Philadelphia-based U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employees rallied Wednesday in support of nearly 140 colleagues who have been suspended for criticizing President Donald Trump’s administration.
EPA leadership, headed by administrator Lee Zeldin, placed the workers on “administrative leave” last week after a “declaration of dissent” was published accusing the administration of instituting policies that undermine the agency’s mission.
The letter outlines a number of concerns, including “the current administration’s focus on harmful deregulation, mischaracterization of previous EPA actions, and disregard for scientific expertise.”
At least seven employees from EPA Region 3, headquartered in Center City, were impacted, said leaders from Local 3631 of the American Federation of Government Employees. Staff placed on leave were escorted out of the building during the workday, according to the union.
Hundreds of EPA employees are based in Philadelphia, where they oversee initiatives covering Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia and West Virginia.
Brigit Hirsh, the agency’s press secretary, told the New York Times that the EPA “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.”
Employees gathered on their lunchbreak Wednesday to speak out against what they see as a growing culture of retaliation and politicalization.
“I feel like this administration is unpredictable in the way that they act,” Lorenzo Choudhary-Smith, Local 3631’s vice president, told Metro. “I feel that they are retaliatory against employees who choose to exercise their rights.”
“You’re not going to be able to hide,” he added. “They’re going to come for you in whatever capacity they can if you get in their way, and that’s what happened here.”
Hannah Sanders, an EPA scientist and union official, said the administration has “weaponized” administrative leave, using it to target those working on environmental justice projects and probationary employees.
Suspended staffers are receiving their full salary and will be out for at least two weeks. “There’s a lot of meaningful work that is put on hold while this retaliatory farce plays itself out,” Local 3631 President Brad Starnes added.
Starnes had been a federal worker since 1988 and recently left as part of the government’s deferred retirement program. He said employees have always been permitted to raise concerns in a respective manner; he considers the letter to be an appropriate avenue.
“The politicization of the federal workforce in the way it exists now is something I have never seen,” Starnes told Metro. “The rhetoric that comes from Lee Zeldin to the workforce, in his name, is unbelievable.”
Activism around the direction of the EPA has increased since Trump returned to the White House in January. Last month, environmental groups accused Zeldin of “gutting” the agency, and, in March, employees marched around City Hall in opposition to spending cuts.
