• America
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• The Guardian
• Wed Apr 16 2025

The Trump administration?s sweeping cuts to the federal climate disaster agency ? and the full-throttle deregulation of fossil fuels and water-guzzling datacentres ? could prove catastrophic for America?s endangered rivers, threatening the food, water and livelihoods of millions of people, according to a new report.

American Rivers? annual most-endangered rivers list lays bare a myriad of human-made threats including floods, drought and other extreme weather events driven by the climate crisis, as well as industrial pollution and poor river management ? all of which Trump?s regulatory rollbacks will almost inevitably make worse.

In most danger is the great Mississippi, spanning 10 states from the headwaters in Minnesota to its mouth in Louisiana. The 2,320-mile-long snaking river is the primary source of drinking water for more than 50 municipalities. Longstanding threats to the Mississippi River include chemical runoff that has led to frequent toxic algae outbreaks and hypoxic dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico, sea level rise that is hastening wetland loss and saltwater intrusion, as well as intermittent droughts.

Now, hundreds of layoffs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) and calls by Trump to abolish the entire agency and the National Flood Insurance Program further threaten the long-term survival of the Mississippi River and its 30m-acre floodplain that provides vital habitat for almost 900 species of fish and wildlife, according to American Rivers? 40th annual endangered rivers list.

Gutting Fema also threatens the recovery of several rivers in the southern Appalachia region that were severely damaged by record rainfall and 100mph winds unleashed by Hurricane Helene, the category 4 storm that killed at least 220 people in September.

Helene uprooted tens of thousands of trees and caused the worst flooding in southern Appalachia?s modern history, which destroyed wastewater infrastructure, sent debris and pollution into waterways, reshaped entire river valleys and obliterated sensitive fish and wildlife habitat. At least 44 dams in the French Broad watershed ? including the Nolichucky, Watauga and Pigeon rivers ? failed or were severely damaged. Collectively, the rivers of southern Appalachia rank third in the 2025 endangered rivers list.

Large-scale engineering and restoration work is required to safeguard the region?s rivers from further erosion and property losses in future storms ? which are increasingly erratic and intense thanks to the climate crisis.

?Without strong federal leadership in flood-risk management, communities along the Mississippi River ? and across the country ? will face even greater threats from worsening floods,? said Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers. ?Now is the time to reinforce our national commitment to flood-risk reduction, not walk away from it.?

On top of coordinating emergency response and reconstruction after major climate and natural disasters, Fema also helps states and communities prepare for and recover from flood damage by developing building standards, providing homeowner flood insurance and relocating flood-prone homes to higher ground. Trump wants to dismantle Fema, yet every $1 spent on flood mitigation yields $7 in benefits.

?Our rivers are in a sensitive state and communities are still at risk ? We must protect homes and businesses from crumbling, unsafe dams,? said Erin McCombs, south-east conservation director for American Rivers. ?Funding dam removal and river restoration is urgent to ensure public safety before the next storm.?

In Virginia, the unchecked proliferation of datacentres is compounding local water shortages and endangering the Rappahannock River, a 195-mile waterway stretching from the Blue Ridge Mountains to Chesapeake Bay, ranked sixth in this year?s endangered rivers list.

View image in fullscreen The Rappahannock River, on the outskirts of Remington, Virginia, in 2018. Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images

Virginia is currently the world?s largest hub of datacentres, a thirsty industry being heavily incentivized by the Trump administration through regulatory rollbacks and subsidies that will also benefit fossil gas ? another heavy water user and polluting industry. Adding to Virginia?s so-called ?Datacentre Alley? would increase the pressure on the Rappahannock River ? already under pressure from population growth and overuse due to declining groundwater levels exacerbated by drought.

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Trump also hopes to revive coal, among the dirtiest and least economically sound fossil fuels, and which has caused major damage to the Cherry River, part of the Gauley River watershed in neighboring West Virginia ? 10th in this year?s rankings. A woeful lack of enforcement has enabled a strip mining company to repeatedly violate water pollution mine cleanup standards, which Trump wants to gut further, according to the American Rivers report. The mining company, which was being sued for alleged dumping of dangerous levels of heavy metals and sludge into the Cherry River, filed for bankruptcy in February.

David Moryc, senior director of river protection for American Rivers, said: ?Local communities are paying the price for mining practices that are flouting basic safeguards to protect West Virginians and the economically vital Gauley River. This is a severe abuse of the public trust.?

Last week, Trump signed four executive orders intended to resurrect the coal industry, which climate scientists and public health experts have long warned must be phased out. He?s also trying to make oil and gas expansion easier, in what critics have condemned as a quid pro quo. According to one analysis, big oil spent $445m throughout the last election cycle to influence Trump and Congress ? including pouring $96m into Trump?s re-election campaign and affiliated political action committees.

?Our water wealth is one of our greatest assets as a nation,? said Tom Kiernan, president and CEO of American Rivers. ?But pollution and extreme weather are putting our rivers, clean water and public safety at risk. When our rivers are sick, our own health and prosperity suffers.?

This year?s other endangered waterways that could fare even worse thanks to Trump?s pro-industry, anti-environment agenda are the Tijuana River in California and Mexico, the Passaic River in New Jersey, the lower Rio Grande in Texas, the Susitna River in Alaska, the Calcasieu River in Louisiana and the Clearwater River basin in Idaho.