WASHINGTON, April 23 (UPI) -- The Environmental Protection Agency told more than 450 employees working in diversity, equity and inclusion -- as well as environmental justice -- they would be fired or reassigned as part of President Donald Trump's executive order to remove DEI programs from the federal government.
In a notice sent late Monday, the EPA said it laid off 280 employees while an additional 175 will be reassigned to other offices within the agency. The layoffs in the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, the Office of Inclusive Excellence and regional offices were scheduled to take place July 31, according to an email from the EPA press official.
"Today, the EPA notified diversity, equity and inclusion and environmental justice employees that EPA will be conducting a Reduction in Force," the email read. The RIF was announced internally on the eve of Earth Day but not officially announced. In February, the EPA placed 171 DEI and environmental justice staffers on administrative leave.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in March said the layoffs reflected the agency's commitment to its "core mission" of protecting the environment and human health. He described environmental justice as "funding left-wing activists instead of actually spending those dollars to directly remediate environmental issues for those communities."
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However, former agency leaders accused him of abandoning the EPA's mission. In many cases low-income and minority residents suffer most from pollution in their communities, research has shown.
"When you took the reins of the agency, you took an oath to uphold that mission. Yet, the opposite has ensued. From mass firings, to planned elimination of the scientific mission, dismantling the EJ office, and freezing grants," a group of former EPA Regional Administrators wrote Zeldin earlier this month. "[T]hese actions all profoundly undermine the mission."
EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou dismissed the group's claims, calling them "Biden political appointees grasping for media attention" in an email to Medill News Service/UPI.
"Unlike these partisan Biden political appointees grasping for media attention, the Trump Administration is committed to EPA's core mission of protecting human health and the environment and providing clean air, land and water for ALL Americans instead of wasting tens of billions of taxpayer dollars on their radical climate friends," Vaseliou said.
The staff cuts were among several deregulatory actions announced by the EPA in March as part of their "Power the Great American Comeback" initiative, which the administrator said will "roll back trillions in regulatory costs and hidden 'taxes' on U.S. families."
The layoffs came as part of a broader federal initiative by the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, which seeks to reduce the size of federal agencies and cut spending. Zeldin said he planned to cut 65% of the EPA's total spending, and already had cut more than $2 billion in DEI and environmental justice grants.
Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., wrote on X on Wednesday that the "EPA was created to defend public health" but is now a "weapon against the most vulnerable communities." Pallone, who leads the Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats, also wrote that he "demanded answers from Trump's EPA" about the layoffs.
