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In a statement<\/span> last month on its first 100 days under President Donald Trump, the Environmental Protection Agency celebrated<\/a> 100 achievements.<\/p>\n EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the agency had taken \u201csignificant actions\u201d to protect public health and the environment while working \u201cto Power the Great American Comeback.\u201d The agency said it was also working to fulfill Trump\u2019s promises to revitalize the auto industry, \u201crestore the rule of law,\u201d and give decision-making power back to the states.<\/p>\n The EPA, the bosses were claiming, was succeeding in its mission of protecting human health and the environment.<\/p>\n In practice, the agency has done the opposite, several EPA staffers told The Intercept.<\/p>\n Environmental advocates and experts have criticized the administration for an \u201call-out assault<\/a>\u201d on the environment. Now, EPA staffers are speaking out in the wake of staff cuts and the gutting of a spate of programs to remove lead from drinking water, support rural wastewater treatment, and address racial disparities<\/a> in environmental pollution<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAmericans are going to be less healthy. And frankly the EPA is going to be less efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cThe mission of the EPA has been shifted,\u201d said Amelia Hertzberg, an environmental protection specialist at the EPA.<\/p>\n \u201cAmericans are going to be less healthy. And frankly the EPA is going to be less efficient,\u201d Hertzberg said. \u201cIf you\u2019re less efficient, you\u2019re wasting money. It\u2019s working at cross-purposes with their stated goals.\u201d<\/p>\n An EPA spokesperson disputed staffers\u2019 characterization of its efforts to cut staff and weaken programs.<\/p>\n \u201cAt EPA, we are doing our part to Power the Great American Comeback, and we are proud of our work to advance the agency\u2019s core mission of protecting human health and the environment every day since January 20,\u201d EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou said in a statement to The Intercept.<\/p>\n Under Zeldin\u2019s leadership, the EPA announced a set of new <\/a>core priorities<\/a> that includes making the U.S. the artificial intelligence capital of the world and revitalizing the auto industry.<\/p>\n Staffers are concerned that instead of making communities healthier, under Trump the agency is now focused on serving industry, said Ellie Hagen, an environmental scientist at the EPA\u2019s Environmental Justice, Community Health, and Environmental Review division.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear how the EPA is supposed to serve those goals, said Hagen said, whose job is being terminated in July and was speaking on behalf of her local union, American Federation of Government Employees Local 704.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re coming out with these pillars of serving the auto industry and bringing back auto industry jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cA lot of us are really confused about what our new mission is, when they\u2019re coming out with these pillars of serving the auto industry and bringing back auto industry jobs,\u201d Hagen said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how we fit into that.\u201d<\/p>\n The EPA\u2019s role is not to create jobs; it\u2019s to regulate and protect people from pollution, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cOur mission is not to promote AI or energy dominance,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s not our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n The EPA has said it is aiming to cut the agency\u2019s budget by 65 percent and bring staffing levels to Reagan-era levels<\/a>. As part of Trump\u2019s efforts to gut the federal workforce<\/a> under the auspices of government efficiency<\/a>, the Office of Personnel Management sent the first round of deferred resignation offers<\/a> to federal employees in January. More than 540 EPA staffers took those deferred resignations, which were open until early February.<\/p>\n Nine more employees were subject to a reduction in force as of May 7, according to a statement\u00a0to The Intercept from the EPA press office; 280 employees in diversity, equity, and inclusion and environmental justice programs were notified last month that they were part of staffing cuts.<\/p>\n As of last week, more than 1,500 staffers applied for deferred resignation and a \u201cvoluntary early retirement\u201d program.<\/p>\n The day the resignation offers were sent out, EPA staff also received notice of agency reforms including return to office and \u201cenhanced standards of conduct,\u201d including \u201cloyalty.\u201d The EPA <\/a>reopened<\/a> its deferred resignation program last month.<\/p>\n Last week, the agency said it is planning to dissolve the Office of Research and Development, which does life-saving research on toxicity and developing sampling protocols, and helped in emergencies after the East Palestine<\/a> train derailment<\/a> in Ohio and the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n As a result, more than 1,500 scientists will have to compete for 300 jobs, Hagen said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s essentially like lobotomizing our agency. If we don\u2019t have the brain \u2014 the research behind protecting the environment \u2014 we can\u2019t do that effectively, and I think that\u2019s exactly what they want,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re doing all this under the guise of efficiency, but what they really are doing is dismantling this agency from doing its job.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re doing all this under the guise of efficiency, but what they really are doing is dismantling this agency from doing its job.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n\n
\u201cNot Our Mission\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Deep Cuts<\/h2>\n
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