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E.P.A. WORKERS WARN TRUMP IS POLITICIZING THEIR WORK  
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Maxine Joselow
June 30, 2025
The New York Times
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_ In a public letter, employees of the Environmental Protection
Agency accused the administration of engaging in unlawful partisan
activity and endangering public health. _

The top complaint of the letter, addressed to the E.P.A.
administrator Lee Zeldin, was that decisions had been made based on a
political agenda, not on science and the law., Kenny Holston/The New
York Times

 

More than 270 employees of the Environmental Protection Agency signed
a letter on Monday denouncing what they described as the Trump
administration’s efforts to politicize, dismantle and sideline the
main federal agency tasked with protecting the environment and public
health.

The letter [[link removed]] to
President Trump’s E.P.A. administrator, Lee Zeldin
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a remarkable rebuke of the agency’s political leadership. It
followed a similar missive sent this month
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by more than 60 employees of the National Institutes of Health, who
criticized orders they saw as illegal and unethical.

“E.P.A. employees join in solidarity with employees across the
federal government in opposing this administration’s policies,
including those that undermine the E.P.A. mission of protecting human
health and the environment,” the E.P.A. workers wrote.

Asked for comment, E.P.A. spokeswoman Carolyn Holran wrote in an
email: “The Trump E.P.A. will continue to work with states, tribes
and communities to advance the agency’s core mission of protecting
human health and the environment and Administrator Zeldin’s Powering
the Great American Comeback Initiative, which includes providing clean
air, land and water for EVERY American.”

 

The four-page document outlined five overarching concerns with the
Trump administration’s approach to the E.P.A. The top complaint was
that decisions had been made based on a political agenda, not on
science and the law.

 

Recent E.P.A. news releases and newsletters have parroted some of Mr.
Trump’s rhetoric on the environment, the letter said. For example,
these materials have praised coal as “beautiful” and “clean.”
Coal is the dirtiest of the fossil fuels and is a significant source
of greenhouse gases. Statements from the E.P.A. have also routinely
referred to climate grants issued under the Biden administration as a
“green slush fund,” when there has been no evidence they were used
for illicit purposes.

“I’ve never seen this kind of partisanship, even in the first
Trump administration,” said Justin Chen, an environmental engineer
in the E.P.A.’s Dallas-based Region 6 office who signed the letter.
Mr. Chen emphasized that he was speaking in his personal capacity and
not on behalf of his E.P.A. office.

In response to these allegations, Ms. Holran said the agency was
“bound by laws established by Congress.”

The letter also criticized the proposed elimination of some E.P.A.
divisions. For instance, Trump officials are considering shuttering
the agency’s scientific research arm
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and firing as many as 1,155 of its chemists, biologists, toxicologists
and other scientists.

The E.P.A. has already closed its environmental justice offices
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which sought to help poor and minority communities that face
disproportionate amounts of pollution. And since January, more than
1,400 E.P.A. employees have decided to leave the agency through early
retirement or deferred resignation programs.

In addition, the letter aired concerns about Mr. Zeldin’s plans to
repeal dozens of the nation’s most significant environmental rules
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including limits on pollution from cars and power plants, protections
for wetlands, and the scientific finding that allows the E.P.A. to
regulate the greenhouse gases that are heating the planet.

The letter was organized by Stand Up for Science, a group that planned
a March rally in Washington to protest the Trump administration’s
steep cuts to federally funded scientific research. Of the 278 E.P.A.
employee who signed the letter, 173 signed their names, while 105
signed anonymously for fear of retaliation.

“In Trump’s America, it is a brave thing to speak out in this
way,” said Colette Delawalla, the founder and executive director of
Stand Up for Science and a graduate student in psychology at Emory
University.

“We have E.P.A. employees who are signing their full names, their
offices, their regions, all of that,” Ms. Delawalla continued.
“These are people who feel that this is so important that they’re
willing to risk their careers to make sure that this information gets
out to the public.”

 

Concerns about politicization at the E.P.A. have been building in
recent weeks. Last week, a union representing E.P.A. staff members
accused agency leaders of violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits
federal employees from engaging in political activities while they are
on the job.

 

According to the complaint from the union, the American Federation of
Government Employees Local 704, a weekly newsletter sent by Mr.
Zeldin’s office violated the law by attacking Democratic lawmakers.

“Congressional Democrats are big mad because the Trump
Administration is cutting off their gravy train,” said the
newsletter’s May 30 edition.

An E.P.A. spokeswoman, Brigit Hirsch, said in an email that the
director of the agency’s Ethics Office, Justina Fugh, had reviewed
the newsletter and determined that it complied with the Hatch Act.

“Not surprised to see the New York Times getting caught up in
another wild goose chase,” Ms. Hirsch said. “Each week, E.P.A.
solicits career employees’ input while putting together the
newsletter. Administrator Zeldin will never apologize for defending
taxpayer dollars and listening to the will of the American people.”

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Maxine Joselow [[link removed]] reports on
climate policy for The Times.

* Environmental Protection Agency; E.P.A. Employees; Lee Zelden;
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