Sponsor
Clay Higgins
Representative · R-LA
Representative · R-LA
The bill shifts environmental authority and enforcement away from the EPA while providing multi‑year federal grants and oversight — trading centralized federal protection and enforcement (and associated public‑health safeguards) for state flexibility, predictable funding, and increased administrative oversight, with major risks to pollution control, disadvantaged communities, and local fiscal capacity.
State and territorial environmental agencies receive a dedicated $4.4 billion per year (FY2026–FY2029) in predictable block grants to support drinking water protection, remediation, air quality, hazardous waste, chemical emergency response, and radiation protection (includes Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, CNMI, American Samoa).
The law builds predictability and accountability for federal support by directing population-based block grants and adding Treasury auditing/repayment authorities and annual GAO reporting to increase transparency of implementation.
Some states, local governments, and private entities gain regulatory flexibility and short‑term relief from federal EPA requirements, which can lower near‑term compliance costs for some businesses and simplify state-level decisionmaking.
All Americans face higher air and water pollution risks and reduced enforcement of environmental standards if EPA authority is removed, increasing disease burdens, medical costs, and productivity losses and leaving some hazardous sites unaddressed.
Low-income and racial/ethnic minority communities near pollution sources are likely to bear disproportionate harm due to loss of federal environmental justice protections and enforcement.
States and localities could inherit large new regulatory and fiscal responsibilities to replace federal programs and enforce environmental laws, straining budgets and capacities at the state and local level.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Abolishes the EPA after 270 days and creates a Treasury-administered block grant ($4.4B/yr, FY2026–FY2029) for states to run core environmental programs.
Official title: To abolish the Environmental Protection Agency, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 13, 2025 by Clay Higgins · Last progress May 13, 2025
Abolishes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and transfers much of federal environmental program funding to states through a Treasury-administered block grant program. The bill sets EPA termination 270 days after enactment, authorizes $4.4 billion per year in block grants for FY2026–FY2029 to state-designated environmental departments for air, water, waste, chemical, radiation, and contaminated-site programs, and requires GAO annual evaluations of implementation. States, state environmental agencies, EPA employees, and regulated entities would face major changes: federal regulatory authority and EPA programs end, state agencies receive formula grants with auditing and repayment rules, and the Comptroller General must report annually on outcomes for 2026–2029.