The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering reducing its workforce by over 1,000 employees, many of whom were hired under the Biden administration to focus on climate change, air pollution, and environmental regulations. Around 1,100 EPA staff members who joined the agency within the past year were recently notified via email that they could be terminated immediately due to their probationary status, according to information reviewed by the New York Times.
EPA spokeswoman Molly Vaseliou stated, “Our aim is to be open,” mentioning that the agency’s new administrator, Lee Zeldin, interacted with career staff members on his first day to gather their insights. The decision to dismiss probationary employees follows President Trump’s Office of Personnel Management’s directive for government employees to return to in-person work, with buyouts offered to those unwilling to comply. The move is intended to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government.
Critics have condemned the action, with some describing it as a retaliatory removal of public servants. Union representatives, such as Marie Owens-Powell from the American Federation of Government Employees, are exploring legal actions to challenge the dismissals. An email on Monday indicated that EPA staff were temporarily unable to access the internal network, affecting their ability to retrieve work-related documents.
Many EPA employees were assigned to clean energy projects funded through various laws, including President Biden’s climate legislation. The EPA had allocated approximately $27 billion in funds for greenhouse gas reduction projects as part of these initiatives.
The program was also notified of the possibility of termination. The Inflation Reduction Act allocated up to $369 billion for environmental projects, including grants for renewable energy companies and green tax credits. These tax credits could potentially cost US taxpayers up to $1.2 trillion over the next decade, as reported by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Marie Owens-Powell, who leads the American Federation of Government Employees chapter representing approximately 8,000 EPA employees, emphasized that even though the workers are on probationary status, they can still be terminated for just cause. During an interview with The Post, Zeldin mentioned that some of the funding designated for climate change initiatives also supported left-wing causes unrelated to environmental concerns. For instance, a $50 million grant was given to the Climate Justice Alliance, which advocates for a free Palestine in the context of climate justice. The EPA’s budget was slightly over $9 billion in the previous fiscal year, and it employed 15,130 workers, an increase from the 14,172 employees reported as of September 30, 2020. The EPA representatives did not provide an immediate response to a request for comment.
