EPA Employees Object to Trump's Policies

Around 200 employees of the Environmental Protection Agency have signed a declaration of dissent detailing their opposition to President Trump's policies and the dangers they see in his actions. Retired employees and scientists and academics who don't work for the agency, including 20 Nobel laureates, also signed the document published on Monday. "Since the Agency's founding in 1970, [the] EPA has accomplished [its] mission by leveraging science, funding, and expert staff in service to the American people," says the letter sent to Administrator Lee Zeldin, per the AP. "Today, we stand together in dissent against the current administration's focus on harmful deregulation, mischaracterization of previous EPA actions, and disregard for scientific expertise."

The group focused on five administration practices: undermining public trust, ignoring scientific consensus to the benefit of polluters, reversing the progress the agency has made in vulnerable communities, dismantling the Office of Research and Development, and promoting a culture of fear in the EPA. The letter also calls out rollbacks to environmental protections, elimination of environmental justice programs that fought pollution in underserved areas, moving scientists around in a reorg, and firing employees, the Hill reports. "Administrator Zeldin, we urge you to honor your oath and serve the American people," the letter says.

The agency answered with a statement saying, "Policy decisions are a result of a process where Administrator Zeldin is briefed on the latest research and science by EPA's career professionals, and the vast majority who are consummate professionals who take pride in the work this agency does." The employees also expressed personal disillusionment, per the AP. "I'm really sad," said Amelia Hertzberg, an environmental protection specialist on leave while the administration is closing down her department. "This agency that was a superhero for me in my youth, we're not living up to our ideals under this administration. And I really want us to."