EPA is moving to shed more employees and overhaul its enforcement work as the Trump administration continues its efforts to downsize and revamp the agency.
The agency is offering another round of incentives to resign or retire early for staff who work in offices including the stand-alone science shop, the enforcement office, staffers in regional offices, those who had previously received layoff notices, and others, according to an email sent to staff Thursday and obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News.
The move to downsize with another round of “deferred resignation” and early retirement incentives comes after a significant chunk of EPA’s staff has already left the agency during the Trump administration. More than 1,500 employees signed on to leave the agency during its most recent round of incentives for staff departures, according to figures provided by EPA earlier this month.
“I don’t know what will be left of the EPA” after more rounds of incentivizing staff departures and expected layoffs, said an EPA career staffer granted anonymity to speak freely.
As the agency is encouraging more departures, EPA on Thursday announced “the next phase of organizational improvements.”
The restructuring will impact EPA’s Office of Mission Support, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, and Office of Land and Emergency Management, EPA said in a press release.
“These structural changes reinforce EPA’s unwavering commitment to fulfill its statutory obligations and uphold fiscal responsibility,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement. “By partnering our operations and mission support services, we can deliver results for American communities while remaining good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
EPA announced the first phase of its reorganization in May, which impacted the agency’s air, water, chemicals and administrator’s offices. The agency is speeding ahead with its reorganization plans after they were temporarily put on hold earlier this year by a court’s injunction. The Supreme Court lifted that injunction earlier this month and EPA and other agencies across the government resumed their efforts to comply with the Trump administration’s directives to conduct “large-scale” layoffs and sweeping overhauls to the federal bureaucracy.
Justin Chen, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, which represents EPA employees, called Thursday’s push to oust more employees a “continued assault upon the workforce that’s serving the public safety of this country by increasing the hostile atmosphere of the workplace.”
Enforcement overhaul
The agency on Thursday announced forthcoming changes to its enforcement office. Those changes, EPA said, will “better address pollution problems that impact American communities by re-aligning enforcement with the law to deliver economic prosperity and ensure compliance with agency regulations.”
The agency did not provide specifics about the planned enforcement changes, although conservatives’ Project 2025 blueprint for government overhaul made a case for revamping EPA’s enforcement office.
That policy document, organized by The Heritage Foundation, called for eliminating EPA’s stand-alone enforcement office and returning those functions to EPA’s offices that deal with air, water, land and emergency management.
The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance “was established during the Clinton Administration,” says the Project 2025 section on EPA overhaul. That section was authored by Mandy Gunasekara, who served as EPA’s chief of staff during the first Trump administration.
“Enforcement attorneys tend to take legal positions to win cases or obtain settlements that may be inconsistent with those of [the Office of General Counsel] and program offices,” Gunasekara wrote. She recommended that enforcement attorneys be moved into the general counsel’s office and that non-attorney enforcement and compliance staff move into their relevant program offices, such as air or water.
EPA also this week announced a new Office of Finance and Administration that will serve as a “one-stop-shop for all financial and administrative operations.”
The agency also said it plans to make updates to its Office of Land and Emergency Management, the office that manages Superfund cleanups. Those changes, EPA said, “will better equip the agency to swiftly and efficiently fulfill statutory obligations like preventing contamination, cleaning up and returning land to productive use, and responding to emergencies.”
Project 2025 also recommended changes to that office, including “emphasizing productivity more than process and policies” and focusing on “an actual reduction in exposure to chemicals as opposed to the elimination of theoretical potential exposures.”
Nicole Cantello, a union leader who represents EPA employees in the Chicago region, was disappointed that the agency didn’t share more specifics about the next round of reorganization.
“The agency provided so little detail to the public about a critical and sweeping reorganization that will profoundly impact whether the nation’s water, air and land will be kept safe,” she said Thursday. “We believe EPA should be fully transparent with the American people about the agency’s plans to protect human health.”
An EPA spokesperson said Thursday in an email that the latest plans for reshuffling the agency is a “reorganization announcement only, not associated with reductions in force.”
EPA leaders told employees during meetings Thursday morning that layoffs would not impact those in the enforcement and finance offices, according to two EPA staffers granted anonymity to discuss internal operations.
As the downsizing push continues, EPA employees are bracing for a future with a much smaller staff and far less funding. The Trump administration and congressional Republicans are pushing for deep cuts to the agency’s budget.
“We are still sorting out how to fulfill all our obligations after the mass exodus” from the last round of incentivized resignations, said the first EPA employee, granted anonymity to speak freely.
“Some programs don’t have enough employees … [and that’s forcing] employees who remain … to take on even more responsibilities that there isn’t capacity for,” that person said.
Employees who accept this latest “deferred resignation” offer — as with the previous offers — will be placed on administrative leave until the date of their resignation or retirement. Employees who resign can keep their pay and benefits through Nov. 30, EPA told staff in the email.
Reporters Kevin Bogardus, Ellie Borst and Sean Reilly contributed.
