Environmental issues were conspicuously absent from the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign, but moves by President-elect Donald Trump’s first administration and his leadership picks for his next administration offer clues to what may be ahead.

They point to a second Trump administration likely loosening regulations on industries, particularly oil, gas and petrochemicals, giving them wider permission to pollute.

Some actions will be overt. But history suggests this administration may also try to use the language of science – terms such as transparency, citizen science and uncertainty – to weaken environmental and health protections and write regulations more favorable to industry.

Those ideas surfaced during the first Trump administration and in conservative agendas such as Project 2025. Project 2025 was written by former Trump administration officials, including several people Trump has tapped for his next administration. Trump distanced himself from the project during the campaign but now says he agrees with many parts of it.

I followed the first Trump administration closely as a researcher involved in the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative, or EDGI. The group was founded in 2016 to document Trump’s efforts to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency. During Trump’s first administration, we archived climate and environment datasets used by scientists, advocates and policymakers who were worried these might be hidden by the administration. We also tracked how the Trump administration changed climate language on agency websites.

EDGI also interviewed agency staffers facing political pressure and explained the potential impact of........

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