Donald Trump may get a second chance to weaken the Environmental Protection Agency — and this time, he’ll be prepared. Project 2025, a second-term playbook prepared by a throng of conservative activists, details how the former president could roll back climate regulations, weaken enforcement and overhaul EPA’s workforce, writes Jean Chemnick. Trump and his team have tried mightily in recent weeks to distance themselves from Project 2025, with senior campaign adviser Chris LaCivita dismissing the Heritage Foundation initiative Thursday as “a pain in the ass.” But the project’s authors include former Trump Cabinet officials and others with deep ties to his first administration. And its EPA chapter was drafted by Mandy Gunasekara, who served as the agency’s chief of staff during his presidency and has left open the possibility she might return. Why this time might be different Reluctance from career staff stalled some potential EPA changes during Trump’s first term, Gunasekara said. But Project 2025 calls for extensive structural and workforce changes to streamline reforms and prevent resistance. “The biggest difference is we have a plan from Day 1,” Gunasekara told Jean. The chapter describes EPA as an agency “amenable to being coopted by the Left for political ends” and outlines how to carry out a “conservative vision.” One proposal: shrinking the pool of industries required to report their greenhouse gas emissions each year to EPA. Project 2025 also proposes that EPA “update” its 2009 conclusion that greenhouse gases endanger public health and the environment. The finding is the foundation for all Clean Air Act climate regulations (and could be legally tricky to undo). Gunasekara’s plan would also have EPA weigh current costs more heavily than long-term benefits, making it harder to justify new environmental rules. And it would resurrect a Trump-era rule that required EPA to make public the data from all studies that underpin regulations — a move that critics say would prevent the agency from considering research that uses anonymous datasets. Fearful feds Despite Trump’s disavowals, the Project 2025 blueprint is already worrying members of EPA staff who are distraught over the prospect of a second Trump administration, Robin Bravender and Kevin Bogardus write. “It’s the uncertainty, that’s what gets to you,” one EPA employee told Robin and Kevin. Workers at several federal agencies fear losing their jobs and seeing years of work trashed. Panic has only increased as Democrats debate whether to replace President Joe Biden as their nominee and Trump’s campaign gains steam. Republicans have spent the week pitching themselves to voters at the Republican National Convention, where Trump has appeared energized after surviving last weekend’s attempted assassination. Tonight, he will formally accept the GOP nomination. If he retakes the White House, Trump has promised to “demolish the deep state” and make it easier to fire federal employees. His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has urged him to fire “every civil servant.”
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