In May 2024, then-candidate Donald Trump allegedly requested $1 billion in campaign donations from oil and gas executives at a meeting in Mar-a-Lago. In return, he promised fossil fuel-friendly policies that he would enact as president. Now, with his first executive orders, Trump is clearing the way for more Big Oil profits and climate chaos. 

At the time, Trump’s promised policies were estimated to make the industry $110 billion. The fossil fuel industry didn’t meet Trump’s alleged goal. But the $75 million they did spend has already won them an estimated collective $3 billion increase in net worth. With the prevalence of fossil fuel dark money, it’s almost certain they spent more.

Moreover, Politico reported that the fossil fuel industry was drawing up “ready-to-sign executive orders” for the Trump administration “aimed at pushing natural gas exports, cutting drilling costs and increasing offshore oil leases.” 

On Trump’s first day, only hours after he took the oath of office, he signed a slew of executive orders that carried out exactly these goals, in detail that was likely prepared for him well in advance of his inauguration.

Big Oil Gets a Big Return on Investment As Trump Opens the Gates to More Drilling

Trump declared an “energy emergency,” parodying the “climate emergency” that activist groups asked President Biden to declare for years. This emergency declaration gives Trump broad power to effectively ignore climate protections. It directs agencies to ram through fossil fuel projects as quickly as possible. And it was flanked by a host of executive orders, looking to advance Trump’s bought-and-paid-for agenda.

His “Unleashing American Energy” executive order directs federal agencies to “prioritize efficiency and certainty over any other objectives… that could otherwise add delays and ambiguity to the permitting process.” These so-called “delays and ambiguity” are in fact the regulations that protect our communities from being poisoned.

The executive order also mandates changes to the Energy Department’s evaluation of whether to approve new liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. It calls for more consideration of “economic and employment impacts” and “impact to the security of allies” to try to make the false case that LNG is in the “public interest.” 

Increasing LNG exports raise domestic energy prices, according to the Energy Department itself. Moreover, many of our allies have rejected U.S. attempts to flood their markets with LNG when the demand isn’t there. As their letter against LNG exports concluded,

Every dollar invested in unnecessary, harmful and expensive LNG infrastructure costs us double — first by our failure to invest instead in secure, abundant and cheap renewable energies, and second, by locking in higher greenhouse gas emission, with attendant future climate damage.

Additionally, Trump’s “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential” executive order is a blueprint to turn Alaska into a sacrifice zone for Big Oil’s profits. It mandates that federal agencies fast-track Alaska LNG projects, blasting through any regulations meant to keep us safe. This will mean more dangerous pipelines and export infrastructure, faster. 

Trump Endangers Lives With Attacks On Environmental Justice

Nobody wants to breathe dirty air or drink contaminated water. But by attacking our regulatory system, especially parts of the system that focus on those most harmed by pollution, Trump is directly threatening our environment, our health, and our lives. 

He rescinded a Clinton-era order establishing environmental justice as a priority. And he revoked the Justice40 Initiative, the Biden mandate that 40% of environmental spending go to communities overburdened by environmental harm. To underline the point, the White House’s page for environmental justice has gone dark.

Throughout the country, Americans are being forced into their graves by poison in their environment that they can neither escape nor defeat. But if nothing else, we should be able to expect our government to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. This is the most basic form of “national security.”

Environmental justice policies and programs are crucial to ensuring healthy air, water, and environments for everyone, especially those hit hardest by environmental destruction. They clean up and prevent dangerous pollution in communities that have faced the worst consequences of dirty industries.

This is an extremely popular and bipartisan concept. A November 2024 EPN poll found that 80% of all voters, including 72% of Trump voters, supported increasing federal funding to disproportionately polluted communities.

With these orders, Trump is sacrificing our air, water, food, climate, and health, especially in the country’s most polluted communities. Yet, at the same time, he’s preserving massive tax cuts for billionaires and corporations.

Trump’s Funding Freeze Stops Essential Programs Nationwide

Our president has decided to freeze funding for a vast array of federal programs that affect millions of families nationwide. Memo M-25-13 from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) targeted programs including “financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology and the green new deal.” 

This vague order sent a wide swath of the country into a panic, surely including some of Trump’s own supporters. GOP senators reportedly “hit the ceiling” after constituents and state politicians flooded them with questions, asking if their funding was set to dry up. The freeze could paralyze beloved programs like Meals on Wheels, Head Start, and many others.

The OMB then clarified that the freeze excludes programs providing “direct benefits to Americans.” Those include SNAP (formerly known as “food stamps”), federal student loans, and Medicaid.

Only two days later, the OMB issued another memo, which seemed to rescind the freeze entirely. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the nation otherwise, posting that “The President’s EO’s on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”

Federal programs protect millions of lives every single day. Trump’s freezes threw these vital programs into chaos. And while he has decreed them under the banner of saving government dollars, he is emptying federal coffers by maintaining tax cuts for corporations and billionaires.

Additionally, Trump will likely stop billions of dollars in clean water projects, lead pipe removal, PFAS, and other contaminant monitoring and action. Experienced food and water safety monitors will be fewer and further in between, and more overworked.

He will stall or close down entirely research on pollution and its health effects. Investments in cheap and reliable clean energy projects are directly in the crosshairs. The lack of safeguards from corporate profits will further poison us. 

Trump Targets Federal Workers Protecting Our Food, Water, and Health

Our federal workforce implements programs and services we all depend on to protect our food and water. Paired with the funding freeze, Trump is moving to gut the agencies that keep our government running.

In his first eight days, Trump fired 18 inspectors general — watchdog positions within federal agencies — from the State, Defense and Energy Departments, and more. Trump’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) ordered federal agencies to fire “to the maximum extent allowed by law” all environmental justice employees. 

Trump’s OPM also ordered a full ban on remote work for most federal employees. And his cronies have sent threatening emails offering to buy federal workers out of their positions, reportedly with eight months’ pay, and promises of little to no work. This seemingly violates several federal laws. Workers who accept this deal could be left with nothing but a handshake on their way out the door.

Hollowing out federal agencies and stopping their funding is a clear attempt to hamstring their ability to regulate industries and protect the public. Without the necessary staff, these agencies will turn to private contractors to fulfill essential duties.

This raises serious concerns about government accountability. It sets the table for Trump’s cronies to raid public coffers. Understaffed as the agencies already are, these measures will put people in danger from unsafe food, water, pollution, and more. 

Together, We Can Fight Trump’s Pro-Corporate, Pro-Polluter Agenda

Trump’s first moves in the White House are a dark sign of what’s to come.

There was never a sliver of doubt, in the administration or the public, about the corporate handouts for oil and gas corporations that Trump signed in his first hours back in office. With those, he was simply giving his handlers a return on their investment.

With his rollbacks on regulation and environmental justice policies, Trump is sacrificing the health of millions of families to cut government spending. And with his funding freeze, he’s showing exactly the lengths he is willing to go for a political stunt, the wellbeing of Americans be damned.

Rather than fulfill his promises of lower gas and grocery prices, Trump is throwing every corner of our lives into chaos. He is selling out our health and economic well-being to pad the profits of the people who paid his way to office. 

But Food & Water Watch is fighting back. We’re watchdogging his every move and exposing the lies behind his rhetoric. We know who really benefits from Trump 2.0, and it isn’t our families or our communities — it’s his wealthy CEO friends. Through the courts, in Congress, and on the ground, we’re blocking Trump’s moves at every turn. 

We’re prepared to fight the worst of Trump’s pro-polluter, pro-corporation agenda. Together, we can defend our food, water, climate, and families.