Project 2025 and the Environment
The author is a senior at Plainfield High School in Plainfield, Illinois.
Project 2025 is a political initiative by the far-right organization Heritage Foundation, seeking to consolidate executive power and promote far-right policies for a 2025-2028 Republican administration. Out of the 922 pages of the initiative, around 150 involve their plans for environmental change. These plans prioritize oil and gas extraction over more sustainable forms of energy like solar and wind power. The project calls to undermine the Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, and National Environmental Policy Act to reduce costs for the oil and gas industries.
Despite claims that it is widely supported by the majority of Republicans, NBC News shows only 7% of Republican voters admit to viewing the project in a positive light.
President-elect Donald Trump has claimed to know nothing about Project 2025, yet his Vice President, J.D. Vance, worked with the Heritage Foundation in the past to establish what was essentially the blueprint for the project. The project has 307 authors and contributors, more than half of them have been a part of President Trump's former or current administration, campaign, or transition teams.
Misinformation about Project 2025 is spreading across news sites, even among other politicians: Kamala Harris claimed that it calls for a cut to social security and was directly endorsed by Trump himself, both of which are incorrect. However, there is a significant overlap between the plans of Project 2025 and President Trump's current campaign agenda, Agenda 47. In the area of environmental regulation, both claim that climate change is exaggerated or fake and would roll back climate change policies.
This subversion of the Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act not only cuts costs for oil and gas but also opens new areas for companies to drill in. These areas include Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the opportunity to mine in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters wilderness, both of which would devastate the local areas.
With many politicians in the House and Senate supporting one or both of these policies, these cuts could likely take place.
Project 2025 calls for increased drilling on public lands. This photo, of oil driling in Guadalupe Mountains National Park is courtesy of the National Park Service
This plan puts agricultural profits above environmental concerns but also seeks to cut subsidies to farmers who use or allow clean energy on their land, mainly those who allow wind turbines to generate energy above their fields. This cut also affects their ability to control pollution, allowing pollutants to be sent across state lines with the repeal of the Good Neighbor Program/Interstate Pollutant Transport Program.
Heritage Foundation plans to generate revenue by repealing and rescinding all funds for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Inflation Reduction Act, and the Antiquities Act. They claim that the elimination of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would “aid U.S. prosperity” by eliminating the “climate change alarm industry.” NOAA is the world's leading agency in reporting data on climate change.
Disbanding NOAA may get rid of alarm but only because it will hide valuable information from citizens and scientists who need to stay informed.
As of now, the best thing the average citizen can do is to stay informed and remain involved. Reach out to your legislative representatives to share your concerns on the dangers of Project 2025.
