The Dismantling of Environmental Protections — A Grave Threat to America’s Health

On June 22, 1969, Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River caught fire, sparking national attention to environmental degradation. In his State of the Union address 7 months later, President Richard Nixon lamented that Americans were being “suffocated by smog, poisoned by water” and proclaimed that clean air and water should “be the birthright of every American.” At Nixon’s urging, Congress established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and passed the Clean Air Act (CAA) with bipartisan support. Air-quality upgrades mandated by that act and enforced by the EPA are among the most effective health interventions of the past half-century, having reduced air pollution by 75% in the United States and saved at least 200,000 lives per year.1

Yet during the first administration of President Donald Trump, nearly 100 environmental and occupational protections, including air-quality safeguards, were rescinded.2 Although many of those rescissions were delayed by litigation or reversed by President Joe Biden, they inflicted considerable harm on Americans’ health.3 The second Trump administration’s actions have been even more aggressive, portending greater harm.