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Outgoing New England EPA head says Trump's environmental agenda is 'counter to the values' of U.S.

David Cash, Administrator of Environmental Protection Agency's New England Region, at the New England Aquarium. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
David Cash, Administrator of Environmental Protection Agency's New England Region, at the New England Aquarium. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

As Donald Trump was sworn in as president Monday, David Cash resigned from his job as New England regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Cash is one of many federal employees leaving their jobs now that Trump has returned to the White House.

Trump has promised big changes to boost fossil fuel production, loosen emissions regulations and scale back other environmental initiatives.

Cash spent almost three years in the EPA post. He spoke with WBUR’s All Things Considered host Lisa Mullins shortly after he resigned about what Trump’s policies will mean for environmental protection and climate change mitigation.

Below are highlights from their conversation, which have been lightly edited.

Interview Highlights

On why he resigned from his job:

“Well, I’m a presidential appointee. I was appointed by President Biden to take on this role. And all of us presidential appointees step down when a new president comes in. But it’s also something that I would not want to be staying on into a Trump presidency, as well.

“The direction that he has articulated on addressing the issues that I care about and I know many of our listeners care about: the protection of our environment, the access to clean water, clean air, protecting ecosystems. That agenda that he has goes counter to the values that we have as a nation and that have been pushed forward by communities, by states, by the federal government, in Republican and Democratic administrations for decades and decades.”

On Trump’s planned environmental executive actions, including one declaring a “national energy emergency”:

“There’s no question that the state of energy in this country is in ripe need of reform. We’ve depended on fossil fuels now for a hundred years. It served our country well  to develop — economically develop — over those hundred years. And it’s now time, and has long been time, to say goodbye to fossil fuels.

“We know now the intense public health problems that fossil fuels cause on a local level. And we know it’s the primary cause for climate change — which is disrupting communities all over the world, not just in our country, and you just have to look to L.A. [and the wildfires] for the latest example of that. And that’s a crisis that in the last administration we took on head-on,  using the innovation and entrepreneurship that this country is famous for.”

On Trump’s plan to revoke what he calls the “EV mandate“:

“There are several ways that in the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law we supported EV [electric vehicle] development. He might be talking about a regulation that EPA promulgated that was about car emissions. It doesn’t require a mandate to buy electric vehicles.

“But there were many other ways that we tried to support the burgeoning EV industry, by building factories and providing states and municipalities with funding for infrastructure so people could charge their vehicles … all of these things that bring huge benefits to people.”

“One example is the funding that we gave for electric school buses. Something like 8,700 electric school buses are now on the street. You know, I grew up where I took a public school bus. I sat on the corner, a bus came by, it was stinky. I had no idea that it would be causing me health problems in the future. And, you know, those are getting increasingly off the streets.

“There’s one [event] in particular I remember in Nashua, New Hampshire, where the kids who were already on electric school buses [were] saying how much they love it. You know, it’s quiet, it’s not smelly. Parents really appreciated not worrying about their kids. Bus drivers love the new buses — they’re quiet. Every time I went to one of these events, I would [hear about] another benefit.”

On whether Trump’s rollbacks will cause further harm to communities disproportionately burdened by pollution:

“I’m optimistic, but [that’s] conditioned on whether we’re vigilant or not. I’m optimistic because the Inflation Reduction Act and other bills in our regulations got out the door tens of billions of dollars that are already going to communities all over the country to make the kinds of advancements that we need. And the regulations are there as well. So that’s moving forward.

“But we have to remain vigilant in many different ways — with Congress, with our state legislatures, and we’ve got to work with communities. I mean, we have to help the communities that have been most underserved, whether it’s through community-based organizations or community development banks, or community land trusts. Those are the kinds of things where we should be focusing our energy, to act as a bulwark against the rollbacks that we’re about to see.”

On whether Massachusetts can help hold back the worst effects of climate change, with policies like the state’s goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050:

“Massachusetts has always been a leader in this space, and I remember the arguments of the early part of the [Gov. Deval] Patrick administration when I was there, where many business groups made [the claim], ‘You know, we’re a tiny percentage overall of emissions.’ And the answer to that is, we all have to play our role in addressing climate change…  we’ve got to play our part in reducing global emissions. And we’ve got to seize the opportunity of all the benefits that come with that.”

On whether the state could be a leader in resisting some of the environmental rollbacks under President Trump:

“Absolutely. I mean, it is a leader, has been a leader. And it’s often hewed its own path to seize the benefits — the economic, environmental, social, equity benefits that have come with dealing with environmental challenges and seizing those opportunities.”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2025 WBUR

Lisa Mullins
Lynn Jolicoeur