Rep. Julie Johnson, from Farmers Branch, and other members of Congress, are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider layoffs of “critical” employees as a part of the Trump administration’s grander federal cost-cutting efforts.
“We are deeply concerned about the negative impacts such terminations — done across the board without consideration for positional need or programmatic impact — would have on the agency’s ability to protect public health and the environment in [our region] and across the nation,” reads the letter addressed to the administrator of the EPA, Lee Zeldin.
Over 1,000 probationary EPA employees were issued a notice of potential termination in early February. Reuters reported that the employees, who were less than a year into their positions, were told to justify the significance of their jobs to retain them. Among those who received the notices were grant managers, inspectors, enforcement officers, attorneys, on-scene coordinators, permit reviewers and emergency response personnel.
“Though they are probationary, many of these employees are long-standing federal workers and subject matter experts with experience vital to running the EPA effectively and efficiently,” reads the Johnson letter. “They perform critical functions protecting Americans from dangers related to pesticides, waste management, chemical control, air pollution, and ground and drinking water. They are essential to the EPA’s mission and the well-being of our constituents.”
The EPA is broken into 10 regions; Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas are covered by Region 6, with headquarters in Dallas. An earlier executive order from Trump put environmental justice staff on administrative leave, meaning Region 6 no longer has permit reviewers or a children’s health coordinator. Additionally, the EPA terminated 388 employees on Feb. 14, eight were based out of Dallas, Johnson hopes there won't be any more.
“The potential dismissal of employees based out of the EPA Region 6 Office in Dallas threatens the health and safety of communities in our states,” says the letter.
How We Got Here
The Trump administration has made cuts to government agencies right and left. The inspiration behind the slew of layoffs has been credited to the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency, colloquially known as DOGE, headed by Elon Musk.
President Donald Trump told reporters DOGE found “tens of billions” in savings during an audit of all government agencies. Since then, layoffs within the federal workforce have happened at a rapid pace. The Energy Department, Education Department, Department of Homeland Security and National Park Service are just a few of the agencies that have lost thousands of employees in recent weeks. In a sweeping buyout deal, the federal workforce was cut by 75,000.
After such haste, hundreds of government employees specializing in pertinent sectors had to be “unfired,” according to NBC News. Of those “mistakenly fired” were employees close to monitoring the bird flu crisis and employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration.
"Although several positions supporting [bird flu efforts] were notified of their terminations over the weekend, we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and rescind those letters," a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson said in a statement to NBC.
The Potential Consequences
Trump has begun the process of rolling back the National Environmental Policy Act, a pivotal law signed into effect by President Richard Nixon in 1969. NEPA requires federal agencies to assess the greater overall environmental impact before they make decisions, promoting “enhancement of the environment.” The EPA layoffs are just a small part of the greater damage the Trump administration is doing to environmental prosperity, according to advocates.
Within days of taking office Trump declared his intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, an international treaty to reduce climate change, for a second time. A key component of the Paris Agreement is cutting emissions in half by 2030, a plan adopted by the city of Dallas. Improving the air quality has been a key concern for the city, but the EPA layoffs could put those projects and several others on hold. In removing Region 6 permit reviewers, Johnson says progress on future developments will halt.
“Our communities require resources to support, expand, and upgrade our infrastructure for the fastest-growing Metroplex in the nation. These projects must go through National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews to do that,” Johnson said to the Observer in an email. “Without the EPA employees tasked with completing these reviews, we will encounter significant delays in completing projects that need federal support. This will lead to the loss of good-paying jobs, a major decline in economic benefits, and delays in essential projects that our communities need to thrive.”
