Fears of EPA Enforcement Dip Spurs Groups to Act as Legal Hounds

Environmental groups say they’re feeling pressure to file more lawsuits against corporate polluters amid concerns the Trump administration is leaving a gap by not policing violators hard enough.

Those efforts will face challenges, though, as the groups run up against personnel and funding limits forcing them to be more judicious in choosing their battles.

“We can’t replicate the federal government’s responsibilities to do fair, reasonable, and effective environmental enforcement. We simply can’t,” said Howard Learner, executive director at the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC). “We have to pick our spots.”

The EPA hasn’t yet released its annual enforcement report, but some independent studies document a sharp drop-off in pursuing polluters as the Trump administration prioritizes fossil fuels to drive its economic agenda despite concerns of the environmental risks.

The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative recently found 14 of 24 categories of Environmental Protection Agency enforcement activities were at their weakest or second weakest in 2025. The report also found that the EPA started fewer civil judicial cases in 2025 than at any time in the last 20 years, and that inspections fell 36% from 2024.

To pick up the slack, environmental advocates are turning to the legal tools at their disposal. Key environmental statutes such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, and Superfund law contain provisions that let citizens sue both the EPA for failing to perform its duties under those laws and companies for alleged violations.

But most community-based non-governmental organizations are too small to take on more than a handful of those cases. The National Council of Nonprofits reported in 2019 that 97% of all nonprofits have annual budgets of less than $5 million, and 88% spend less than $500,000 per year for their work.

That’s why grassroots groups like Suncoast Waterkeeper carefully select cases that include a clearly identified need, are likely to have a significant impact for a large group of people, and are winnable, according to Justin Bloom, the organization’s founder.

Growing Case Log

The increase in citizen lawsuits is hard to quantify, largely because just one year into President Donald Trump’s second term, many hopeful litigants are still gathering evidence and building their cases, said Stephanie Bergeron Perdue, a partner at Baker Botts LLP.

Nevertheless, some lawyers for companies being targeted over environmental issues say more citizen suits are filtering through their offices than they remember seeing in the past. Beveridge & Diamond PC’s clients, for example, recently got hit with four notices of intent—often the first step in a citizen suit, notifying the company that a group plans to sue—over a three-week span, according to Madeleine Boyer, a principal with the firm.

“We’re already seeing NGOs stepping into the shoes of EPA and Justice Department,” Boyer said. “We’ll start seeing it more and more.”

Recent cases abound.

Suncoast Waterkeeper filed a complaint in a Florida federal court to sue US Recycling Co. in December for discharging stormwater into Sarasota Bay. In its filing, Suncoast Waterkeeper said “neither the EPA nor the State of Florida has commenced or is diligently prosecuting a court action to redress the violations” after both the company and the agencies were notified of the alleged violations.

Similarly, the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in June notified xAI—founded by former top Trump advisor Elon Musk—that it would sue over dozens of allegedly unpermitted methane gas turbines at a data center in South Memphis, Tenn. The permit was issued later the same month, and the turbines not covered by the permit were removed.

Waterkeeper Alliance general counsel and legal director Daniel Estrin said his team is “trying to keep up with this enormous workload, trying to respond to all of these regulatory rollbacks. It’s a lot to keep up with.”

In response, many groups are either staffing or skilling up.

At the Southern Environmental Law Center, “we have been staffing up to make sure we can step in and fill the void,” said Tasha Durrett, senior communications manager.

Meanwhile, many groups have increased training for litigation attorneys. One recent ELPC seminar, for example, addressed standing issues, a key topic for citizen litigants.

“We’re trying to up everybody’s capability in their games at a time when environmental enforcement by non-governmental organizations is all the more important,” Learner said.

One key weakness of citizen suits is that they can’t lead to criminal prosecutions, which also tend to be linked to the worst violations, Estrin said.

Absent the threat of corporate executives going to jail, “it takes away a lot of the incentive they have to be sure they’re complying and not playing games,” Estrin said.

Enforcement Drop-off

EPA officials say their enforcement patrols are still catching and punishing violators. Enforcement statistics dipped during the first Trump administration, but the agency said that was because it was focusing on fewer, but more important cases.

The Environmental Integrity Project reported recently that the number of actions filed in civil court by the Justice Department on behalf of the EPA has fallen 76% since the Biden administration. Only 40 civil settlements against polluters have been settled under Trump, down from a high of 186 in 2013—a sign that cases aren’t moving forward, according to EIP.

A recent EPA memo told enforcement personnel to “prioritize ensuring compliance when addressing potential noncompliance.”

Paradoxically, Boyer said the rise in civil litigation is a sign of the system working the way Congress intended when it included a private right of action in environmental laws.

“When the agency’s doing a pretty good job of enforcing, and everybody’s pretty satisfied that there are cops out there, then you see fewer lawsuits,” she said.