Reversing Environmental Rollbacks

CLEE’s rollbacks project is now featured in an interactive tracker on Grist. All future updates throughout 2022 will be displayed on Grist’s page.

The Trump Administration rolled back environmental protection in numerous ways, large and small, across the entire federal government. From power plant mercury emissions to protection for endangered species, the administration undermined the process, structure, and substance of environmental law, regulation, and protection. Most of these rollbacks can be reversed by the Biden administration, but it will take concerted effort. CLEE has compiled 200 rollbacks based on the tracking information from Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center, Harvard Law School, and other sources. We have also analyzed a subset of “Day 2” actions potentially subject to immediate reversal, and prepared a set of recommended action memos for certain high-priority, high-complexity issues.

With the Biden administration now in office, this website tracked their progress as they began the process of addressing each rollback over the first months of 2021. A group of students at Berkeley Law and the Goldman School of Public Policy have prepared a First 100 Days report that documents the status of the new administration’s reversal effort and analyzes policy priorities and regulatory opportunities to date.