According to persons familiar with the situation, the Trump administration is now anticipated to put over 100 employees in the environmental justice and civil rights office of the Environmental Protection Agency on administrative leave.
According to two persons, the division’s main deputy assistant administrator, Theresa Segovia, warned staff members on Wednesday that there will be significant personnel changes this week.
The action, which could take effect as early as Thursday, is the result of an executive order issued on January 20 that aims to terminate programs related to diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as other initiatives that the administration claims are unnecessary.
According to the sources, more EPA workers in other departments might also be put on administrative leave.
Workers who are on administrative leave continue to receive benefits and their wages. Peter Jenkins, senior counsel for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said federal agencies can only put workers on administrative leave for 10 days in a year. What wwill happen to the staff after ten days is unknown.
The EPA office, which employed roughly 200 people during the Biden administration, has told some of its personnel that it is creating a list of workers who have contributed to environmental-justice initiatives, according to one of the persons.
As the Trump administration fights unions and citizen groups in court over its attempts to reduce federal employment, EPA’s plans are subject to change.
The Biden administration’s 2021 infrastructure package and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act gave EPA tens of billions of dollars to invest in climate-related initiatives.
The primary goal of the money was to put the American economy on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030.
The law also provided funding for so-called environmental justice.
Republicans began to criticize those elements, claiming that the expenditure lacked clear objectives and raising doubts about its ability to actually help the impoverished.
The Trump administration’s tough-ball strategies, according to proponents of the programs and EPA’s purpose to create a safe and clean environment for Americans, are incompatible with that goal.
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