By Kayla Smernoff
Howard University News Service
The conservative proposal Project 2025 would devastate environmental policy under a Trump presidency, experts warn.
Project 2025 was created by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that consulted on public policy for Ronald Reagan’s administration. Officially, proponents of Project 2025 describe the initiative as a presidential transition project; informally, the project is a plan for Donald Trump’s possible return to office.
“Project 2025 takes away all those years of work that front-line organizations have done to get the EPA to where it is today,” said Mustafa Santiago Ali, a storied environmental justice educator and founding member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Justice.
Ali says the erosion of environmental policies that benefit vulnerable communities did not begin with Project 2025. In fact, Ali says it’s been part of a playbook for a while.
“We know when it comes to Black and brown communities, folks have often been pushed into these sacrificial areas and, of course, part of the dynamic is you take on the risk from the floods and other types of impact,” Ali said about the history of vulnerable Americans suffering from displacement and environmental neglect.
“There’s a whole bunch of stuff that folks have been doing in a comprehensive way that makes us more vulnerable,” said Ali, who is also executive vice president of the National Wildlife Federation.
Chapter 13 of Project 2025 details numerous changes to the Environmental Protection Agency. The text describes a massive reorganization of EPA’s leadership and activities.
Project 2025’s suggestion to eradicate the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR) is reminiscent of Donald Trump’s presidency and policies.
During the Sept. 10 Harris-Trump presidential debate, Trump denied involvement with the project. “I have nothing to do with Project 2025,” he said. “That’s out there. I haven’t read it. I don’t want to read it, purposely.”
“This was a group of people that got together. They came up with some ideas; I guess some good, some bad.”
Although Trump would like to separate himself from the document, it aligns with many of his proposed and past policies. His statements on abortion, LGBTQ and environmental rights line up with Project 2025’s content.
Trump’s environmental policies during his presidency focused on rolling back protections and laws. According to Columbia Law School’s Climate Deregulation Tracker, over 100 environmental regulations specifically related to climate change were removed.
Many people working in government felt as if their work with environmental and civil rights was suppressed, because of Trump’s lack of funding.
Diamond Spratling, an environmental justice activist and founder of the nonprofit Girl + Environment, said she quit her job with the Centers for Disease Control, because of the government’s stagnation under Trump.
“It felt like my job was useless,” Spratling said. “It didn’t feel like we could do anything related to health equity or anything related to helping marginalized communities. I didn’t feel supported at all.”
One signature of climate policy’s decline under Trump was the conservative shift in leadership with the appointments of Scott Pruitt in 2017 and then Andrew Wheeler in 2018. Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general and coal lobbyist, took large strides against environmental policies by shrinking the EPA’s budget and pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, a treaty that works to mitigate climate change internationally.
In 2021, Wheeler joined The Heritage Foundation as a visiting fellow and publicly denounced the Biden administration’s climate policies.
Under President Joe Biden, climate policy and funding for climate organizations has increased. In 2021, for example, Biden introduced the Justice40 initiative, which pledged to “deliver at least 40% of the overall benefits from federal investments in climate and clean energy to disadvantaged communities.”
For advocacy groups and organizations focused on environmental issues, the change in administration was beneficial. Increased EPA funding allowed organizations that need government funding to continue their work.
For Spratling’s nonprofit, Girl + Environment, support and resources provided by federal funding have been invaluable in the quest to heal and prevent illness in her community.
“Our organization has been able to be a part of the third cohort of the Justice40 initiative,” Spratling said. “We got funding. We got a ton of technical assistance and tons of support to be able to apply for federal funding which we never realized that we could do.”
Girl + Environment is based in Atlanta, and Spratling’s background in public health helps her tackle education, advocacy and impact. Her nonprofit and others that support marginalized communities will be unable to operate if Project 2025 strips the EPA of its power.
Project 2025 would drastically alter the environmental policies that former presidents such as Nixon, Biden and Roosevelt installed. The document consistently mentions diminishing the power of the EPA, threatening to realign the agency away from “an all-powerful energy and land use policymaker” and toward “its congressionally sanctioned role as environmental regulator.”
Project 2025 reaches past funding for environmental groups and nonprofits into federal aid. Those affected by climate crisis natural disasters would not receive aid.
“I think about what is happening right now with Hurricane Helene,” Spratling said. “Project 2025 is also looking to cut federal funding from climate programs that are helping people prepare for and recover from climate disasters. I use the analogy ‘when white America catches cold, Black America gets pneumonia.’”
Concerned activists say eliminating the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights is one of Project 2025’s most dangerous aspects for environmental policies. The office engages with communities facing environmental justice concerns. This means each community has equitable access and resources, as well as protection from unhealthy triggers for humans, flora and fauna.
“Folks might say that the funding is not being utilized or it is not critical; they are being disingenuous at best,” Ali said about the importance of funding environmental programs.
The EPA is not a faultless government agency, but it has never held the unchecked power that Project 2025 authors say it currently wields.
“The EPA is the premier public health and environmental agency on our planet,” Ali said. “Even with the great work that it has been able to accomplish — and yes there are gaps in work — there has still never been enough resources to be able to meet the needs of all folks out there across our country who are trying to be able to breathe clean air, drink clean water and have their children play on land that is not toxic.”
The summer of 2024 was the hottest on record. Sea level rise continues to affect the homes and livelihoods of people in North America’s hurricane alley. As the climate and presidential administration continue to shift, environmentalists say understanding science and policy is essential.
Ali says Project 2025 is dangerous. “We have to put a spotlight on those that know their stuff.”
Kayla Smernoff is a reporter for HUNewsService.com. Her article is from a three-part series titled “Inside Project 2025.”
