EPA Fires 5 Employees Who Signed ‘Dissent’ Letter

EPA Fires ‘Dissent’ Statement Signers

By Dan Vergano edited by Jeanna Bryner

The Environmental Protection Agency fired five agency employees who had openly signed a June declaration critical of the Trump administration’s weakening of pollution, climate and health safety rules. Four more were served removal notices by the agency.

“EPA supervisors made decisions on an individualized basis,” following investigations, according to an agency statement released on Friday, first reported by the Washington Post.

In the June “Declaration of Dissent,” hundreds of Environmental Protection Agency employees had decried the administration’s moves to “undermine the EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment.” Their complaints ranged from EPA ignoring science to “benefit polluters” to the agency dismantling initiatives aimed at protecting disadvantaged communities. Most EPA employees signed anonymously for fear of the type of retribution now seen in the Friday firings, which were widely anticipated after the agency moved to cancel employee bargaining and grievance rights agreements earlier in August. The employees had previously been placed on paid leave after the letter’s release by the agency. This employment limbo was extended three times while they were under investigation for preparing the declaration during work hours, since extended into September for many of the remaining signatories.

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“The Administration is blatantly lying about the sourced facts of our dissent letter, and are now blatantly retaliating and infringing on our constitutional rights.,” says Michael Pasqua, an EPA employee who helps manage the safety of drinking water in Wisconsin and a signatory of the declaration.

During the first Trump administration—noted for the scandal-ridden tenure of Scott Pruitt as the EPA’s administrator between late February 2017 and early July 2018—the agency rolled back more than 100 environmental rules. Now that Trump has returned to office, the administration has moved to cut back federal solar and wind power initiatives, as well as more environmental rules. Across science agencies, the administration has fired employees and advisory panel members, stopped grants and issued policies at odds with scientific findings. In July Zeldin moved to revoke the “endangerment” finding that serves as the linchpin for U.S. climate regulation under a 2007 Supreme Court decision.

In response to such moves across science agencies, hundreds of EPA, NASA, National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation staffers have signed on to public letters of dissent, rare rebukes from traditionally reticent federal employees. The letters follow the administration moving to remove tens of thousands of federal employees from agencies. In February Trump mistakenly said during a cabinet meeting that the EPA would likely cut 65 percent of its staff because “a lot of people weren’t doing their job.” (White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers later corrected Trump to clarify that the agency was planning to cut 65 percent of its spending.)

More recently, in August, Federal Emergency Management Agency staffers released a “Katrina Declaration,” raising the alarm to Congress about spending restrictions, cuts to disaster prevention programs and “censorship” of climate and environmental science at the agency. Those moves all raised the chances of a disaster like 2005’s Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, which took an estimated 1,833 lives, they wrote. In response, FEMA placed 36 nonanonymous signatories on administrative leave, similar to what the EPA has done, raising concerns of firings similar to those now hitting environmental agency signatories.

“This is a betrayal of our nation’s most dedicated members of society—we all want clear air and water for ourselves and our families,” said Colette Delawalla of the advocacy group, Stand Up for Science, in a statement. “Whistleblowing is protected by law and these individuals have done nothing wrong.”

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