FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: September 3, 2025
CONTACT:
Aaron Bharucha, Public Relations Associate
(509) 429-1699 and epn-press@environmentalprotectionnetwork.org
Environmental Protection Network Objects to Overreaching Retaliation Against Civil Servants Who Signed Letter of Dissent
On Friday, August 29, 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began distributing disciplinary actions, including terminations, against the 139 EPA employees who signed a letter of dissent expressing concern over the direction of EPA. In a rare and coordinated act of whistleblowing, the signatories, which spanned all 10 EPA regions and major program offices, called on EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to honor his confirmation hearing commitments and reverse current policies that undermine science, equity, and institutional integrity. Signing was not political, nor was it partisan, and yet all signatories have been on administrative leave for the past two months, and now some are being further punished, including being fired.
These unwarranted and likely unlawful series of punitive actions are a clear attempt to repress free speech and discourage professional integrity. It further promotes the dismantling of the civil service and follows a line of actions taken by the Trump administration to reduce the ability of career federal workers to protect our health, suppress facts and science, increase polluter protections, reduce enforcement of existing laws, and leave the most vulnerable communities unprotected from cancer-causing toxic exposures.
In response, Environmental Protection Network Executive Director, Michelle Roos, released the following statement:
“The actions against our civil servants for signing this letter are a deliberate act of intimidation that further hinders the functions of our democracy. Power is being concentrated amongst a small number of political appointees whose allegiance is to Trump and billionaires and not to the truth they swore to uphold. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is not enabling EPA to fulfill its mission, and we are all at greater risk of premature death and sickness from industrial pollution. Federal employees are no longer free to provide scientific and factual evidence to their leadership, and decisions are being made by a small number of corporate interests which negatively impact our health and economic well-being. The Environmental Protection Network will continue supporting those inside and outside of government who defend the integrity of science and democracy and fight for the well-being of all of us”
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ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION NETWORK
Founded in 2017, the Environmental Protection Network harnesses the expertise of more than 650 former EPA career staff and confirmation-level appointees from Democratic and Republican administrations to provide the unique perspective of former scientists and regulators with decades of historical and subject matter knowledge.