\u201cWe\u2019re here today because me and a bunch of my friends signed a letter to our boss,\u201d said Harper Stanfield, vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3911. \u201cHe didn\u2019t like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stanfield works at the Environmental Protection Agency, and he was one of more than 600 EPA employees who signed the aforementioned letter<\/a>, demanding that EPA administrator Lee Zeldin \u201cstop undermining EPA and \u2026 affirm his oath and his commitment to EPA\u2019s mission.\u201d As a result, 139 of Stanfield\u2019s colleagues were placed on paid administrative leave, and the EPA launched an internal investigation, alleging they signed the \u201cdeclaration of dissent\u201d letter using their official job titles. (Elected union officials were not placed on leave, and some of the signatories were already on leave at the time.)<\/p>\n Current and former EPA employees joined organized labor and allies at Foley Square in Manhattan last Wednesday for a rally condemning the agency\u2019s actions. Protesters demanded the EPA reinstate its workers and stop undermining the agency\u2019s core mission of protecting human health and the environment. AFGE has also sent a letter<\/a> to Zeldin characterizing the action as violating First Amendment rights by punishing employees for protected speech.<\/p>\n More from James Baratta<\/a><\/p>\n The administrative leave will remain in effect through July 17<\/a>, but it may be extended if additional time is needed to conduct the investigation, which Stanfield\u2014a Region 2<\/a> EPA employee\u2014described as \u201can act of political retaliation that we will not allow.\u201d No labor grievance has yet been filed; individual harm is difficult to decipher under federal labor law, given that the employees are on paid leave.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the EPA told the Prospect that \u201cthe Environmental Protection Agency has a zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the administration\u2019s agenda as voted for by the great people of this country last November.\u201d The EPA also claimed the letter includes misleading information about \u201cagency business.\u201d However, the spokesperson did not respond to a follow-up inquiry into the basis for this claim.<\/p>\n According to sources familiar with the matter, the agency\u2019s investigation is focused on whether the employees signed the letter during official work hours. Although some workers signed the declaration of dissent using their official EPA titles and names, others added their signatures anonymously. Sources told the Prospect that the agency traced the IP addresses of the anonymous signatories to identify them, but since the EPA has limited its comments on the matter to a manicured statement (which it seems to have shared with every news outlet reaching out for further information on the investigation), it\u2019s hard to know if that claim holds any water.<\/p>\n WHEN RICHARD M. NIXON CREATED THE EPA in 1970 and George H.W. Bush overhauled federal environmental protection in the 1980s, it seemed like the GOP cared about the environment. Even Donald Trump called for \u201cclean air, clean water, and jobs<\/a>\u201d on the campaign trail. But the days of Republicans heeding the wise words of Woodsy Owl\u2014\u201cGive a hoot, don\u2019t pollute\u201d\u2014are long gone.<\/p>\n Zeldin\u2019s EPA leadership has been characterized by a rejection of scientific consensus, curtailment of climate and pollution enforcement, deliberate attacks on environmental justice, personnel losses, and deregulation. In March, the EPA teamed up with Elon Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and terminated billions of dollars in grants<\/a> for energy efficiency upgrades and environmental justice initiatives. Zeldin, a former House member from New York, also attempted to cancel approximately $20 billion in grants awarded through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a green bank established under the Inflation Reduction Act for clean energy and climate-focused projects, but a federal judge blocked the decision<\/a> in April.<\/p>\n Among the \u201c31 historic actions<\/a>\u201d initiated by Zeldin\u2019s EPA is \u201creconsidering\u201d the scientific and legal foundation for carbon regulation, which he described<\/a> as \u201cthe holy grail of the climate change religion.\u201d In 2009, the EPA determined that carbon dioxide, methane, and four other greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health by contributing to climate change. The so-called endangerment finding is rooted in a body of peer-reviewed research on the climate crisis, and it triggered the agency\u2019s legal obligation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. Eliminating the endangerment finding would take the EPA out of the climate change battle almost entirely.<\/p>\n Zeldin\u2019s EPA leadership has been characterized by a rejection of scientific consensus, curtailment of climate and pollution enforcement, deliberate attacks on environmental justice, personnel losses, and deregulation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Unfortunately for Zeldin, the EPA lacks the authority to unilaterally upend the endangerment finding. According to E&E News<\/a>, the agency must replace the scientific advisory boards it disbanded, gather input from the new board members, solicit public comment, and respond to that feedback \u201cbefore finalizing the new finding\u2014a year\u2019s work, at least.\u201d<\/p>\n Another example of Zeldin\u2019s EPA leadership concerns the legally enforceable limit of substances allowed in public drinking water. The EPA is primarily responsible for enforcing maximum contaminant level (MCL) standards, which apply to municipal water systems under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Zeldin maintained these obligations, but \u201cmaintained\u201d is doing all the heavy lifting in this sentence because he extended the deadline<\/a> for enforcing them by two years in May. At the time, he also announced plans to rescind MCL standards for four forever chemicals, all of which are linked to cancer, liver and kidney disease, thyroid problems, and developmental issues.<\/p>\n For a guy who said<\/a> the EPA\u2019s mission is to \u201clower the cost of buying a car, heating a home and running a business,\u201d rolling back regulations that keep people safe and protect the environment certainly tracks.<\/p>\n ZELDIN APPEARS TO BE FAST-TRACKING the destruction of the EPA\u2019s scientific foundation by wreaking havoc on the scientists themselves. He\u2019s keen on cutting over a thousand of them loose<\/a> as part of his plan to dismantle the EPA\u2019s Office of Research and Development. In essence, the office serves as the brains of the agency\u2019s operations, so reassigning R&D scientists to program offices \u201cwill make EPA science more vulnerable to political interference,\u201d per the declaration of dissent.<\/p>\n \u201cThe folks I met at EPA could have had jobs anywhere. They are smart, they\u2019re dedicated, and they brought years of experience in science and other fields, but they sacrifice to serve us all,\u201d said Marianne Engelman Lado, former deputy general counsel for environmental initiatives at the EPA under the Biden administration. \u201cThis administration makes the ridiculous claim that it\u2019s supposedly slashing the workforce because of waste, fraud, and abuse \u2026 What is more wasteful than taking highly trained scientists and having them sit at home?\u201d<\/p>\n Roughly two weeks after the Senate confirmed Zeldin to run the agency, he went ahead and laid off nearly 400 probationary employees<\/a>\u2014largely consisting of those with less than a year on the job\u2014as part of a broader effort by the Office of Personnel Management and DOGE to fire probationary employees across the federal government. Many federal agencies, including the EPA, muscled fearful workers into either the deferred resignation program (DRP) or voluntary early retirement (VERA). For its part, DRP moved participating employees to administrative leave, allowing them to retain benefits through the end of September. The EPA initially launched its own DRP and reopened it in April<\/a>, pairing the offering with early-retirement options. In total, more than 3,000 EPA employees\u2014approximately 20 percent of the agency\u2019s workforce<\/a>\u2014had opted into DRP or early retirement by May.<\/p>\n For the 2026 fiscal year, Zeldin has proposed a \u201cskinny budget<\/a>\u201d for the EPA, reducing the previous fiscal year\u2019s allocation by 54 percent, a $5 billion cut that would represent the largest in the agency\u2019s history. At a May 14 Senate Appropriations Interior Subcommittee hearing, he defended his plans. The proposed budget, Zeldin said, was the \u201cresult of a lot of conversation\u2014a lot of thoughtful conversation,\u201d though it is unclear who exactly he had those conversations with. Moreover, when Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, asked if he had consulted with any states on his budget request for the agency, particularly the hundreds of millions of dollars in additional grants<\/a> he intends to terminate, Zeldin did not offer specifics.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I will say: My state and many of the states said this would be devastating, and states cannot shoulder this burden,\u201d said Sen. Murray. \u201cAnd I look forward to working with this committee to\u2014as we\u2019ve done before, in a bipartisan way\u2014make sure that we fund these programs.\u201d<\/p>\n Zeldin\u2019s skinny budget also proposes the elimination of 1,274 full-time equivalent positions. Somehow, he expects the agency to continue upholding its statutory obligations, which many\u2014including Sen. Murray\u2014have cast doubt on.<\/p>\n \u201cOur budget is looking pretty bleak for next fiscal year,\u201d Suzanne Englot, president of AFGE Local 3911 and attorney-advisor at the EPA, told the Prospect. \u201cWe haven\u2019t fully understood or been able to grasp what the impacts of that are going to be, but \u2026 it\u2019s really devastating to the work of the agency.\u201d<\/p>\n Moreover, given that the Supreme Court handed down an 8-to-1 ruling on July 8 allowing the Trump administration to proceed with mass reductions in force (RIFs) across federal agencies, Zeldin has the power to implode the EPA at any time.<\/p>\n The vilification of federal workers at the EPA and beyond has had a chilling effect on the government\u2019s workforce. According to AFGE Local 1003 president Justin Chen, simply signing a letter \u201cis clearly not insubordination.\u201d Chen, an environmental engineer at the EPA, told the Prospect the Trump administration \u201cshould be ashamed\u201d for penalizing people \u201cwho should be lauded as heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe way civil servants have been fired is morally unfair,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are incredibly intelligent people [who] came to the agency because they believe in the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019re here today because me and a bunch of my friends signed a letter to our boss,\u201d said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[19252,4869,9556,12,19248,192,16407,19250,2421,19251,1929,19249,111,79,7126],"class_list":["post-21198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-afge","tag-climate-crisis","tag-doge","tag-donald-trump","tag-energy-the-environment","tag-environment","tag-epa","tag-federal-employees","tag-federal-government","tag-james-baratta","tag-labor","tag-lee-zeldin","tag-politics","tag-science","tag-unions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}