Somewhere around 140 EPA employees have been
suspended and will be investigated after signing a letter critical of the
agency’s direction under Trump and EPA chief Lee Zeldin. This is not unexpected
as Trump’s stated mission for the agency is to generally deregulate and reduce
enforcement actions. This kind of thing has been happening at many government
agencies as the Trump mission of reducing government size and increasing
loyalty to the current regime are primary goals. The letter begins with a
declaration of dissent:
“Today, we stand together in dissent against the current
administration's focus on harmful deregulation, mischaracterization of previous
EPA actions, and disregard for scientific expertise.”
The letter accuses the
administration of politicization by the “unraveling of public health and
environmental protections in the pursuit of political advantage.”
The letter states five primary
concerns of the dissenters: 1) Undermining public trust –
this regards the current politicization of the agency leader and denigration of
those who disagree with that approach. They argue that the politicization
distracts from the agency’s science-based mission; 2) Ignoring
scientific consensus to benefit polluters – here they accuse the
current administration of making the wrong decisions about mercury, asbestos,
and greenhouse gases and criticize moves regarding PFAS chemicals, disregard
for the environmental concerns of AI, and lack of concern for the dangers of
fossil fuels and the benefits of EVs and cleaner energy sources; 3) Reversing
EPA's progress in America's most vulnerable communities – this
regards the widespread canceling of environmental justice programs and the mass
firings of environmental justice section workers; 4) Dismantling the
Office of Research and Development (ORD) – this involves a
reorganization proposed by Zeldin to overhaul the ORD, essentially gutting it,
making the office less independent from the EPA as well as pushing research to
regional and state offices; 5) Promoting a culture of fear, forcing
staff to choose between their livelihood and well-being – here
they reference OMB director and Project 2025 architect Russel Vought who
utterred the following meanspirited comments about EPA employees in October
2024:
"When they wake up in the morning, we want them to
not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We
want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can’t do all of the rules
against our energy industry [...] We want to put them in trauma.”
Vought irrationally fears a
“Marxist takeover” of the country and has called Trump a “gift of God.”
At the end of the letter,
they note:
“We sign this declaration both as concerned citizens and
dedicated civil servants.”
As a result of the letter,
the EPA placed around 140 employees on administrative leave until July 17 and
announced an “administrative investigation.” According to The Hill, an official
EPA spokesperson responded to the letter:
“The Environmental Protection Agency has a
zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining,
sabotaging, and undercutting the administration’s agenda as voted for by the
great people of this country last November,” EPA spokesperson Brigit Hirsch
said in a written statement.
Despite
being escorted out of the building by supervisors and the EPA’s statement that
the letter was akin to sabotage, the employees were told that their temporary
suspension was not a disciplinary action.
“EPA employees told CNN they were surprised at how
aggressively Zeldin and EPA officials reacted to the letter. Last month,
National Institutes of Health employees published a similar open letter of
dissent, and did not face retaliation from officials there.”
Nicole Cantello, president of
the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 704, which
represents EPA employees in the Midwest, accused the administration of blatant
retaliation:
“We don’t swear an oath to the Trump administration, we
swear an oath to the Constitution and so we don’t
feel like we violated that oath or that we did anything wrong by
signing this letter,” she said, adding that some of the staffers who were
placed on leave are actually “crucial players in trying to implement Trump’s
policies at EPA.”
Zeldin has previously said
that those who don’t agree with the Trump version of what the EPA should be,
should not be working for the agency. That is certainly politicization.
My own opinion is that there
is no doubt that the EPA and other government agencies are being politicized
and that loyalty to Trump is being too strongly encouraged. I believe that we
need career scientists, engineers, policy experts, and other staff, regardless
of their political affiliation. All government employees above a certain very
low level are now asked about such loyalty on their job applications with
questions such as: “What is your favorite Trump executive order?” In my 49-plus
years of employment, I have never been asked about my political affiliation or
to express an opinion about my regard for a political approach, and I believe
that no one should be asked such questions. I did have to listen to Rush
Limbaugh on the radio at a job in the late 90s, but I just tuned it out and
didn't talk politics. It was not a problem. I do understand that the
administration has a deregulatory approach and seeks to roll back some
regulations and pollutant limits. That is not unexpected; it should be debated,
and disagreement should be expected. We all know that Trump won’t be there
forever and that future administrations are likely to be different. “Cleansing”
government agencies based on political affiliation is not a good idea. Part of
the reasoning behind the mass layoffs and firings is to get those of opposing
political affiliations out of the agencies. Many others and I believe that
career government servants are a strength to our country, and political
appointees are not. There is very little focus on bipartisan cooperation, which
is a damn shame. When a president believes and actively states over and over
that he hates those of the opposing party and that they “hate our country,” he
is being excessively divisive, and he is dead wrong. Those people do not hate
our country, and it is an egregious insult to say that they do. I believe that
the government should have a strong bipartisan component, and that is a
strength, not a weakness. Some dissent should be expected and, to some degree,
tolerated, especially by the current administration, which seems to be hellbent
on changing the government to its will in an unprecedented and extreme way. It
is not a smart approach, and there will be backlash.
I have heard Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth talk about getting “climate change crap” out of the U.S.
military, which has been deemed in a new study the largest single emitter of
greenhouse gases in the world. While I have argued strongly against climate
activism and overreach, there is a need to acknowledge and address climate
change issues in smart, science-based ways without partisanship. When the
government is keener to deregulate than the industries being regulated, that is
problematic. The industries know that political headwinds change, and the
likelihood is that the current deregulatory push will be temporary. I agree
with some of the Trump administration's moves of regulatory rollbacks, but I do
not agree with their wholesale approach to remake the government in Trump’s
image.
References:
EPA
suspends and investigates around 140 employees who signed a letter critical of
the agency. Elia Nilsen. CNN. July 3, 2025. EPA
suspends and investigates around 140 employees that signed a letter critical of
the agency | CNN
Stand
Up for Science: Join with us in supporting the EPA staff. Support EPA Staff Now!
— STAND UP FOR SCIENCE
“Put
Them in Trauma”: Inside a Key MAGA Leader’s Plans for a New Trump Agenda. Andy
Kroll ans Molly Redden. ProPublica. October 28. 2024. Videos
Reveal Trump Adviser’s “Shadow” Plan for Second Administration — ProPublica
EPA
places staffers who signed ‘dissent’ letter on leave. Rachel Frazin. The Hill.
July 3, 2025. EPA
probes Trump-era staff dissent letter
World's
biggest polluter is in the US, study finds. Nick Mordowanec. Newsweek. July 3,
2025. World's
biggest polluter is in the US, study finds
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