Americans are less safe and healthy today because of the Trump administration.

This time will be defined in part by a legacy of curtailing bedrock environmental protections, including rescinding the U.S. EPA’s greenhouse gas endangerment finding, weakening vehicle emissions standards, accelerating fossil fuel permitting and, most recently, curtailing clean water protections, all in an increasingly warming world.

They’re trading off our long-term health to scratch the backs of big polluters for short-term profits, and the uncomfortable truth is Americans will die as a result.

It’s a different story here in Illinois, where we’ve chosen a path grounded in science, public health and the understanding that clean air and clean water keep life more affordable for average Illinoisans. In stark contrast to Trump, Gov. JB Pritzker and his administration — especially Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director James Jennings — have built one of the strongest state-level environmental records in the country. Together, they’re effectively inoculating Illinoisans from some of the worst environmental impacts.

This leadership has become increasingly important. For example, the Trump administration recently announced its intention to roll back protective national drinking water standards for toxic Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, in community water supplies. Now found in drinking water, wildlife and even human bloodstream, these “forever chemicals” are linked to cancer, immune system suppression and developmental harms.

Not only has the state moved aggressively to address PFAS since 2020, but this legislative session, the Pritzker administration and Illinois EPA advanced legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Laura Ellman and state Rep. Ann Williams, to end the automatic adoption of weakened federal environmental standards in Illinois.

Now, Illinois will keep its superior PFAS standards in place.

The Trump administration has also rolled back ethylene oxide regulations. Ethylene oxide is a cancer-causing air pollutant. In Illinois, the horrific Sterigenics contamination crisis in Willowbrook, near my hometown of Darien, led to stronger state protections championed by Illinois Senate Minority Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove.

Because of those protections, facilities operating under the dangerous standards of the past will not reopen in Illinois, regardless of Trump rollbacks.

Coal ash is one of the most dangerous toxic legacies of the fossil fuel industry. Trump’s team has taken several steps away from faster, stronger cleanup and stricter monitoring of coal ash contamination, to giving utilities more time, narrower obligations and more cleanup exemptions. This spring, they proposed to roll back essential federal coal ash protections, leaving hundreds of communities vulnerable to toxic pollution.

Luckily, the Illinois General Assembly has led on this issue, too. Illinois adopted one of the nation’s strongest coal ash laws, requiring groundwater monitoring, closure standards, transparency and stronger protections for nearby communities. The governor’s environmental agency will need to strongly implement and enforce these in the face of federal challenges.

The Trump administration has largely dismantled or deprioritized the federal infrastructure built to address disproportionate pollution burdens in low-income communities and communities of color. The While the Pritzker administration has strengthened environmental justice protections by advancing policies that address cumulative pollution impacts in communities that have historically borne the greatest environmental burdens, the federal government retreats from this work.

Big polluters should pay the cost of pollution prevention; no one should be paying that cost with their health, their means or their lives.

Across the country, states are forced to decide whether they will wait for Washington or lead themselves. Illinois has consistently chosen leadership.

That leadership matters. Strong environmental laws are not abstract policy victories. They are the reason a child drinks safer water, a family breathes cleaner air and communities avoid devastating toxic contamination.

None of that would be possible without the incredible scientists and environmental experts who proudly call Illinois home. They’re the backbone of these policy victories and the architects of the decades of groundwork that got us here.

Together, those of us invested in the work of safeguarding Illinois, our people, wildlife and ecosystems will continue to celebrate the progress Pritzker and his state agencies are making, and in some cases, push those leaders to continue building on this increasingly impressive record of environmental protection.

Jen Walling is CEO of the Illinois Environmental Council.