Research & Developments is a blog for brief updates that provide context for the flurry of news regarding law and policy changes that impact science and scientists today.
A group of EPA scientists who signed an open letter voicing their dissent from Trump administration policies have been placed on administrative leave.
The letter, addressed to EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, was published 30 June.
As of Thursday afternoon, all 620 signatories are listed as anonymous. However, initially, more than 300 were identified as EPA staffers, and 170 of those staffers chose to be named, according to the Washington Post. Now, about 140 of them have been placed on administrative leave, according to The Hill, E&E News, The New York Times, and other outlets.
“The Environmental Protection Agency has a zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging and undercutting the administration’s agenda as voted for by the great people of this country last November,” wrote EPA press secretary, Brigit Hirsch, in a statement.
Related
• Declaration of Dissent
• EPA places staffers who signed ‘dissent’ letter on leave
• EPA puts 139 employees on leave who criticized administration
• E.P.A. Suspends 144 Employees After They Signed a Letter Criticizing Trump
• Roughly 140 EPA staffers who signed ‘dissent’ letter are put on leave
• Get Involved: AGU Science Policy Action Center
Marie Owens Powell, president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, EPA’s largest union, told E&E News that EPA’s actions were “disgraceful” and an “obvious retaliation for individuals expressing their beliefs. She added that the union is investigating its options for legal recourse.
As of Thursday afternoon, the letter also has 4,597 “supporters and endorsers” who had added their name to a running list. The letter outlines five primary concerns:
- That the EPA is undermining public trust by “promot[ing] misinformation and overtly partisan rhetoric.” The letter calls out the use of politicized terms such as “green slush funds” and “clean coal” in EPA messaging.
- That the EPA is ignoring scientific consensus to benefit polluters. The letter states that the “administration’s actions directly contradict EPA’s own scientific assessments on human health risks” related to mercury, asbestos, greenhouse gases, and PFAS.
- That the EPA is reversing previous progress made to protect vulnerable communities. The letter references environmental justice staffers being placed on leave earlier this year and billions of dollars of cancelled grants.
- That the EPA has dismantled the Office of Research and Development (ORD). The letter suggests that placing ORD scientists in regulatory program offices “will make EPA science more vulnerable to political interference” and that budget cuts will leave the office “unable to meet the science needs of the EPA and its partners and will threaten the health of all Americans.”
- That the EPA has promoted a culture of fear. The letter cites comments from private speeches, reported by ProPublica, in which Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought stated, “We want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can’t do all of the rules against our energy industry because they have no bandwidth financially to do so.” And, “We want to put them in trauma.”
—Emily Dieckman (@emfurd.bsky.social), Associate Editor
These updates are made possible through information from the scientific community. Do you have a story about how changes in law or policy are affecting scientists or research? Send us a tip at [email protected].
