PENSACOLA, Fla. — Florida is near the top of a new national report showing cuts to Environmental Protection Agencies.

Findings from the Environmental Integrity Project (EJP) found Florida has made the largest number of employee reductions across the EPA since 2010.

The report also highlights major budget cuts for environmental resources in many states around the nation.

A new report titled “State of Decline: Cuts to State Pollution Control Agencies” says Florida reduced environmental spending by about seven percent from 2010 to 2024 while slashing staffing levels more aggressively than nearly any other state.

“Continued cutting at the DEP in Florida will mean destroying the treasure that Florida is,” said EJP Communications Director Tom Pelton.

Pelton says Florida cut almost 400 jobs in the last 15 years.

He believes that too many government resources are being cut over ideological reasons, despite growing environmental threats.

“There’s this wrongheaded philosophy that government is bad and all we have to do is remove government and the wonders of the free market will take care of all of our problems,” Pelton said. “We love Florida, and we’re going to ruin what it has in terms of its most valuable asset if we keep destroying and cutting at the DEP, which is people working full-time to keep sewage off our beaches and people keeping illegal dumping out of our wetlands and precious areas.”

“Put it in terms of your daily life,” said Christian Wagley, coastal organizer of Healthy Gulf. “If you went to the grocery store and suddenly there’s half the people working there that there had been, you’d expect level of service wouldn’t be very good.”

Healthy Gulf is a local non-profit advocating against pollution and offshore drilling.

Wagley is a local organizer who says cutting back the people who we need to enforce our environmental laws in Florida simply means less protection for air and water.

“I see this every week.,” Wagley said. “I go to meetings all over NWFL and people are crying out for protection for our environment. We’re seeing wetlands being filled, forests being filled, loose soil washing into waterways and clogging them. People want environmental protection in Florida.”

While Florida has seen a sharp decline in staffing and support over the last 15 years, they’re not the most impacted state.

Mississippi ranks first with a 71% decrease in environmental agency funding, while North Carolina leads in staffing reduction at 32%.

In that time, seven states reduced their pollution control funding by at least a third.

And despite Florida having the highest number of staff decline, the state ranked 8th in terms of percentage of staff reduced, leaving locals optimistic moving forward.

“People clearly want clean beaches, clean air, clean water,” Wagley said. “They need to speak out more and I think this report gives us more reason to do so.”

The Trump administration is proposing a 55% cut to EPA spending in next year’s budget to empower states to enact their own policies.

Environmental groups argue states don’t have the resources. They’re actively urging state lawmakers to stand up for natural resources here in Florida.