{"id":5381,"date":"2025-07-05T01:04:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T08:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5381"},"modified":"2025-07-07T01:04:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T08:04:47","slug":"epa-puts-on-leave-139-employees-who-spoke-out-against-policies-under-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5381","title":{"rendered":"EPA puts on leave 139 employees who spoke out against policies under Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a \u201cdeclaration of dissent\u201d with its policies, accusing them of \u201cunlawfully undermining\u201d the Trump administration\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a letter made public Monday, the employees wrote that the agency 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 blowback for speaking out against a weakening of funding and federal support for climate, environmental and health science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement Thursday, the EPA said it has a \u201czero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging and undercutting\u201d the Trump administration\u2019s agenda.

Employees were notified that they had been placed in a \u201ctemporary, non-duty, paid status\u201d for the next two weeks, pending an \u201cadministrative investigation,\u201d according to a copy of the email obtained by The Associated Press. \u201cIt is important that you understand that this is not a disciplinary action,\u201d the email read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 170 EPA employees put their names to\u00a0the document<\/a>, with about 100 more signing anonymously out of fear of retaliation, according to Jeremy Berg, a former editor-in-chief of Science magazine who is not an EPA employee but was among non-EPA scientists or academics to also sign.

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health made a similar move in June<\/a>, when nearly 100 employees signed a declaration that assailed Trump administration \u201cpolicies that undermine the NIH mission, waste public resources<\/a>, and harm the health of Americans and people across the globe.\u201d An additional 250 of their colleagues endorsed the declaration without using their names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But no one at NIH has been placed on administrative leave for signing the declaration and there has been no known retribution against them, Jenna Norton, a lead organizer of the statement, told AP on Thursday. Norton oversees health disparity research at the agency\u2019s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, in his confirmation hearings, had pledged openness to views that might conflict with his own, saying dissent is the \u201cessence of science.\u201d

Under Administrator Lee Zeldin, EPA has cut funding for environmental improvements<\/a> in minority communities, vowed to roll back federal regulations that lower air pollution in national parks and tribal reservations<\/a>, wants to undo a ban on a type of asbestos<\/a> and proposed repealing rules that limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions<\/a> from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zeldin began reorganizing the EPA\u2019s research and development office<\/a> as part of his push to slash its budget and gut its study of climate change and environmental justice. And he\u2019s seeking to roll back pollution rules that an AP examination found were estimated to save 30,000 lives and $275 billion every year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EPA responded to the employees\u2019 letter earlier this week by saying policy decisions \u201care a result of a process where Administrator Zeldin is briefed on the latest research and science by EPA\u2019s career professionals, and the vast majority who are consummate professionals who take pride in the work this agency does day in and day out.\u201d

Reprinted from Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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