“Intense Culture of Fear”: Behind the Scenes as Trump Destroys the EPA From Within

In a message last month on its first days under President Donald Trump the Environmental Protection Agency celebrated achievements EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin noted the agency had taken crucial actions to protect citizens vitality and the milieu while working to Power the Great American Comeback The agency disclosed it was also working to fulfill Trump s promises to revitalize the auto industry restore the rule of law and give decision-making power back to the states The EPA the bosses were claiming was succeeding in its mission of protecting human wellness and the conditions In practice the agency has done the opposite several EPA staffers explained The Intercept Environmental advocates and experts have criticized the administration for an all-out assault on the ecosystem 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 aid rural wastewater medication and address racial disparities in environmental toxicity Americans are going to be less healthy And frankly the EPA is going to be less efficient The mission of the EPA has been shifted reported Amelia Hertzberg an environmental protection specialist at the EPA Americans are going to be less healthy And frankly the EPA is going to be less efficient Hertzberg explained If you re less efficient you re wasting money It s working at cross-purposes with their stated goals An EPA spokesperson disputed staffers characterization of its efforts to cut staff and weaken programs At EPA we are doing our part to Power the Great American Comeback and we are proud of our work to advance the agency s core mission of protecting human vitality and the setting every day since January EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou mentioned in a message to The Intercept Not Our Mission Under Zeldin s leadership the EPA publicized a set of new core priorities that includes making the U S the artificial intelligence capital of the world and revitalizing the auto industry Staffers are concerned that instead of making communities healthier under Trump the agency is now focused on serving industry noted Ellie Hagen an environmental scientist at the EPA s Environmental Justice Society Fitness and Environmental Review division It s not clear how the EPA is supposed to serve those goals revealed Hagen disclosed whose job is being terminated in July and was speaking on behalf of her local union American Federation of Executive Employees Local They re coming out with these pillars of serving the auto industry and bringing back auto industry jobs A lot of us are really confused about what our new mission is when they re coming out with these pillars of serving the auto industry and bringing back auto industry jobs Hagen stated I don t know how we fit into that The EPA s role is not to create jobs it s to regulate and protect people from poisoning she explained Our mission is not to promote AI or potential dominance she revealed That s not our mission Deep Cuts The EPA has stated it is aiming to cut the agency s budget by percent and bring staffing levels to Reagan-era levels As part of Trump s efforts to gut the federal workforce under the auspices of regime efficiency the Office of Personnel Management sent the first round of deferred resignation offers to federal employees in January More than EPA staffers took those deferred resignations which were open until early February Nine more employees were subject to a reduction in force as of May according to a comment to The Intercept from the EPA press office employees in diversity equity and inclusion and environmental justice programs were notified last month that they were part of staffing cuts Related Trump EPA s Next Move Making It Harder to Sue for Getting Cancer from Roundup As of last week more than staffers applied for deferred resignation and a voluntary early retirement operation The day the resignation offers were sent out EPA staff also received notice of agency reforms including return to office and enhanced standards of conduct including loyalty The EPA reopened its deferred resignation project last month Last week the agency explained it is planning to dissolve the Office of Research and Maturation which does life-saving research on toxicity and progressing sampling protocols and helped in emergencies after the East Palestine train derailment in Ohio and the Covid- pandemic As a development more than scientists will have to compete for jobs Hagen reported It s essentially like lobotomizing our agency If we don t have the brain the research behind protecting the setting we can t do that effectively and I think that s exactly what they want she revealed They re doing all this under the guise of efficiency but what they really are doing is dismantling this agency from doing its job They re doing all this under the guise of efficiency but what they really are doing is dismantling this agency from doing its job The EPA declared in March that it was ending its Environmental Justice Plan and the agency s DEI Arms A limited weeks later the day before Earth Day Hagen received notice that her tenured position was being terminated and that she would be removed no later than July They did it on the eve of Earth Day to send a message she mentioned They re showing that they don t feel the environmental justice effort staff are loyal to this administration They think what we stand for is different than what this administration stands for So they re making an example out of us The agency explained the term environmental justice had been used to advance left-wing politics As Administrator Zeldin has repeatedly stressed environmental justice has been used primarily as an excuse to fund left-wing activist groups instead of definitely spending those dollars on directly remediating the specific environmental issues that need to be addressed the EPA press office mentioned The staffing cuts and resignation offers have had their intended effect Hagen noted to scare career federal employees and push them out of the agency They re creating such an intense values of fear that I think they re pushing a lot of people in that direction she reported Fewer people took deferred resignations in the first round because there was confusion around what direction the EPA was headed in But Hagen expects countless more to take the next round after leaders made clear they were perfectly shifting the agency s agenda Based on the mood in the office and hearing from my colleagues I never thought would leave the EPA she noted I think a lot of people are going to take it just because of how scared and traumatized we all have been over the past days Related Trump s EPA Kills Grant to Conditions Nonprofit Over Its Endorsement for Palestine Another EPA staffer who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their livelihood revealed they feared for their future after being placed on administrative leave in February for their work in the Environmental Justice Scheme I m a military spouse who worked to better protect all including those most of vulnerable and least protected from harmful exposures to chemicals and litter they reported Our family is having to relocate from our home and society we love We ve both served our country and now are afraid for both our livelihoods they mentioned This is our story and what we ve been living through So plenty of of our friends are in similar situations here and across the country Non-Political Much of the administration s attack on the EPA is tied up in the politicization of principles that historically had bipartisan aid like environmental justice which staffers pointed out was until in recent weeks not viewed as a political project Environmental justice is supposed to be non-political Hertzberg explained It s just about identifying the people bulk in danger of trash so you can help them first President George H W Bush a Republican first created the Environmental Justice Undertaking in This is a project that has been standing for decades has done life-saving work across both sides of the aisle efficiently and effectively Hagen disclosed The agency is now cutting other programs that have bipartisan help she added How can you say this initiative has bipartisan advocacy or promotion from the administration when you re intimidating people into taking this buyout she declared I think a lot of EPA staff will be taking the second round of buyouts and we have no idea how that s going to gut these statutory what they say is bipartisan aid programs In their attacks on DEI and wokeness for example efforts to ensure civil liberties and equal protection under the law for communities that have historically faced institutional discrimination Trump and his allies have distorted the concept of environmental justice into a political weapon Hertzberg disclosed Related Thousands of U S Citizens Housing Residents Live in the Country s Bulk Polluted Places Environmental justice communities are young children They re pregnant women the elderly those with anatomical conditions those without access to proper services which is often rural communities and those living closer to polluters Hertzberg commented This is really supposed to be a non-political part of the EPA and it s castigated as though we all have this axe to grind and are suspect in specific way Staffers commented the governing body is now leaving communities they ve built relationships with over the years vulnerable to life-threatening litter and soundness hazards The people who are still in the office are feeling worried about their jobs and feeling frustrated and heartbroken about the communities that we ve served who are not being served anymore Hertzberg commented EPA staff are now put in the position of betraying communities they ve tried to build trust in she mentioned Now you just have to let them down she revealed It s the heartbreak of watching these people who you promised you were going to help be let down again to have your hands tied behind your back and at the same time being accused of being poor stewards of taxpayer funds The post Intense Society of Fear Behind the Scenes as Trump Destroys the EPA From Within appeared first on The Intercept