The Trump administration brought only 16 lawsuits against polluters for environmental violations last year, a watchgroup group reported Thursday, buttressing previously released evidence of a steep falloff in federal efforts to enforce laws meant to ensure clean air, land and water.
That total — which the report deems a “historic low” — was far fewer than the 67 suits brought during the first year of President Joe Biden’s term in 2021 and down even further from the 86 filed in 2017, the start of President Donald Trump’s first term, according to the new Environmental Integrity Project report.
Also down in varying degrees were lawsuit settlements and EPA penalty assessments on polluters. While the number of administrative case settlements in the first eight months of 2025 rose in comparison with the comparable figures for both 2017 and 2021, the trend was not uniform across specific programs.
“Our nation’s landmark environmental laws are meaningless when EPA does not enforce the rules,” Jen Duggan, the group’s executive director, said in a statement noting that the second Trump administration has also cut EPA’s workforce and granted compliance exemptions to select industries. The result, Duggan said, is to “benefit fossil fuel companies over the health and well-being of the American people.”
