even wiped away some references to climate change. scott pruitt, the man leading the epa for years, challenged them on violating the laws. >> i think the trump administration thinks we're with overreach. >> reporter: he helped lay out the epa and the climate agreement. >> economic prosperity will not only put more money in american workers' pockets, it will also improve their health and the quality of the environment. >> reporter: this month, the trump administration shut down an independent study on health effects of a common mining technique. and some corporate polluters are seeing fewer fines. the trump administration has collected $12 million for violating anti-pollution laws. previous presidents have each issued up to 36 million in fines in their first six months. cnn reached out to the white house for comment on this story