The Trump administration is proceeding with a first round of layoffs at EPA targeting employees involved in environmental justice work, according to a notice viewed by POLITICO’s E&E News.
“This action is necessary to align our workforce with the Agency’s current and future needs and to ensure the efficient and effective operation of our programs,” Assistant Deputy Administrator Travis Voyles wrote in the Monday memo. It advises staffers in EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights and Regional Environmental Justice Divisions of the agency’s intent to move ahead with a “reduction in force” effective July 31.
Voyles’ notice does not give the total number of employees affected. Although 168 workers had been put on administrative leave in February, some of those have since been called back to work, according to people familiar with the environmental justice program. EPA press aides did not immediately reply to an email Monday evening seeking more information.
“This is not just a ‘reduction in force,’” Nicole Cantello, president of an American Federation of Government Employees local that represents EPA workers, said in a text message. “This is a reduction in our ability to keep Americans safe.”
