The Trump administration is preparing to eliminate two key Environmental Protection Agency divisions focused on climate change and energy efficiency, including its consumer-facing Energy Star program, according to two sources familiar with the plan.
The agency is planning to shutter its climate change division and climate protection partnership division, both of which sit within the agency’s office of air and radiation, the sources said. The moves will impact several climate programs including the greenhouse gas reporting program and EPA’s partnerships on methane – a super-polluting, planet-warming gas emitted from oil and gas, agriculture and landfills.
The agency is also planning to close its Energy Star program, a longstanding public-private partnership certifying energy efficient appliances and helping consumers find products and tax credits to bring down the cost of energy efficient appliances like air conditioners, heat pumps, refrigerators and washing machines.
President Donald Trump floated dismantling or privatizing Energy Star in his first term, but the fate of the program has been unclear so far in his second term. Bipartisan groups have been urging the administration to save it.
“Eliminating the Energy Star program would directly contradict this administration’s promise to reduce household energy costs,” said Paula Glover, president of the nonprofit coalition Alliance to Save Energy, in a statement to CNN. “For just $32 million a year, Energy Star helps American families save over $40 billion in annual energy costs. That’s a return of $350 for every federal dollar invested.”
It’s not immediately clear how many EPA employees will be affected by the changes. The agency is currently offering staffers a second round of the deferred resignation offer and will reassess how many people it needs to fire after that offer period has closed, a source said.
In a statement to CNN, an EPA spokesperson said the agency announced “the next phase of organizational improvements to the agency to better provide clean air, water, and land for all Americans” on Friday.
“With this action, EPA is delivering organizational improvements to the personnel structure that will directly benefit the American people and better advance the agency’s core mission, while Powering the Great American Comeback,” the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for Energy Star did not return CNN’s request for comment.
Energy Star was implemented by the first Bush administration in 1992. According to the program’s website, it is “the most widely recognized symbol for energy efficiency in America,” with over 90% of US households recognizing the label.
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, told CNN she was “baffled” by the Trump administration’s decision to cut the Energy Star program.
“I know that my constituents like knowing what the energy usage is of a particular appliance so that they can factor that into their buying decisions,” Collins said.
The program is “nearly universally supported” by manufacturers, retailers, home builders and US consumers, said Joe Goffman, who led EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation under Biden.
“Energy Star ratings of appliances and electronics have been part of tens of millions of American households’ purchases,” Goffman said, adding that energy performance ratings are now a built-in part of consumer shopping decisions.
A spokesperson for the EPA did not answer questions about when Energy Star certifications for appliances would stop.
The changes are part of broader division closures within EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, which is in charge of formulating some of the agency’s biggest regulations to cut down on air pollution. It also could represent a major blow for official government measuring of US fossil fuel emissions, which are heating the planet.
Under the Biden administration, reducing hazardous air pollutants and planet-warming gases was a big priority. However, Trump EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced in March that the agency would roll back over a dozen Biden-era pollution rules that reduced emissions from power plants, vehicles and the oil and gas industry.
Trump’s EPA also announced in March that it will reconsider and strike down a consequential scientific finding on the dangers of climate pollution that has served as the basis behind federal regulations to curb them. Dismissing the precedent would strip the EPA’s authority to manage the pollution that causes global warming.
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