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With a former coal lobbyist at the helm of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the past six months--and a self-described "advocate" against the agency's work prior to that--the EPA has drastically reduced the fines it's levied against pollution-causing industries and companies since President Donald Trump took office.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that under Trump, the agency collected just $72 million in fines last year from automobile, fossil fuel, and other companies that pollute the environment--compared with an average of $500 million, which the EPA annually collected during the two decades prior to the Trump administration.
"The troubling lack of enforcement not only threatens the water we drink and the air we breathe, but also sends a dangerous message to polluters that EPA will continue to turn a blind eye." --Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.)
The decline represents an alarming 85 percent drop, suggesting that Trump's EPA is no longer in the business of protecting Americans from dangerous water and air pollution, according to former EPA enforcement official Cynthia Giles.
"The public expects EPA to protect them from the worst polluters," Giles, who worked at the agency during the Obama administration, told the Post. "The Trump EPA is not doing that. What worries me is how industry will respond to EPA's abandonment of tough enforcement."
The agency's fines have fallen to their lowest level in 25 years, Giles found in an analysis of EPA data.
The decline came as no surprise to groups including government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which has called for an investigation into EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler, who officially took office this month after serving as acting administrator following Scott Pruitt's resignation last summer.
\u201cThe EPA is led by Andrew Wheeler, a former coal and energy company lobbyist whom @CREWcrew has asked be investigated for improperly working with his former clients and industries. Coincidentally EPA's civil fines for polluters are down 85%. Hmmm. https://t.co/E9HwS2tJCS\u201d— Noah Bookbinder (@Noah Bookbinder) 1548341977
\u201cWith its scientists censored and a coal lobbyist in charge, its no wonder why EPA's civil fines for polluters are down 85%. https://t.co/1tzwxyJeW1\u201d— Let Science Speak (@Let Science Speak) 1548351448
Wheeler has claimed that fines are down because the EPA has focused more on working with companies to ensure that they're in compliance with the agency's environmental regulations--but Giles found that while civil penalties have declined, companies are also paying less in compliance costs to the EPA. For two decades prior to the Trump administration, the EPA collected an average of $7.8 billion per year in compliance fees, compared to $5.6 billion in the last fiscal year.
"The troubling lack of enforcement not only threatens the water we drink and the air we breathe, but also sends a dangerous message to polluters that EPA will continue to turn a blind eye," Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) told the Post.
Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) added that the agency is abdicating its responsibility by failing to punish companies.
\u201cEPA\u2019s mission is to \u2018protect human health and the environment.\u2019 Under Trump, the agency continues to do just the opposite. EPA should hold polluters accountable by levying appropriate fines when they break the law. https://t.co/lw4S499n1s\u201d— Senator Bob Casey (@Senator Bob Casey) 1548344525
On social media, the national legal advocacy nonprofit organization Public Justice announced plans to file suit against one corporate polluter in the coming days.
"If the government isn't going to do its job and protect the environment, we will," the group wrote.
\u201cUnder Trump's @EPA fines against polluters have plummeted 85%. If the gov't isn't going to do its job & protect the environment, we will. Stay tuned: We'll be announcing another Public Justice suit vs. another polluter in the coming days. https://t.co/qoWVldEO7N\u201d— Public Justice (@Public Justice) 1548351135
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
With a former coal lobbyist at the helm of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the past six months--and a self-described "advocate" against the agency's work prior to that--the EPA has drastically reduced the fines it's levied against pollution-causing industries and companies since President Donald Trump took office.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that under Trump, the agency collected just $72 million in fines last year from automobile, fossil fuel, and other companies that pollute the environment--compared with an average of $500 million, which the EPA annually collected during the two decades prior to the Trump administration.
"The troubling lack of enforcement not only threatens the water we drink and the air we breathe, but also sends a dangerous message to polluters that EPA will continue to turn a blind eye." --Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.)
The decline represents an alarming 85 percent drop, suggesting that Trump's EPA is no longer in the business of protecting Americans from dangerous water and air pollution, according to former EPA enforcement official Cynthia Giles.
"The public expects EPA to protect them from the worst polluters," Giles, who worked at the agency during the Obama administration, told the Post. "The Trump EPA is not doing that. What worries me is how industry will respond to EPA's abandonment of tough enforcement."
The agency's fines have fallen to their lowest level in 25 years, Giles found in an analysis of EPA data.
The decline came as no surprise to groups including government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which has called for an investigation into EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler, who officially took office this month after serving as acting administrator following Scott Pruitt's resignation last summer.
\u201cThe EPA is led by Andrew Wheeler, a former coal and energy company lobbyist whom @CREWcrew has asked be investigated for improperly working with his former clients and industries. Coincidentally EPA's civil fines for polluters are down 85%. Hmmm. https://t.co/E9HwS2tJCS\u201d— Noah Bookbinder (@Noah Bookbinder) 1548341977
\u201cWith its scientists censored and a coal lobbyist in charge, its no wonder why EPA's civil fines for polluters are down 85%. https://t.co/1tzwxyJeW1\u201d— Let Science Speak (@Let Science Speak) 1548351448
Wheeler has claimed that fines are down because the EPA has focused more on working with companies to ensure that they're in compliance with the agency's environmental regulations--but Giles found that while civil penalties have declined, companies are also paying less in compliance costs to the EPA. For two decades prior to the Trump administration, the EPA collected an average of $7.8 billion per year in compliance fees, compared to $5.6 billion in the last fiscal year.
"The troubling lack of enforcement not only threatens the water we drink and the air we breathe, but also sends a dangerous message to polluters that EPA will continue to turn a blind eye," Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) told the Post.
Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) added that the agency is abdicating its responsibility by failing to punish companies.
\u201cEPA\u2019s mission is to \u2018protect human health and the environment.\u2019 Under Trump, the agency continues to do just the opposite. EPA should hold polluters accountable by levying appropriate fines when they break the law. https://t.co/lw4S499n1s\u201d— Senator Bob Casey (@Senator Bob Casey) 1548344525
On social media, the national legal advocacy nonprofit organization Public Justice announced plans to file suit against one corporate polluter in the coming days.
"If the government isn't going to do its job and protect the environment, we will," the group wrote.
\u201cUnder Trump's @EPA fines against polluters have plummeted 85%. If the gov't isn't going to do its job & protect the environment, we will. Stay tuned: We'll be announcing another Public Justice suit vs. another polluter in the coming days. https://t.co/qoWVldEO7N\u201d— Public Justice (@Public Justice) 1548351135
With a former coal lobbyist at the helm of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the past six months--and a self-described "advocate" against the agency's work prior to that--the EPA has drastically reduced the fines it's levied against pollution-causing industries and companies since President Donald Trump took office.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that under Trump, the agency collected just $72 million in fines last year from automobile, fossil fuel, and other companies that pollute the environment--compared with an average of $500 million, which the EPA annually collected during the two decades prior to the Trump administration.
"The troubling lack of enforcement not only threatens the water we drink and the air we breathe, but also sends a dangerous message to polluters that EPA will continue to turn a blind eye." --Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.)
The decline represents an alarming 85 percent drop, suggesting that Trump's EPA is no longer in the business of protecting Americans from dangerous water and air pollution, according to former EPA enforcement official Cynthia Giles.
"The public expects EPA to protect them from the worst polluters," Giles, who worked at the agency during the Obama administration, told the Post. "The Trump EPA is not doing that. What worries me is how industry will respond to EPA's abandonment of tough enforcement."
The agency's fines have fallen to their lowest level in 25 years, Giles found in an analysis of EPA data.
The decline came as no surprise to groups including government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which has called for an investigation into EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler, who officially took office this month after serving as acting administrator following Scott Pruitt's resignation last summer.
\u201cThe EPA is led by Andrew Wheeler, a former coal and energy company lobbyist whom @CREWcrew has asked be investigated for improperly working with his former clients and industries. Coincidentally EPA's civil fines for polluters are down 85%. Hmmm. https://t.co/E9HwS2tJCS\u201d— Noah Bookbinder (@Noah Bookbinder) 1548341977
\u201cWith its scientists censored and a coal lobbyist in charge, its no wonder why EPA's civil fines for polluters are down 85%. https://t.co/1tzwxyJeW1\u201d— Let Science Speak (@Let Science Speak) 1548351448
Wheeler has claimed that fines are down because the EPA has focused more on working with companies to ensure that they're in compliance with the agency's environmental regulations--but Giles found that while civil penalties have declined, companies are also paying less in compliance costs to the EPA. For two decades prior to the Trump administration, the EPA collected an average of $7.8 billion per year in compliance fees, compared to $5.6 billion in the last fiscal year.
"The troubling lack of enforcement not only threatens the water we drink and the air we breathe, but also sends a dangerous message to polluters that EPA will continue to turn a blind eye," Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) told the Post.
Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) added that the agency is abdicating its responsibility by failing to punish companies.
\u201cEPA\u2019s mission is to \u2018protect human health and the environment.\u2019 Under Trump, the agency continues to do just the opposite. EPA should hold polluters accountable by levying appropriate fines when they break the law. https://t.co/lw4S499n1s\u201d— Senator Bob Casey (@Senator Bob Casey) 1548344525
On social media, the national legal advocacy nonprofit organization Public Justice announced plans to file suit against one corporate polluter in the coming days.
"If the government isn't going to do its job and protect the environment, we will," the group wrote.
\u201cUnder Trump's @EPA fines against polluters have plummeted 85%. If the gov't isn't going to do its job & protect the environment, we will. Stay tuned: We'll be announcing another Public Justice suit vs. another polluter in the coming days. https://t.co/qoWVldEO7N\u201d— Public Justice (@Public Justice) 1548351135
"The victory of freeing Leonard Peltier is a symbol of our collective strength—and our resistance will never stop," vowed one Indigenous organizer.
Just minutes before leaving office, Joe Biden on Monday commuted the life prison sentence of Leonard Peltier, the elderly American Indian Movement activist who supporters say was framed for the murder of two federal agents during a 1975 reservation shootout.
"It's finally over, I'm going home," Peltier, who is 80 years old, said in a statement released by the Indigenous-led activist group NDN Collective. "I want to show the world I'm a good person with a good heart. I want to help the people, just like my grandmother taught me."
While not the full pardon for which he and his defenders have long fought, the outgoing Democratic president's commutation will allow Peltier—who has been imprisoned for nearly a half-century—to "spend his remaining days in home confinement," according to Biden's statement, which was no longer posted on the White House website after Republican President Donald Trump took office Monday afternoon.
🚨BREAKING🚨 Leonard Peltier Granted Executive Clemency After 50 years of unjust incarceration and the tireless efforts of intergenerational grassroots organizing and advocacy, our elder and relative Leonard Peltier has been granted executive clemency.
[image or embed]
— NDN Collective ( @ndncollective.bsky.social) January 20, 2025 at 9:02 AM
"Tribal Nations, Nobel Peace laureates, former law enforcement officials (including the former U.S. attorney whose office oversaw Mr. Peltier's prosecution and appeal), dozens of lawmakers, and human rights organizations strongly support granting Mr. Peltier clemency, citing his advanced age, illnesses, his close ties to and leadership in the Native American community, and the substantial length of time he has already spent in prison," Biden explained.
Biden Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Indigenous cabinet secretary in U.S. history, said in a statement: "I am beyond words about the commutation of Leonard Peltier. His release from prison signifies a measure of justice that has long evaded so many Native Americans for so many decades. I am grateful that Leonard can now go home to his family. I applaud President Biden for this action and understanding what this means to Indian Country."
Congressman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who last month led 34 U.S. lawmakers in a letter urging clemency for Peltier, said in a statement that "for too long, Mr. Peltier has been denied both justice and the pursuit of a full, healthy life at the hands of the U.S. government, but today, he is finally able to go home."
"President Biden's decision is not just the right, merciful, and decent one—it is a testament to Mr. Peltier's resilience and the unwavering support of the countless global leaders, Indigenous voices, civil rights and legal experts, and so many others who have advocated so tirelessly for his release," Grijalva added. "While there is still much work to be done to fix the system that allowed this wrong and so many others against Indian Country, especially as we face the coming years, let us today celebrate Mr. Peltier's return home."
NDN Collective founder and CEO Nick Tilsen said Monday that "Leonard Peltier's freedom today is the result of 50 years of intergenerational resistance, organizing, and advocacy."
"Leonard Peltier's liberation is our liberation—we will honor him by bringing him back to his homelands to live out the rest of his days surrounded by loved ones, healing, and reconnecting with his land and culture," Tilsen continued.
"Let Leonard's freedom be a reminder that the entire so-called United States is built on the stolen lands of Indigenous people—and that Indigenous people have successfully resisted every attempt to oppress, silence, and colonize us," Tilsen added. "The victory of freeing Leonard Peltier is a symbol of our collective strength—and our resistance will never stop."
Amnesty International USA executive director Paul O'Brien said that "President Biden was right to commute the life sentence of Indigenous elder and activist Leonard Peltier given the serious human rights concerns about the fairness of his trial."
While Peltier admits to having participated in the June 26, 1975 gunfight at the Oglala Sioux Reservation at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, he denies killing Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams.
As HuffPost senior political reporter Jennifer Bendery recapped Monday:
There was never evidence that Peltier committed a crime, and the U.S. government never did figure out who shot those agents. But federal officials needed someone to take the fall. The FBI had just lost two agents, and Peltier's co-defendants were all acquitted based on self-defense. So, Peltier became their guy.
His trial was rife with misconduct. The FBI threatened and coerced witnesses into lying. Federal prosecutors hid evidence that exonerated Peltier. A juror acknowledged on the second day of the trial that she had "prejudice against Indians," but she was kept on anyway.
The government's case fell apart after these revelations, so it simply revised its charges against Peltier to "aiding and abetting" whoever did kill the agents—based entirely on the fact that he was one of dozens of people present when the shootout took place. Peltier was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
American Indian Movement (AIM) activist Joe Stuntz Killsright was also killed at Pine Ridge when a U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs agent sniper shot him in the head after Coler and Williams were killed. Stuntz' death has never been investigated.
Some Indigenous activists welcomed Peltier's commutation while also remembering Annie Mae Pictou Aquash, an Mi'kmaq activist who was kidnapped and murdered at Pine Ridge in December 1975 by her fellow AIM members. Some of Aquash's defenders believe her killing to be an assassination ordered by AIM leaders who feared she was an FBI informant.
Before leaving office, Biden issued a flurry of eleventh-hour preemptive pardons meant to protect numerous relatives and government officials whom Trump and his allies have threatened with politically motivated legal action.
However, the outgoing president dashed the hopes of figures including Steven Donziger, Charles Littlejohn, and descendants of Ethel Rosenberg, who were
seeking last-minute pardons or commutations.
"Today marks the beginning of an administration dominated by billionaires and corporate interests."
Donald Trump was sworn in Monday as the 47th president of the United States with some of the richest people on the planet standing close behind him on the inaugural platform—a symbol of what observers described as the nation's slide toward oligarchy.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were granted "prime seats" at the event, positioned in front of many lawmakers and Trump Cabinet nominees. Amazon, Google, and Meta each donated $1 million to the president's inaugural fund, and Musk—the world's richest man—spent over $250 million backing the billionaire president's bid for a second White House term.
Tim Cook, Apple's billionaire CEO and a donor to the inauguration, was also in attendance at Monday's event, which was financed by Wall Street banks, tech giants, the pharmaceutical lobby, fossil fuel companies, crypto firms, and other corporate interests.
"Donald Trump's inauguration today is a coronation of our country's descent into oligarchy: billionaires and corporations spending hundreds of millions of dollars lining the pockets of another billionaire—now president—to usher in a presidency governed for and by the wealthy elite," Justice Democrats, a group that works to elect progressives to Congress, wrote in an email to supporters after Trump was sworn in.
"They're buying influence," the group continued. "And they can expect a massive return on their investment. Crypto is already seeing one with Trump promising an executive order handout to the Wall Street-backed Big Tech corporations on Day 1. Banks and developers are already winning out as Trump and Republicans put conditions on aid to desperate Americans who have lost their homes and need immediate disaster relief in California. This administration will be a boon for the already wealthy few and will be crushing to everyday people struggling to get by."
Nabil Ahmed, economic and racial justice director at Oxfam America, described a photo of Zuckerberg, Bezos, Pichai, and Musk standing together on the inaugural platform as "a defining photo for the new Gilded Age."
Trump's inauguration, Ahmed added, "makes clearer than ever the triumph of oligarchy—one that isn't incidental but intrinsic to the politics and policies that we're seeing set out."
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk cheers as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks after being sworn in on January 20, 2025. (Photo: Saul Loeb/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump's second administration, which could be staffed by at least 13 billionaires, is expected to bring a fresh push for large-scale deregulation and another round of tax cuts for the rich and large corporations—a giveaway that's expected to be funded in part by cuts to Medicaid, federal nutrition assistance, and other key programs.
"Today marks the beginning of an administration dominated by billionaires and corporate interests," Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) executive director David Kass said in a statement. "Unsurprisingly, a billionaire president and his top adviser—the wealthiest person on earth—will prioritize passing $5 trillion in new tax cuts benefiting themselves and their wealthy allies, all at the expense of everyday Americans."
"Let's be clear: The next four years will be a tremendous challenge," said Kass. "We are committed to fighting back against a second Trump Tax Scam because the first one helped to double billionaire wealth and exploded the deficit. ATF and its coalition members will stand on the front lines pushing back against these deeply harmful measures and fighting for a tax code and economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few."
Trump's return to the White House comes days after former President Joe Biden, in his farewell address to the nation, belatedly warned of the threat posed by "an oligarchy... of extreme wealth, power, and influence."
According to an Oxfam report released Monday, the world's billionaires saw their wealth surge by $2 trillion last year as progress against global poverty remained stagnant. The United States has more billionaires than any other country, and its campaign finance laws allow the ultra-wealthy to pump unlimited sums into elections.
"With the inauguration of President Donald Trump and the installation of his team of billionaires, we must prepare for an administration that's set to pour fuel on already extraordinary inequality," Abby Maxman, president and CEO of Oxfam America, said Monday. "Our country and the world today are extremely unequal; for too long, big corporations and an ultra-wealthy few have rigged the system in their own favor, at the expense of ordinary families."
"The Trump-Musk inequality agenda is not the only threat we are facing around the world, as leaders seek to divide us and conflict and climate change increase the number, severity, and duration of humanitarian crises," Maxman added. "But together, we can and must continue our fight against inequality here in the United States and globally."
"To honor her legacy and life, let's do everything we can in this moment to create the just world that everyone deserves," said former Texas lawmaker Wendy Davis.
Cecile Richards, the former president of Planned Parenthood and longtime champion of women's rights and other progressive causes, died on Monday at the age of 67. The cause was an aggressive brain cancer that had been diagnosed in 2023.
Richards' husband and three children confirmed her death in a statement posted on social media.
Richards, the daughter of forner Democratic Texas Gov. Ann Richards, had an early introduction to progressive politics. At 16 she worked on a campaign to elect Sarah Waddington, the lawyer who argued in favor of abortion rights before the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, and in college she helped push Brown University to divest from companies that supported apartheid in South Africa.
After years of labor organizing work, Richards became the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She sat at the helm of the organization for 12 years, leading it as it became more vocal in electoral politics and fought state-level battles against abortion restrictions.
She was the national face of the organization and spoke frequently on its behalf at political events and galas, but also stood shoulder-to-shoulder with abortion rights supporters at pivotal moments in the fight against right-wing efforts to attack reproductive justice.
In 2013, after then-Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D-10) made national headlines by spending 13 hours filibustering an omnibus bill that contained a host of anti-abortion measures, Richards rallied supporters in the state Capitol to yell loud enough to halt the Senate debate over the legislation—a move that Republican lawmakers later blamed for the bill's failure.
"That was vital," Dave Cortez of Occupy Austin told The Texas Tribune. "Her support really helped put it all together."
Davis called Richards "a light, a champion, a force for good" on Monday.
Calling her death "a heartbreaking loss," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said the former Planned Parenthood leader "spent her life on the front lines, fighting for women's rights throughout this country."
After leaving Planned Parenthood in 2018, Richards co-founded the progressive political mobilization group Supermajority and toured the nation speaking out against President Donald Trump's nomination of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
She also cofounded the chatbot Charley, which connects people seeking abortion care with reproductive health organizations, and Abortion in America, a project that publishes the personal stories of people who have obtained abortions since the Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022.
"The only thing people respond to and remember are stories," Richards told The New York Times last October. "We have to figure out: How do you catch the attention of people that, even if they could find the article, don't have 20 minutes to read it?"
Richards' death was announced just hours before Trump, who has bragged about his role in overturning Roe and mocked the family of one woman who died after being unable to receive standard care under Georgia's abortion ban, was to be sworn in for his second term in office.
"As if today wasn't bad enough, the passing of Cecile Richards, former Planned Parenthood leader, is beyond tragic for all women in U.S," said former Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.). "Her powerful voice for women's freedom has been silenced. Rest in power, dear friend."
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said Richards "modeled guts and grit in public service, showing courage and fortitude beyond words as a champion of women's reproductive freedom."
In their statement, Richards' family asked that supporters who wish to honor her listen to "some New Orleans jazz, gather with friends and family over a good meal, and remember something she said a lot over the last year: It's not hard to imagine future generations one day asking, 'When there was so much at stake for our country, what did you do?'"
"The only acceptable answer is: Everything we could."