The EPA is Under Threat. Here’s an Inside Look–And What We Can Do About It.

Federal cuts to funding and staffing are critically impacting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)‘s ability to function. The agency is facing historically drastic deregulatory actions, with plans in place to fire hundreds of chemists, biologists, and scientists; create loopholes for air polluters; and de-center the scientific bedrock that policymakers rely on for decision-making. And it’s all happening so fast. 

AMC is dedicated to protecting the well-being of people and the outdoors. Our actions are informed by an unwavering commitment to science-backed research and a thorough understanding of environmental threats. That’s why it’s essential for all of us to know how federal actions are impacting the EPA — and what we can do to respond. 

An inside perspective: AMC board member Rich Batiuk

Rich Batiuk has served as AMC’s Potomac Chapter Treasurer and Paddling Committee Chair, and is an AMC certified paddling and hiking leader. He worked at the EPA for over three decades, where he helped direct a unique program that integrated science, policy, and collaborative decision-making with local businesses, agricultural stakeholders, and state and federal partners across the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  

What’s the biggest underlying problem facing the EPA now, according to Rich?

Uncertainty. Or, as he puts it: “complete chaos.”  

Rich’s role at the EPA could only be coordinated by the federal government because of the sheer size of the watershed, which spans 64,000 square miles across six states and supports 19 million people. The program’s success was a powerful example of trust built over decades of communication and proven results. 

“There was certainty that we’ll get resources. We’ll work together. There was certainty that people had a role at the decision-making table and all those voices could be heard,” Rich says. “In the federal agencies, there was certainty that the next day their job was going to be there, that their office would have a mandate that they understood when they came in the door. That they would be there next year, and the year after that. [And] there was always the bedrock of the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act. That’s what’s missing now.” 

“Bless the people who are still out there doing it,” Rich says, citing frontline EPA workers and the public servants he met at all levels of government who were passionate about service and making positive change. “[Now] they’re afraid to act, to make a commitment to do anything. They have a guillotine hanging over their head.” 

What happens when people no longer believe that the systems they’re investing in will support them? When funding is clawed back, or the money they’ve already spent isn’t reimbursed?  

This trust, Rich says, is essential. “People make decisions to give, to conserve, to be passionate about something. You have one opportunity to lose that trust.” 

“I’ve never seen chaos like that in a governmental system. When you’re trying to do the kind of job that I did, which was communicating to a diverse degree of partners day in, day out, and you’re asking them for a change in behavior, you can’t do that when the ground is shifting underneath their feet.” 

Why the EPA Matters 

Maybe you’re old enough to remember the smog-smothered views from the White Mountains or the polluted Chesapeake River before the clear air and water we have now. Maybe you celebrated the removal of toxic waste in your community, or you looked up in awe as hawks and condors returned to the sky, their eggshells finally free of DDT. Or maybe you’ve stood on a ridge, sipping clean water from your water bottle while you looked out over rolling green peaks as far as you could see, and didn’t think about the EPA at all. 

The thing about the EPA is that when it’s operating well, many of us don’t even notice. Things are just…better. Air is safe to breathe. Water is safe to drink. Protections are in place for people and the outdoors.  

That didn’t happen by accident. Environmental researchers, including staff scientists at AMC, contributed long-term monitoring data that proved the negative impacts of pollution and created a foundation for AMC and other conservation policy advocates to push for environmental regulations. 

The agency’s mission is clear and simple: “to protect human health and the environment.” Which is why the recent changes are so concerning. 

What can we do to protect people and the outdoors?  

Double down on the foundation of certainty: Science.  

Georgia Murray, AMC Senior Scientist, oversees the long-term environmental monitoring in the northern Appalachians and has advocated for strong outdoor protections in EPA policies for 25 years. “Our science provides the foundation of our conservation positions. We have documented the benefits of science-informed policies like the Acid Rain and the Interstate ozone transport programs which have resulted in drastic reductions in acidic rain and clouds and cleaner water in streams and lakes, as well as cleaner air to breathe in mountains,” she says. “Right now, it is greenhouse gases that are the biggest threat to our environment. It’s imperative that EPA not weaken or dismantle successful tools that allow the Clean Air Act mandate to protect human health and welfare from air pollution impacts be realized.” 

“AMC’s certainty is in our mission to connect people with the outdoors, and we build from there to inform all of our policy and advocacy work,” says Amy Lindholm, AMC’s Director of Federal Affairs. “Science is a necessary part of that mission to ground us in the truth of the physical landscape and what it needs to function, to be the place that welcomes us to recreate and restore ourselves—the clear water, the beautiful views, the healthy forests, and the fresh air.  We use that lens of science, landscape and recreation to evaluate where and how to advocate on policy for maximum impact.”   

Support science with AMC. Sign up for the Conservation Action Network (CAN) to urge your representatives to hold the EPA accountable, and donate to keep our work going.

 

AMC is here to stay. We will keep you informed when federal decisions impact the outdoors you love—and what you can do about it.