Oil, gas and the EPA: a timeline of Trump-era leadership, rollbacks and industry requests (2014-2026) Case A dated timeline linking the people and moves that shaped Trump-era EPA policy: Scott Pruitt's industry-drafted letter as Oklahoma attorney general in 2014, the first-term rollbacks and leadership under Pruitt and Andrew Wheeler, the April 2024 oil-executive dinner where Trump reportedly asked for $1 billion, and the 2025-2026 waivers, exemptions and cuts. It records documented events. Whether they add up to a pay-to-play pattern is the site's thesis, not a finding. Before the first term (2014) A New York Times investigation by Eric Lipton (Dec. 6, 2014) reported that a three-page letter Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt sent to EPA was written by lawyers for Devon Energy and delivered to him by Devon's chief of lobbying, with only a few word changes by his staff, and sent on official stationery. The same article reported that Devon was one of the most important financial supporters of the Republican Attorneys General Association and that energy companies gave it hundreds of thousands of additional dollars while Pruitt led it. Pruitt's office said it "seeks input from the energy industry to determine real-life harm stemming from proposed federal regulations." First term (2017-2021) Pruitt resigned as EPA administrator on July 5, 2018 amid ethics investigations, including first-class travel, a $43,000 soundproof phone booth, a discounted condo rental from an energy lobbyist's wife and a $17,000 trip to Morocco to promote liquefied natural gas exports. Trump wrote that Pruitt "has done an outstanding job." Andrew Wheeler, Pruitt's deputy and a former lobbyist for Murray Energy and other energy clients, became acting administrator on July 9, 2018 and was nominated in January 2019. At his Jan. 16, 2019 hearing he said, "We're going to continue the same policies because these are the policies of President Trump." DeSmog is an advocacy outlet. By June 2020 trackers at Harvard, Columbia and the New York Times counted about 100 major environmental and climate policies dismantled or being dismantled, over 50 of them in 2020 alone, including power-plant carbon limits, vehicle fuel-efficiency standards, Clean Water Act protections and the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. In September 2019 EPA and NHTSA revoked California's greenhouse-gas and zero-emission-vehicle waiver; the sources are in the California waivers entry. Between terms and the 2024 campaign According to reporting by the Washington Post and Politico, summarized by The Week, Trump told top oil executives and lobbyists at Mar-a-Lago on April 11, 2024 that they should give $1 billion to his campaign, calling it a "deal" because he would immediately reverse Biden's environmental and electric-vehicle regulations. The Biden campaign said he was "selling out working families to Big Oil for campaign checks." Details are in the $1 billion ask entry. On May 13-14, 2024, a House Democrat opened a probe asking oil CEOs for details of the dinner, according to CNBC's headline. The article was not read in full for this entry. Second term (2025-2026) Zeldin's EPA invited industries in March 2025 to email requests for presidential exemptions from nine air-toxics rules; more than 180 facilities were later exempted. The sources are in the exemptions entry. In June 2025 Trump signed Congressional Review Act resolutions revoking three California vehicle waivers. The sources are in the California waivers entry. EPA's workforce fell about 23% by July 2025 and its research office was dissolved; the White House sought a 54% budget cut. The sources are in the cuts entry. Perspectives Editorial read — The Author (site author), thesis The Author's reading: this timeline shows a consistent pattern in which oil and gas interests asked for specific regulatory relief and later received it, through people, requests and decisions that run from 2014 to 2026. This is interpretation. The method is to line up dated, sourced events and look for repeated links between industry requests, personnel and outcomes. The entry does not show that any donation was exchanged for a specific decision, and no court or inspector general has found that. Research notes Method: this is a dated list of events from sources, not a finding of causation. The CNBC reference was cited from its headline only. Open leads: (1) a primary or wire account of the April 11, 2024 dinner and the campaign's response; (2) confirm Wheeler's Senate confirmation date and the Pruitt-era rollback counts from the trackers directly; (3) Biden-era restoration of the 2019-revoked waiver (date); (4) donations by oil executives who attended the dinner, from FEC records; (5) 2016-2017 campaign ties between Trump and oil and gas donors such as Harold Hamm, not yet sourced here. Note No court or inspector general has found an explicit exchange of donations for policy, and the campaign's own account of the April 2024 dinner was not located for this entry. Sources [1] New York Times (Eric Lipton), via OpenCasebook — Energy firms in secretive alliance with attorneys general (https://opencasebook.org/casebooks/29-the-role-of-the-state-attorney-general/resources/9.11-eric-lipton-energy-firms-in-secretive-alliance-with-attorneys-general-new-york-times-dec-6-2014/) · 2014-12-06 [2] The Daily Star — Under fire for ethics scandals, US EPA chief Pruitt resigns (https://www.thedailystar.net/world/us/under-fire-ethics-scandals-us-environment-protection-agency-epa-chief-pruitt-resigns-1600993) · 2018-07-05 [3] DeSmog — Former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler faces Senate confirmation as EPA administrator (https://www.desmog.com/2019/01/15/coal-lobbyist-andrew-wheeler-senate-confirmation-hearing-ethics-race-scandals) · 2019-01-15 [4] The Allegheny Front — Tracking Trump's 100 environmental rollbacks (https://www.alleghenyfront.org/tracking-trumps-100-environmental-rollbacks/) · 2020-06-18 [5] The Week — Trump pledged pro-oil policy to CEOs, asked for $1B (https://theweek.com/politics/trump-oil-industry-campaign-finance) · 2024-04 [6] CNBC — House Democrat presses oil CEOs for details of Trump's fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago (https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/14/trump-oil-ceos-dinner-house-democrat-probe-.html) · 2024-05-14 Connections Same context — California's Clean Air Act waivers: from the 2019 revocation to the 2025 Congressional Review Act resolutions The 2019 revocation and 2025 resolutions are entries in the timeline. Same context — EPA staff, research and budget cuts, and DOGE grant cancellations (2025-2026) The 2025 staff and budget cuts are an entry in the timeline. Same context — EPA's "electronic mailbox" for Clean Air Act exemptions and the presidential proclamations (2025-2026) The 2025 exemption mailbox is an entry in the timeline. Same context — Oil-industry gifts to Trump committees (2023-2025): what FEC filings show The gifts sit on the timeline between the April 2024 dinner and the 2025 EPA actions. Related — Synthesis: Big Oil's return on investment across the whole administration The timeline supplies the dated EPA-specific events behind the synthesis' chain of money, personnel and regulation. Related — Synthesis: profit over public protection, from East Palestine to the EPA (2017-2026) The dated EPA timeline that carries the same thesis. Same context — The $1 billion ask: fossil-fuel money into Trump's campaign and inauguration The timeline includes the April 2024 dinner covered in detail in the $1 billion ask entry.