Week 1: executive power grabs and destructive actions
“Shock and Awe” is generally known as a military strategy that uses overwhelming force to paralyze an enemy's will to fight. The goal is to gain immediate tactical dominance through a physical and psychological blow.
One could certainly argue that the Trump Administration has applied this strategy against the American public and civil society this past week.
Week one began with a slew of executive orders that rolled back as much equity, justice, and environmental progress as possible.
Perpetuate environmental injustice, by rolling back Justice40 commitment to bring the benefits of federal investments to communities that have historically been under-invested, and shutting down all diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and placing employees on administrative leave;
Exiting the Paris Climate Agreement and commitment to 30x30, the goal to protect 30% of our lands and waters by 2030;
Reopening protected waters to offshore drilling and expediting permits for fossil fuel development;
Indefinitely pausing all offshore wind permitting, leasing, and approvals until further notice and also assessing necessity of and legal options for terminating or amending existing offshore wind leases;
Declaring an Energy Emergency and allowing fossil fuel projects to skirt environmental protections including the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and Marine Mammal Protection Act;
Weakening public engagement and judicial review by revising NEPA regulations to gut Environmental Impact Statements;
Eliminating or redirecting all unspent IRA/IIJA funding for renewable energy or climate related projects; and
Dismantling and politicizing the federal workforce by invoking Schedule F and eliminating climate and environmental justice related offices across the government.
And this week started off with a bang as President Trump unilaterally decided that Congress doesn’t actually get to appropriate money until he’s first made sure that it is “consistent with the President’s policies and requirements” like complying with the type of executive actions highlighted above, aka implementing Project 2025.
Determining whether or not the lawfully appropriated funds get disbursed is NOT the President’s job, nor is it even within the purview of the Executive Branch. It seems like the Trump Administration (and some members of the U.S. House and Senate) might need to revisit their civics class to learn the powers instilled each branch of government.
Now, this isn’t to make light of an incredibly serious attempt at an attempt to grab power from Congress.
This action in any other administration would be considered “beyond the pale” but this is going to be the kind of stunt they pull to dismantle the federal government for the next four years. While we need to choose our battles, these first wave of actions deserve our public condemnation and ire.
Our job at the HOC is to protect our member organizations who are committed to ocean and climate justice, defend the progress we’ve made, and push ahead at at any level of government that still has good sense.
We are going to need all the support we can get. We hope you will join us in our advocacy efforts.