The Cost of Trump: More Wildfire Smoke and Unhealthy Air

Washington, DC – Wildfire smoke is affecting nearly 110 million people, bringing orange skies and dangerous air quality across the Northern United States. With Trump’s cuts to clean air protections and wildfire response, unhealthy air pollution and dangerous wildfire smoke will become even more common. As the climate crisis makes wildfires more frequent, Trump is making us less healthy, less safe, and making it more expensive for families to stay cool. 

FACT: Trump has cut clean air protections, making our air dirtier and communities less healthy.

• Inhaling wildfire smoke can lead to significant health impacts by exposing people to fine particles known as PM 2.5 that enter the bloodstream and cause harm throughout the body, including the heart, lung and brain.
• Trump rolled back more than 60 protections that keep companies from pumping toxins into the air and water. While they pad their profits, it’ll mean higher risks of cancer, asthma and brain damage for families and children.
• Trump repealed the endangerment finding—the government’s core legal obligation to protect Americans from the pollution driving the climate crisis—a decision estimated to cost $4.7 trillion and cause 52 million additional asthma attacks, 19 million lost school and work days, 122,000 emergency room visits, and an additional 77,000 premature deaths by 2055.
• Trump’s EPA reversed more than 40 years of precedent by no longer accounting for the value of health and lives saved when setting standards for toxic air pollution.
• An August 2025 study found that approximately 91,000 premature deaths can be attributed to air pollution from the oil and gas industries in 2017.

FACT: The frequency of wildfires in the United States has rapidly increased in recent years, but Trump has gutted our ability to prepare for and respond, leaving our communities less safe.

• Trump is gutting the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) — weakening the federal government’s ability to properly mitigate, manage, and respond to wildfires at a moment when the risks are higher than ever.
• In 2025, the USFS lost thousands of staff because of Trump’s cuts, causing the administration to fall behind on critical wildfire prevention efforts. The agency lost 16% of its workforce, compared to an average 12% reduction across other federal agencies, due to Trump’s cuts. 

FACT: While families are forced to stay inside to protect themselves from unhealthy air quality, Trump has made it more expensive for people to cool their homes. 

• Trump and Republicans in Congress have taken nearly 400 clean energy projects off the grid as demand soars, and electricity prices have spiked by 18% nationally on Trump’s watch. 
• According to a projection from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA), the average American family will spend nearly $800 on cooling costs this summer.