In a growing trend, hundreds of staff at the Environmental Protection Agency issued a public “Declaration of Dissent” on Monday, harshly criticizing administrator Lee Zeldin for blatantly violating the oath he took and undermining his sworn testimony during the confirmation process. The statement joins a similar one made by National Institutes of Health employees and supporters earlier in June, and only underscores the dedication and bravery of federal employees toiling on as the most malign administration in recent history works each day to destroy the agencies they are tasked with leading.
“EPA employees join in solidarity with employees across the federal government in opposing this administration’s policies, including those that undermine the EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment,” the Declaration reads. “Today, we stand together in dissent against the current administration’s focus on harmful deregulation, mischaracterization of previous EPA actions, and disregard for scientific expertise.”
Zeldin’s record over these past months has basically involved taking the EPA’s stated mission — still, as of Monday morning at least, to “protect human health and the environment” by developing and enforcing regulations — and doing the exact opposite. There’s the announcement that US power sector emissions don’t need to be regulated because it somehow isn’t an important contributor to climate change (it is); the unceremonious murder of Energy Star, a very popular program with a 350-1 return-on-investment; the proposed shutdown or reorganization of the Office of Research and Development, the EPA’s science arm; the overall rebranding and insistence on a deregulatory smorgasbord that would send us back to the Dirty Ages; and plenty more in that vein. Oh, and Administrator Zeldin also wants you to have a happy Earth Day.
The EPA staff’s declaration includes five main points for Zeldin to ponder as he “recklessly undermin[es] the EPA mission”. They say that his actions are “undermining public trust,” “Ignoring scientific consensus to benefit polluters,” “Reversing EPA’s progress in America’s most vulnerable communities,” “Dismantling the Office of Research and Development,” and “Promoting a culture of fear, forcing staff to choose between their livelihood and well-being.” They appear to go even a bit further than NIH staff did with their Bethesda Declaration, noting that Zeldin “may have violated the Hatch Act” by using official EPA channels and websites to promote political initiatives including Trump’s tariffs and the Giant Bill for Dipshits.
“When the leader of the Agency is calling coal beautiful, calling climate change a religion, and undercutting the independent research office of the Agency he is supposed to be leading, specifically targeting underprivileged and already disinvested communities, it is time for course correction,” Mike Pasqua, a life scientist in EPA’s Region 5 who signed the declaration, told Splinter.
It goes on to decry the shuttering of environmental justice programs, absurd moves like those around asbestos and mercury, and more. It was signed, so far, by 324 EPA employees who put their names to it, at obvious risk, as well as 134 who signed anonymously — Splinter heard from other EPA staff who declined to sign due to the precariousness of their positions, though they expressed “full support” for the content. Along with so many others in the federal government, these employees have been tarred as malingerers and grifters by some of the worst people in government — like OMB director Russell Vought, who explicitly wants dedicated employees to be scared or “traumatized” to go to work.
“I am a proud American and civil servant, and I love my job and country; however, what is going on is wrong,” one EPA employee told Splinter. “The administration’s efforts are doing wrong and are harming our country. To me, signing the letter feels like the least I can do, outside of continuing to do my job as best as I can.”
The NIH staff’s version of this move has attracted close to 30,000 signatures from the public; the EPA’s, also hosted by Stand Up for Science, also has a long list of supporters from outside the agency already signing on. NIH staff have told Splinter that they are still working to spread the word and garner more public participation, especially as HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., refused to renounce any potential retaliation against the named signers.
Obviously, this is not an ideal version of government, where federal employees must take public stands against leadership in protest of Opposite Day-style approaches to those agencies’ functioning, even while the constant threat of firings and RIFs and reorganizations makes everyday work nearly impossible. But that’s where we seem to be headed: NIH and EPA are logical first stops, given their science-based missions and the administration’s demonstrably anti-science policies, but similar declarations emanating from everywhere from the Department of Interior to the Department of Education would be far from surprising. Federal employees signed up for certain jobs; they are being told, in one way or another, not to do them.
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