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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), now led by Trump-aligned administrator Lee Zeldin, is moving forward with a plan to dismantle 31 federal pollution rules. According to the EPA’s assessments, these regulations, long credited with reducing air and water pollution across the country, were projected to save nearly 200,000 lives in the coming decades. The proposed rollbacks have drawn strong condemnation from environmental advocates and health professionals, who say the move puts corporate interests ahead of human well-being.
Major Rollbacks Target Clean Air and Water Protections
In a sweeping move that has alarmed health experts and environmental advocates alike, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under Trump-appointed administrator Lee Zeldin, is preparing to dismantle 31 federal regulations that limit pollution. The rules under threat were designed to reduce emissions from vehicles, industrial facilities, and power plants—protections that the EPA previously estimated would prevent nearly 200,000 premature deaths over 25 years.
Zeldin has celebrated the rollback as a significant political victory, claiming it represents “the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen.” He also described the action as “a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion,” framing the move as an ideological stand against what he perceives as environmental overreach. However, the proposed cuts have sparked widespread condemnation from public health experts and former EPA officials, who warn of devastating consequences for Americans’ health and the environment.
Health and Economic Impacts: A Costly Trade-Off
The planned deregulation targets rules aimed at curbing smog, soot, mercury, and other toxic emissions—pollutants known to contribute to respiratory illness, heart disease, and neurological disorders. Dr. Gaurab Basu, a primary care physician and director at Harvard’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, cautioned that the rollback would have dire health consequences. “This rollback would lead to more children with asthma, more heart attacks and strokes, and more premature deaths,” he said. “It’s an attack on the health of every American.”
The EPA’s economic analyses previously estimated that the rules under threat yielded over $250 billion in annual health and productivity benefits, compared to roughly $40 billion in compliance costs. Yet the agency now appears focused on reducing what it sees as burdens on businesses, regardless of public health trade-offs.
Doctors Warn of Rising Illness and Premature Death
Critics argue the EPA is now prioritising the interests of polluting industries over the public’s well-being. Jeremy Symons, a former EPA official and current senior adviser at the Environmental Protection Network, pointed out the disproportionate impact of this approach. “For every million dollars of favours that Trump’s EPA is handing out to corporate polluters, the public suffers $6 million in public health costs through asthma attacks, cancers and heart and lung disease,” he said.
Symons added that the new direction marks a stark departure from the EPA’s founding mission: “The EPA has turned away from its core mission. Instead of safeguarding clean air and water, it’s working to dismantle the very protections that Americans rely on for their health.”
Legal Hurdles Ahead as Climate Rules Also Face Repeal
One of the plan’s most significant aspects is revisiting the EPA’s 2009 “endangerment finding,” a scientific determination that greenhouse gases harm human health. This finding serves as the legal bedrock for federal climate policy. Undermining it could unravel years of regulatory progress and severely weaken the government’s ability to address climate change through emissions controls.
Though Zeldin and allies frame the effort as pro-business and anti-bureaucratic, experts caution that any short-term industry gains will come at significant long-term cost—both to the environment and public health.
The rollback proposals are expected to face extensive legal challenges. Experts note that regulatory reversals must be supported by scientific evidence and subjected to public comment, which may slow or halt the EPA’s plans in court.
However, environmental advocates say the broader concern is that years of pro-environmental advocacy could be undone before fully mobilising. With vulnerable communities likely to be hit first and most severely, health experts emphasise the urgency of maintaining science-based environmental protections.
As public outcry grows and legal battles loom, many fear this wave of deregulation could define a critical turning point in America’s approach to environmental health and climate policy.
References:
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/icymi-administrator-zeldin-wsj-epa-ends-green-new-deal
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-launches-biggest-deregulatory-action-us-history
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/trump-epa-pollution-regulation-cuts
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