EPA zipped through its far-reaching deregulatory campaign and cast aside scores of employees in 2025 — a signal of what’s to come in the remaining years of President Donald Trump’s second term.
“We will actually get more done with less,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said to reporters at a holiday party earlier this month.
Besides taking aim at a range of rules, the agency has restructured, shuttering long-standing programs centered on research and relief for marginalized communities.
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And about a fifth of EPA’s increasingly frustrated workforce has turned in their badges. The agency had over 16,000 employees at the start of 2025 but will have about 12,500 by the end of this year, according to Zeldin.
