Trump exempts federal fire retardant drops from water pollution rules for a year

President Donald Trump on Tuesday exempted federal firefighting from water pollution rules for a year, so air tankers can keep dropping fire retardant without the Clean Water Act permit that a federal judge said the Forest Service needs for drops into navigable waters.

The memorandum covers the Forest Service, the Interior Department, other federal agencies and their contractors. It exempts them from federal, state, interstate and local water pollution requirements through Nov. 10, 2027. Trump wrote that exempting firefighting, "including the aerial use, deployment, and discharge of fire retardants," is "in the paramount interest of the United States."

That includes the federal agency that fights fire across Interior Alaska. The Interior Department's fire agency here, U.S. Wildland Fire Service–Alaska, was called the BLM Alaska Fire Service until this year. It handles fire suppression on land managed by the BLM, the Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service, along with about 44 million acres of Alaska Native corporation land and 1.1 million acres of Native allotments.

Alaska was also one of 10 states where a federal judge found the Forest Service's unpermitted retardant drops into navigable waters violated the Clean Water Act.

This year was quiet. Alaska burned about 89,000 acres in 2026, the fewest since 1995, according to the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, though the Mukluk fire at Tok still destroyed 50 homes. Most years are much bigger. More than 3 million acres burned in 2022, and the state averaged nearly 1 million acres a year over the past decade.

The Agriculture Department buys retardant for federal air tankers from Perimeter Solutions, the maker of Phos-Chek, under a five-year deal signed in September 2025. The department said the deal would save $153 million over five years. Federal agencies dropped 48.6 million gallons of retardant in 2024, the department said.

The Forest Service and the BLM were Perimeter's two largest customers last year, making up 43% of its revenue, according to the company's annual report. In 2024, the Forest Service suspended a competing retardant made by Fortress for that fire season after inspections found corrosion in two air tankers that carried it.

The exemption comes amid a lawsuit in federal court in Montana, which the memorandum cites. Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics sued the Forest Service in 2022. The group alleges at least 459 drops into navigable waters from 2012 to 2019, totaling about 761,000 gallons. The Forest Service told the court its records show 213.

U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ruled in May 2023 that the unpermitted drops violated the Clean Water Act, but he declined to stop them. In May 2025, he again refused to bar retardant use. He said the Forest Service must get a permit and report its progress every six months, but he set no deadline.

The judge said the Forest Service has to wait on the Environmental Protection Agency. According to his 2025 order, the EPA withdrew a draft permit after the change in administration in January 2025 and later sent it back for review. None has been issued. The White House said in a fact sheet that the Forest Service has been unable to get one "due to significant regulatory hurdles," and it framed the exemption around the 2027 fire season.

Interagency firefighting policy already tells pilots to avoid dropping retardant within 300 feet of waterways. It allows exceptions to protect lives and safety and, for agencies other than the Forest Service, property.

The Clean Water Act lets a president grant exemptions like this one year at a time, with each renewal requiring a new determination. It doesn't allow exemptions from the law's standards for new pollution sources or for toxic pollutants.

The memorandum also says it shouldn't be read to mean the Clean Water Act would otherwise require the Forest Service or other agencies to get permits for these drops.