First Term Record — 2017–2021
environment
climate
EPA rollbacks
fact-checked
Trump Withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, Rolled Back 100+ Environmental Rules, and Opened National Monuments to Drilling.
Trump's first-term environmental record set a precedent for its scale of rollback. He withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement — making the US the only nation on earth to exit the accord. His administration rolled back or reversed more than 100 environmental protections, gutted the EPA's enforcement staff, repealed clean water rules, opened national monuments to oil and gas extraction, loosened methane emission standards, and eliminated fuel economy requirements that would have cut carbon emissions. Then Biden reversed nearly all of it. Then Trump reversed Biden's reversals on his second first day. We are now approximately 16 years behind where we would have been had the first Trump term not happened.
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📁 First Term Record — documented history
The Columbia Law School Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the New York Times jointly maintained a tracker of every environmental rule the Trump administration rolled back or reversed. The final tally: 100 environmental rules reversed or in process of reversal during the first term. These ranged from major regulations — the Clean Power Plan, the Waters of the United States rule, fuel economy standards — to dozens of smaller protections governing everything from methane emissions from landfills to coal ash disposal near waterways.
Paris Climate Agreement (June 2017): Trump announced withdrawal — making the US the only nation to leave. Biden rejoined on Day 1; Trump withdrew again on Day 1 of his second term.
Clean Power Plan: Obama-era rule limiting carbon emissions from power plants repealed and replaced with a far weaker "Affordable Clean Energy Rule," which a court later struck down.
Waters of the United States (WOTUS): Obama rule protecting streams, wetlands, and water bodies that feed into major waterways — which protect drinking water for millions — repealed.
Fuel economy standards: Weakened to allow lower average fuel economy, increasing carbon emissions from new vehicles by billions of tons projected through 2035.
Methane regulations: Rolled back rules requiring oil and gas companies to detect and repair methane leaks — a potent greenhouse gas with 80x the warming impact of CO2 over 20 years.
National Monuments: Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah significantly reduced in size — opening previously protected land to oil, gas, and mining. Courts later reversed some reductions.
EPA enforcement staff: The EPA lost hundreds of enforcement staff through targeted buyouts and attrition — reducing the agency's capacity to investigate and prosecute environmental violations.
Verification note
This post distinguishes between documented facts, allegations, and analysis. Where motive, intent, corruption, or illegality remains disputed in the public record, the text attributes that judgment to court findings, official records, direct quotes, or the reporting linked below.
The Sources
- Columbia Law Sabin Center / New York Times — "Tracking Deregulation in the Trump Era"; 100 environmental rule rollbacks documented with regulatory citations.
- Paris Agreement withdrawal — June 1, 2017 Rose Garden announcement; Paris Agreement notification process November 2019; effective November 4, 2020.
- Bears Ears / Grand Staircase reductions — December 2017 presidential proclamations; later challenged in court.
- EPA enforcement staff reductions — EPA itself documented through congressional testimony.