The Trump administration warns to more than 1,100 environmental protection Agency employees working on climate change, reducing air pollution, implementing environmental laws, and implementing programs that may be fired at any time. I am.
The e -mail reviewed by The New York Times was hired within the past year and sent to the staff who had a suspension of probation. Many of these employees were encouraged to participate in the EPA under the Biden administration to rebuild the depleted institution during the first term of Trump. Others are experienced federal workers who have taken new tasks in the institution.
Many were hired to work on programs created by Congress through recent two laws. The community supports the replacement of lead pipes, providing funds to a clean energy project aimed at reducing the amount of toxic site and the heat -effect gas emissions that heat the planet.
“As an employee during the probation/trial period, the institution has the right to end you,” an email.
“Our goal is transparent,” said Molly Vaseliou, an EPA spokeswoman. However, she refused to answer questions about e -mail, but if the new administrator Lee Zeldin is intended to end employees, for that reason.
“On the first day of inauguration, he was directly involved with his career staff at the EPA headquarters headquarters, which straddles two city blocks in DC downtown. Creating a federal government.
At 9:21 am on Monday, EPA employees received another email notifying that the entire agency had no intranettes. Without an internal agency network, employees will not be able to access documents and other information required for work.
The e -mail from the EPA Mission Support Office states that “access to work.epa.gov is not currently available” is written, and technical specialists are working on solving problems. It was not clear that the stop was related to efforts to reduce labor.
When asked about email, Mr. Vasio said, “There was a stop.”
The other federal agencies have been instructed by the Human Resources Management Bureau to submit a list of perfection employees, but it seems that EPA workers may be immediately rejected. is.
The leaders of the United States Government Federation represented the union members of the EPA employee, which was called a clear attempt to hinder the disliked institution. Through the EPA, the Biden administration has developed aggressive regulations to suppress pollution that warms planets from power plants, automobiles, oil and gas wells.
“The EPA is in the center of Bulls Eye for Vindictive Purge, a public servant of Trump,” said Michel Ruth, an executive director of the environmental protection network, an agency graduate group.
She called it “the most mixed OTIC in the history of the Environmental Protection Agency, Vindict.”
Two EPA employees who received the e -mail resigned by reconsidering the Trump administration's offer to the federal government employees, but paid until the end of September. Employees who talked on an anonymous condition were worried about being fired, and said they first rejected the offer.
The fact that their jobs were particularly unstable, both of which, that they were reconsidering their options.
According to Marie Owens Powell, the chairman of the government's leading government employee federation, which represents about 8,000 EPA workers, it is thought that it is easy to fire because of the protection of public servants. , The rules still exist.
“There must be a cause. You are a Democratic member, and it's the Republican government,” said Owens Powell. The union has consulted a lawyer about whether the government can dismiss workers based on a simple declaration of changes in institutional priority.
Owens Powell stated that the Trump administration has arranged about 15 EPA employees who are working on administrative leave diversity, fairness, and comprehensive efforts. She said that the next target was a program that supported the targeted or uneven amount of unbalanced atmosphere and the alienated community suffering from water pollution.
According to the agency, the EPA staff peaked between the George W Bush administration in 2004 and had 17,611 employees. These levels had a slight decline and flowed, but they began to be sharpened between the Obama administration during the Republican ruling of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
When Trump entered the White House in 2017, the EPA had 15,408 employees. In the following year, the number has decreased to 14,172 due to political appointments overturned regulations, concluded scientists from decision -making, and reduced the budget of institutions.
The Biden administration tried to reverse these losses. The institution is currently employing about 15,130 people nationwide and is slightly higher than when the Ronal Dragan was the president.