Remember when the EPA actually went after companies that broke environmental laws? Those days are fading fast, and new data shows just how dramatic the shift has been.
The Environmental Integrity Project just dropped a report that should worry anyone who drinks water or breathes air. Civil lawsuits filed by the Justice Department for EPA cases crashed to just 16 in Trump’s first year back in office. That’s a 76 percent nosedive compared to Biden’s first year. For context, Trump’s own first administration filed 86 cases in year one. Obama managed 127.
It’s not like pollution suddenly stopped happening. Companies didn’t magically start following the rules overnight.
The “Compliance First” Approach
The EPA rolled out what they’re calling a “compliance first” policy last December. Sounds reasonable on paper, right? Work with violators before you slap them with lawsuits. The problem is when “working with” suspected polluters becomes the default mode and formal enforcement becomes the rare exception.
Craig Pritzlaff, now a principal deputy assistant EPA administrator, sent out a memo making it clear that formal enforcement should only happen when “compliance assurance or informal enforcement is inapplicable or insufficient.” Translation: exhaust every other option before you actually hold anyone accountable.
Where did Pritzlaff come from? The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, where watchdog groups called him a “reluctant regulator.” That’s putting it mildly.
When Violations Pile Up
Here’s a perfect example of what happens when enforcement takes a back seat. An INEOS chemical plant in Texas racked up nearly 100 violations over ten years. The TCEQ, under Pritzlaff’s watch, let those violations accumulate, arguing it was more efficient to handle everything in one big enforcement action.
Then in 2023, the plant exploded. One worker went to the hospital. The Houston Ship Channel shut down temporarily. A fire burned for an hour.
The “efficient” approach created a backlog that regulators are still trying to untangle. TCEQ eventually fined INEOS $2.3 million for violations between 2016 and 2021, but that’s closing the barn door after the horses have already burned down the barn.
The Numbers Keep Getting Worse
Administrative cases did technically increase during Trump’s second term compared to Biden’s. But dig into those numbers and you’ll find most involve paperwork violations like risk management plans, not actual pollution from industrial operations. It’s the difference between busting someone for not filing their emissions report versus actually stopping toxic waste from flowing into a river.
Penalties dropped too. The EPA issued $41 million in fines through September of last year, $8 million less than the same period under Biden when you adjust for inflation. Companies are literally paying less for breaking the same laws.
Part of this comes down to staffing. At least a third of lawyers in the Justice Department’s environment division have left in the past year. The EPA laid off hundreds of employees who monitored pollution that could harm human health. You can’t enforce laws without people to enforce them, and that seems to be the point.
What This Actually Means
Federal agencies like the EPA rely on enforcement actions not just to punish individual violators but to send a message to every other company watching. When environmental cops disappear from the beat, compliance erodes fast. Why follow expensive regulations when the odds of getting caught and punished drop to nearly zero?
Administrator Lee Zeldin launched what the administration called “the biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history” back in March, with 31 separate efforts to roll back air and water pollution restrictions. Hand more authority to states, some of which have spent decades proving they’re happy to look the other way. Strip the EPA’s ability to act on climate change under the Clean Air Act.
The lack of lawsuits, weak penalties, and vanishing enforcement staff all point in the same direction. As Erika Kranz from Harvard Law School put it, this looks like “yet another mechanism that the administration is using to de-emphasize environmental and public health protections.”
Three different nonprofit groups have now documented the same trend using different datasets. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Earthjustice, and now the Environmental Integrity Project all found enforcement cratering. This isn’t a coincidence or a statistical blip.
The Trump administration declared an “energy emergency” on day one and has been systematically favorable to fossil fuel companies ever since. Streamlining industry activities sounds great until you realize it means letting more pollution slide.
The Long Game
Court cases take longer than a year to resolve, so the full picture will take time to emerge. But the early data shows a steep, unmistakable shift away from holding polluters accountable. Kranz noted that while administrations have “a lot of leeway on making enforcement decisions,” this level of decline might cross the line from discretionary priority-setting into abandoning the agency’s core mission.
That could open the door to lawsuits challenging the EPA’s abdication of its statutory duties. Whether courts will see it that way remains an open question, but environmental groups are clearly building a case.
Jen Duggan from the Environmental Integrity Project nailed it: “Our nation’s landmark environmental laws are meaningless when EPA does not enforce the rules.” Laws on paper don’t clean up contaminated water or clear smog from the air. Enforcement does.
If you’re breathing air or drinking water in America right now, you’re participating in an uncontrolled experiment about what happens when the referee stops showing up to the game.
