Labor Day is a time to reflect on the progress of Americans across the country, moms and dads, inside and outside of the home, working to support their families, build our communities, and our economy.
It’s a moment to recognize President Trump’s vision to propel America beyond our 250 years and the work of thousands of EPA employees, including our first responders and on-scene coordinators across the 10 U.S. regions, who labor in the most challenging conditions to ensure all Americans have clean air, land and water.
In our first 200 days, EPA has taken more than 200 actions and counting to improve the environment and human health.
EPA recently delivered an international agreement that will resolve a decades-long environmental crisis to permanently end the flow of Mexican raw sewage contaminating American waterways. Residents who have suffered noxious odors and dangerous levels of pollution since the turn of the century will finally breathe freely.
In the largest wildfire cleanup effort in agency history, dedicated EPA staffers were dispatched from regions across the country after the Los Angeles wildfires. EPA completed its Phase 1 mission of hazardous material clean-up in a record 28 days, clearing 13,612 residential properties, 305 commercial properties, and removing 1,038 electric vehicles and Bulk Energy Storage Systems.
EPA is protecting our air, land and water, and the safety of American workers while supporting a thriving economy. Our resolve is reflected in success stories that ripple across industries nationwide.
Photo courtesy of the Environmental Protection Agency
Recently, we led a Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Week-In-Residence Enforcement Training event for newly hired state inspectors to equip new inspectors with the knowledge necessary to uphold consistent inspection standards.
EPA facilitates a Lead Abatement Program to provide a framework for lead mitigation, risk assessment and inspections. 175,000 people are currently certified to use lead-safe work practices when renovating housing and childcare facilities that were built before 1978.
EPA is putting America and American jobs first.
Cleaning up hazardous waste and remediating Superfund sites, including those on sacred tribal lands, is among our statutory authorities.
In just six months, we have cleared all or a portion of four sites from the Superfund National Priorities List and supported redevelopment at 21 sites across 13 states.
Our team completed contaminated site cleanup in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, and Stratford, Connecticut. And we helped the U.S. Navy remove 20,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil at the Naval Education Training Center Superfund Site in Newport, Rhode Island.
During the Trump administration’s first 200 days, we completed a Superfund Job Training Initiative project in Navajo Nation which opened up positions on EPA’s remediation team at the Lukachukai Mountains Mining District Superfund site.
EPA’s Superfund Job Training Initiative program combines extensive classroom instruction with hands-on technical training to manage environmental remediation and cleanup. The training provides professional development to advance problem solving, money management, interviewing, and interpersonal skills.
We’ve also created jobs through EPA’s Brownfields Job Training Program and recently announced about $14 million in funding for Brownfields job training program grants.
The U.S. has about 450,000 Brownfields, properties that contain hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants. Our training program educates individuals on assessment, cleanup, or preparation of contaminated sites for reuse. Graduates end up with essential skills to secure full-time, long-term careers within the environmental sector.
We can protect the environment and grow the economy, and these two programs—Superfund Job Training Initiative and Brownfields Job Training Program—illustrate this.
President Trump promised to deliver for the American worker through policies that reshore U.S. manufacturing from high polluting countries, renegotiate unfair trade deals to the benefit of our labor force, make America the AI capital of the world and unleash American energy dominance.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin speaks at Nucor Steel Berkeley as he tours with Vice President JD Vance in Huger, SC, on May 1, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)
Our path is defined by those promises. We will continue to remove regulatory roadblocks, slash bureaucratic red tape, streamline permitting, and protect the environment and the health of the American people.
Lee Zeldin serves as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Trump administration. His is a former member of the U.S. House representing New York’s 1st congressional district.
