States That Cut Environmental Agencies Face Crisis as Trump Deregulation Unfolds

States that have slashed funding for environmental regulation over the last 15 years have put themselves in a tough position to handle the fallout of the Trump administration’s pro-polluter agenda, according to a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).

Since 2010, 27 states have slashed budgets and 31 have cut staff at their own public health and environmental agencies that partner with the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), increasing the risk of industrial accidents and potentially exposing already vulnerable communities to levels of pollution not seen in decades, the report found .

Collectively, states cut about $1.4 billion from their environmental agencies, or about 33 percent of the nation’s spending on state-level environmental regulation, since 20