted to wipe out America’s endangered wildlife, despoil our public lands, and pollute our air and water. Trump’s actions make a mockery of his own cynical pledge to make America healthy again,” said Suckling. “Trump’s always been a con artist at his core, and this extreme attack on our environment shows his true colors.”
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-invokes-authoritarian-powers-on-day-one-to-gut-environmental-protections-2025-01-20/
For more information:
https://biologicaldiversity.org/
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