EPA Puts 139 Employees Who Spoke Out Against Trump Policies On Leave

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has placed 139 employees on administrative leave after they signed a “declaration of dissent” opposing Trump administration policies, accusing them of “unlawfully undermining” its agenda, Melina Walling reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The EPA said it maintains a “zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting” the administration’s agenda. I Photo: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Facebook

In a letter made public Monday, the employees wrote that the agency is no longer fulfilling its mission to protect human health and the environment.

The letter represented a rare and public act of defiance from inside the agency, with employees risking retaliation for opposing cuts to funding and federal support for climate, environmental, and health science.

In a statement, the EPA said it maintains a “zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting” the administration’s agenda.

The employees were informed that they had been placed in a “temporary, non-duty, paid status” for two weeks, pending an “administrative investigation,” according to an email obtained by AP.

“This is not a disciplinary action,” the email clarified.

More than 170 EPA employees signed the letter, with approximately 100 additional signatures submitted anonymously due to fear of retaliation, according to Jeremy Berg, a former editor-in-chief of Science magazine, who was among the non-EPA scientists and academics also endorsing the declaration.