For months, the Trump administration has been pushing to cut the red tape and let states protect the environment.
There is just one problem. They might not be able to.
A report released Dec. 10 from theEnvironmental Integrity Projectreveals that over the past 15 years, more than half of the states in the country have slashed their environmental budgets, when adjusted for inflation. Even more states shrunk their staff.
This can mean fewer inspectors at a nearby power plant to protect the air you breathe. Longer response times to chemical spills. Weaker enforcement of drinking water permits in your city. A patchwork of protection where some live under strong environmental safeguards while others are left vulnerable.
"It really means that more American communities are at risk of being exposed to industrial pollution," Jen Duggan, the project's executive director, told USA TODAY.
Just as the federal government's environmental enforcement hit a historic low, many states are also cutting back, according to the Environmental Integrity Project. The nonprofit,founded by a former directorof the U.S. EPA's civil enforcement division, seeks stronger enforcement of environmental protections.
The group's report found states with rapidly growing industries also saw their budgets decrease. For example, Texas is by far the biggest oil producing state and also the second most populous – but its environmental agency budget was cut by a third.
In the 2025 fiscal year, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality received just over 9,000 complaints for things like odors and water quality concerns. The agency responded to only 528 within 5 days, according to the agency's latestenforcement report.
In Louisiana, a state with areas dense with fossil fuel and petrochemical plants and disproportionately high cancer rates, the agency budget went down by a quarter. There, the state Department of Environmental Quality'sexpedited processing programallows for industry applicants to pay for the overtime costs of employees processing their applications, which some advocates say creates a conflict of interest.
Meagan Molter, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Press Secretary, said in a statement the agency is "fully committed to robust environmental protection efforts."
"We continue to prioritize efficiency, modernization and strategic resource management to ensure our core mission is fulfilled," Molter said.
North Carolina is a top hog producing state. In 2022 alone, it generated 3.2 million tons of manure, an issue that causes air and water pollution. Its budget also went down.
After Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina in 2018, at least 50 manure lagoons overflowed into neighboring communities, Drew Ball, the southeast campaigns director at the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a conference with reporters unveiling the report.
"Many families today live with waste in roadside ditches, wells too contaminated to drink from and constant fear about what the next storm will carry into their yards," Ball said. "Yet the very agency responsible for protecting these families is facing a growing burden, with shrinking staff, shrinking budgets and shrinking political support."
On the other hand, California and Colorado were among the states that pumped more resources into their environmental agencies. California quadrupled the budget and Colorado's doubled.
The increased budget from the states that grew was bigger than the cuts from the states that shrank. Some of those communities might be more protected, but pollution doesn't follow state lines.
For example, in a 2020study, researchers found that almost half of premature deaths related to air quality come from emissions outside of that state.
Similarly, river networks that connect the country like veins can carryexcess fertilizer from Midwest farmsall the way to the Gulf of Mexico – causing drinking water issues and toxic algae blooms along the way.
In an emailed statement responding to the report, the EPA said it's equipped to meet its legal obligations to protect human health and the environment.
"At the Trump EPA we understand that states know states best, and we are working alongside state, Tribal, and local authorities to ensure clean land, air, and water for all residents," the email said.
In its first six months in 2025, the Trump administration brought the lowest number of lawsuits against companies for environmental violations than any six-month stretch in the 21stcentury, according to a previousUSA TODAY analysis.
Experts said the declining trend came down to two things: dwindling enforcement resources and the political priorities of the administrations in charge.
Promising to unleash the nation's energy potential and become an artificial intelligence hub, the administration has proposed easing pollution standards forpower plants, the requirements to make cars morefuel efficient, and removing somelimits for PFASor "forever chemicals" in drinking water.
"It almost seems like the EPA is fighting itself in some ways," Elizabeth Blum, a history professor at Troy University, said. "It's supporting these things that produce environmental disasters, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense."
These changes happened as several rounds of firings of federal workers came across agencies from the new Department of Government Efficiency. Those included thousands in the Department of Human Health and Services and the National Park Service.
Environmental historiansestimatedthat by the end of 2025, about one in three EPA staffers that were at the agency at the start of the year will be gone, from both layoffs and resignations. The high end of the estimate puts staffing to early 1980s levels.
"I think we're going to start to see just a decline in the EPA's ability to get the work done," Blum said. "That's going to mean a whole bunch of different things. Maybe air quality improvement plans are either not going to get approved or they are going to get approved when they are not the level they should be getting approved."
After a record-breaking 43-day government shutdown, Congress is set to meet again in January to decide on a budget. The White House initiallyproposeda 55% cut for the EPA, but the Republican-led Senate Appropriations Committee voted in favor of asmaller 5% cut.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Most states cut environmental budgets. What does that mean for you?
