EPA officials made millions from the energy industry before pursuing massive deregulation efforts
Seventeen Trump-appointed EPA officials were paid a combined $3 million by the energy industry before they joined the agency, according to a CREW analysis of financial disclosures. In many cases, Trump’s EPA appointees, who were formerly employed by the industry, are now leading the agency’s many rollbacks, prioritizing corporate interests over environmental concerns just as they did in their previous roles.
CREW’s analysis shows that 25 separate energy companies including electric and natural gas utilities and all segments of the oil and gas industry—from exploration and drilling to transportation to refining and selling—paid EPA officials a total of at least $2,078,304. Sixteen of those companies have faced enforcement actions from the EPA for violating federal environmental laws. Additionally, eight energy industry trade associations paid EPA officials a total of at least $996,159 before they joined the agency.
These totals include salaries, bonuses, compensation for consulting or legal services and other payments from energy companies and the trade associations that represent their interests. It is likely a dramatic undercount. Some of the payments were reported on a section of the financial disclosure where officials are required to list client relationships that were “sources of compensation exceeding $5,000 in a year” without disclosing an exact amount.
How has Trump’s EPA caved to the energy industry?
As wildfires blaze across the country and global temperatures continue to spike, the EPA has morphed into an agency captured by the very industry perpetuating the climate crisis. Since President Trump returned to office, his administration has delivered wins for the energy industry by pursuing a deregulatory agenda that may save oil and gas companies billions of dollars in regulatory costs.
In just the first 100 days of his second term, Trump initiated at least 145 environmental rollbacks. Earlier this year, Trump revoked a landmark ruling that characterized greenhouse gases as a danger to human health, removing the statutory basis for the agency’s federal emissions standards under the Clean Air Act. The revocation marked a victory for the fossil fuel industry and its allies, who have pursued over 100 legal challenges to the ruling.
Which EPA appointee made the most from the energy industry?
Of the 17 EPA officials CREW found to have received money from the energy industry, Usha Turner, the Assistant Administrator for the Office of International and Tribal Affairs, reported the most—nearly $1.4 million in salary, bonus and severance payments from a natural gas producer called Chesapeake Energy—before joining the EPA. During her confirmation hearing, Turner confirmed that Chesapeake’s CEO had attended a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser where Trump reportedly promised cuts to environmental regulations in exchange for $1 billion in campaign contributions from the oil industry. By appointing officials from the energy industry like Turner, he’s making good on that promise.
Aaron Szabo, whose financial disclosure indicates that he lobbied on behalf of six separate energy companies and trade associations, was appointed to head the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. In that role, he has attempted to rewrite the rules around methane, a greenhouse gas that’s 28 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere and responsible for up to almost up to a third of climate change. One of the EPA’s proposed rollbacks on methane rules would give oil and gas producers more time to do emergency flaring—the burning of natural gas that happens when oil is extracted from the ground—even though the process has been shown to release five times as much methane into the atmosphere than previously thought. Szabo is also working to eliminate limits on power plant pollution, which is expected to be announced in the coming months.
Abigale Tardif, a top official in that same office, reported earning more than $300,000 from Marathon Petroleum Corporation and the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers. Last year, she instructed staff to write a rule that would relieve certain sectors of the oil and gas industry from having to submit data to the agency on their greenhouse gas emissions.
As climate change puts the planet on track for another hottest year on record, Trump’s appointees’ decimation of key climate regulations signals that their commitment to industry and “American energy dominance” is stronger than their commitment to the EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment.
What is the cost of climate change?
Climate change is not just costly to the environment but also to human life. Extreme heat kills roughly 2,000 people a year, and wildfire smoke contributes to about 40,000 deaths annually.
Climate change also drives up electric utility costs for Americans who are already forgoing basic necessities to afford the cost of living. Children born in the United States in 2024 could see climate change cost them nearly $500,000 over their lifetime due to increased spending on housing, energy, food and healthcare.
These costs are not borne equally: In studies of extreme heat, flooding, hurricanes, and wildfires, research suggests that climate change deepens racial disparities by putting Black, Indigenous, Latino, Pacific Islander and Asian communities at higher risk of developing health complications such as respiratory and cardiovascular disease.
The future of life in this country and on this planet is inextricably tied to the health of the environment. The EPA is making that future worse by systematically dismantling critical climate rules, helmed by leaders who have benefited from and worked with the industries who stand to benefit most.
Photo of Idaho wildfire by Michael Pellant/BLM under Creative Commons license