Trump EPA shuts down Biden-era environmental museum
By lauraharris // 2025-04-09
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  • The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shut down the National Environmental Museum and Education Center, calling it a wasteful, partisan project that cost $4 million to build and $600,000 annually to operate, with low visitor numbers.
  • The museum was accused of disproportionately highlighting Democratic EPA achievements while ignoring Republican contributions, focusing heavily on climate change and environmental justice over bipartisan environmental efforts.
  • The closure is part of a larger rollback of Biden-era EPA initiatives, including terminating a $20 billion "green bank" program over oversight, fraud and political favoritism concerns.
  • Nonprofits that received grants under the scrapped green bank program have sued the EPA after funds were frozen, arguing against the administration's decision.
  • Under Trump, the EPA has dismantled DEI offices and reversed Biden-era regulations, aiming to refocus the agency on its core mission while cutting perceived wasteful spending.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Donald Trump has announced the closure of the National Environmental Museum and Education Center, a Biden-era initiative that politically misused taxpayer dollars. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced from inside the museum, which opened in May 2024 under former Administrator Michael Regan. The facility, funded with $4 million in public money, was intended to "chronicle our nation's work to protect public health and the environment." But Zeldin dismissed it as a "shrine to environmental justice and climate change" that failed to justify its costs. "I'm currently standing inside of this museum, which was built and curated by the Biden administration with $4 million in taxpayer dollars," said Zeldin. "As if this wasn't enough of a price tag, to fill a room the size of an apartment, this shrine to EJ and climate change costs the American taxpayer $600,000 to operate annually." (Related: Getting to the bottom of EPA climate fraud.) According to agency records, the museum attracted fewer than 2,000 external visitors from its opening through February 2025, translating to an average cost of $315 per visitor. Annual expenses included $123,000 for landscaping, $123,000 for utilities and $54,000 for artifact storage. Beyond fiscal concerns, the Trump administration also argued that the museum's content as partisan disproportionately highlighted Democrat-led EPA achievements while largely excluding the period from 2014 to January 2021. Exhibits emphasized climate change and "environmental justice" over foundational EPA work and bipartisan environmental policy contributions. "There is something ironic about the EPA wasting money on a museum about itself when it is supposed to be focused on toxic waste," said Rod Law, communications director for the Functional Government Institute. "Administrator Zeldin closing it protects taxpayers, helps return the EPA to its statutory mission of protecting the environment, and abandons past dysfunction and bureaucratic self-promotion." The EPA has not yet announced plans for the vacated space but confirmed that no additional funds will be allocated for its maintenance or repurposing in the near term.

EPA rolling back restrictive environmental regulations from Biden era

This closure is part of a broader reversal of Biden-era EPA policies. For instance, the EPA terminated the $20 billion in grant agreements issued under the Biden administration's "green bank" initiative, citing concerns over oversight, conflicts of interest, and potential fraud. The decision follows a weeks-long freeze on the funds, which were allocated to eight nonprofit groups last year to finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects. The nonprofit recipients, including Climate United Fund, the Coalition for Green Capital and Power Forward Communities, have filed lawsuits challenging the EPA's earlier freeze on the funds. "Twenty billion of your tax dollars were parked at an outside financial institution, in a deliberate effort to limit government oversight – doling out your money through just eight pass-through, politically connected, unqualified, and in some cases brand-new nonprofit organizations," Zeldin said in a video statement. He argued that these grants "raise significant concerns and pose unacceptable risk." He added that termination was necessary to "reduce waste, increase oversight and meet the intent of the law as it was written." The EPA has been rolling back restrictive environmental regulations from the Biden era and disbanding offices focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) since Trump took office in January. Head over to Progress.new for similar stories. Watch the video below to see Piers Corbyn's short interview about climate change.
This video is from the LifeSiteNews channel on Brighteon.com.

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Sources include: YourNews.com APNews.com Brighteon.com
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