It’s a difficult time to be an environmental advocate. On his first day as president, Trump reversed most of the Biden administration’s climate policies with a series of executive orders. Since then, the administration has frozen funding for clean energy projects and community climate grants, and put most of the U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency’s office of environmental justice staff on administrative leave, and rolled back key environmental protections.
Trump also declared an “energy emergency” and established a council to increase domestic energy production with a focus on fossil fuels. For many communities that will be impacted, including those in the “energy capital of the world” along the Houston Ship Channel, environmental and social issues are recurrent, and not a singular product of the administration change. But advocates are worried about decreased public health protections amidst the continued operation and expansion of fossil fuel facilities with poor environmental track records in their communities.
For an inside look at how environmental advocates on the ground are navigating this shifting landscape, EHN interviewed three environmentalists: Erandi Treviño with the Raíces Collaborative; Shiv Srivastava with Fenceline Watch from Houston, Texas; and Luke Metzger with Environment Texas, who works throughout the state.