EPA fires employees who publicly criticized agency policies under Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday fired at least eight employees who signed a letter criticizing the agency’s leadership under Administrator Lee Zeldin and President Donald Trump.

“Following a thorough internal investigation, EPA supervisors made decisions on an individualized basis,” an EPA spokeswoman said Friday in a statement.

The so-called declaration of dissent, signed by more than 170 employees in late June, “contains inaccurate information designed to mislead the public about agency business,” spokeswoman Molly Vaseliou said. “Thankfully, this represents a small fraction of the thousands of hard-working, dedicated EPA employees who are not trying to mislead and scare the American public.”

The EPA “has a zero-tolerance policy for career officials using their agency position and title to unlawfully undermine, sabotage and undercut the will of the American public that was clearly expressed at the ballot box last November,” she added.

Vaseliou declined to say how many employees were disciplined, but the head of one of the agency’s largest unions said at least six probationary employees who signed the letter were fired, along with at least two career employees.

The union, part of the American Federation of Government Employees, condemned the firings, which come after 139 workers were put on administrative leave shortly after signing the dissent declaration. The EPA at the time accused employees of “unlawfully undermining” the Trump administration’s agenda.

“The Trump administration and EPA’s retaliatory actions against these workers was clearly an assault on labor and free-speech rights,” said Justin Chen, president of AFGE Council 238, which represents thousands of EPA employees.

More than 150 workers who were disciplined — up to and including being fired — included scientists, engineers, lawyers, contract officers, emergency response personnel “and a whole host of other jobs,” Chen told the Associated Press. “They live and work in communities around the country, and all believe in the mission of the agency to protect human health and the environment on behalf of the American public.”

In a letter made public June 30, the employees wrote that the EPA is no longer living up to its mission to protect human health and the environment. The letter represented rare public criticism from agency employees who knew they could face retaliation for speaking out against a weakening of funding and federal support for climate, environmental and health science.

Employees at other agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and Federal Emergency Management Agency, have issued similar statements. Some FEMA employees who signed a public letter of dissent earlier this week were put on administrative leave Tuesday, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

More than 180 current and former FEMA employees signed the letter made public Monday. The statement criticizes recent cuts to agency staff and programs and warns that FEMA’s capacity to respond to a major disaster is dangerously diminished.

The EPA said last month it is eliminating its research and development arm and reducing agency staff by thousands of employees. Officials expect total staffing to go down to about 12,500, a reduction of more than 3,700 employees, or nearly 23%, from staffing levels when Trump took office in January.