Trump's Environmental Rollbacks Mean Dirtier Air for CT

Connecticut has long drawn the short straw on air quality. Prevailing winds push pollution from across the country eastward, and the state has carried that burden for decades. Federal clean air standards, built up painstakingly over more than fifty years, have helped. The air is measurably better than it was in the 1970s. But that progress is now eroding, and the people responsible for protecting Connecticut residents are alarmed.

Donald Trump’s administration has moved against federal environmental protections more aggressively in this second term than in the first. Standards have been rolled back. Enforcement has softened. Funding has been cut. The cumulative effect threatens to push Connecticut’s already troubled air quality in the wrong direction.

“These rollbacks are really, really dramatic, and they’re very disheartening,” said Katie Dykes, commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. “I’m deeply concerned about what this will mean for public health and for reversing decades of improvement in air quality here in Connecticut.”

Connecticut Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani added a specific warning about vulnerable populations. “I’m concerned about the fact that the lung health of our children, and particularly communities that already are experiencing disparities as it relates to health outcomes, are going to see additional impact.”

The most persistent air quality problem in Connecticut is ozone, the primary ingredient in smog. In summer, pollutants from vehicles, industry, and other sources cook in heat and sunlight into a brownish haze that makes healthy people sick and sick people sicker. Connecticut has failed to meet federal ozone standards for decades, and the federal actions now underway are making the underlying problem worse.

Dykes and staff in DEEP’s air office are direct about the source. “The mobile sources sector, just by the numbers, is the greatest contributor to air pollution,” Dykes said. Paul Farrell, director of the planning and standards division in DEEP’s air office, agreed. “Without a doubt, mobile source emissions, motor vehicle emissions.”

The Trump administration has targeted some of the most effective vehicle pollution regulations developed under the Clean Air Act, which has been federal law for nearly sixty years. Among the casualties: the stricter fuel efficiency standards the Biden administration put in place. Those standards, known as CAFE standards, were also designed to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles. Rolling them back means dirtier tailpipes for longer.

The damage isn’t only to what Connecticut can control within its own borders. Much of the ozone that settles over the state originates upwind, in the industrial Midwest and in other Northeastern states. Federal standards are the primary mechanism for limiting that out-of-state pollution. Without consistent federal enforcement, Connecticut’s options for protecting its own residents shrink considerably.

Ned Lamont’s administration has positioned Connecticut as a defender of environmental standards, but state government can only go so far. Connecticut has historically followed California’s stricter vehicle emissions rules, a legal option under the Clean Air Act. That option itself may now be under threat, as the administration reviews whether states retain the authority to set their own, more rigorous standards.

The health consequences are not abstract. Ozone exposure worsens asthma, causes lung inflammation, and is linked to cardiovascular disease. Children, the elderly, and people with preexisting conditions face the greatest risks. Low-income communities and communities of color, which are often located closer to major roads and industrial sources, face compounding disadvantages.

The list of federal rollbacks is long and still growing. State officials expect more changes before the year is out. DEEP and the Department of Public Health are working to track the impacts and maintain what protections they can, but both commissioners have been candid: there are real limits to what Connecticut can do alone.

What’s at stake is not a policy abstraction. It’s the air everyone in this state breathes, every day, whether they’re following environmental news or not.