EPA Staff Signs ‘Declaration Of Dissent’ Over Trump’s Policies 

The second Trump administration has been one long, protracted assault on the core pillars of the federal government and the people who work to uphold them. From the Department of Education to FEMA, we’ve seen mass layoffs and leadership changes that essentially undermine the key functions of several agencies. Employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appear to have had enough with the nonsense as they released a “Declaration of Dissent” against the Trump administration on Monday. 

According to AP News, over 170 EPA employees signed their names to the declaration, with another 100 signing anonymously. Several non-EPA scientists and researchers also signed the declaration, including 20 Nobel laureates. The declaration particularly took aim at Administrator Lee Zeldin’s leadership. 

Zeldin, a Trump appointee, spoke on the need for clean energy, the risks posed by climate change, and the importance of combating environmental racism during his Senate confirmation hearing. Employees at the EPA feel like Zeldin has not done anything to address those issues during his tenure and is instead “recklessly undermining the EPA mission.” 

The EPA’s declaration is broken down into five primary concerns. The signees believe Zeldin is undermining public trust in the EPA, ignoring scientific consensus to benefit polluters, and reversing the EPA’s progress in America’s most vulnerable communities. They also accuse Zeldin of promoting a culture of fear that forces staff to choose between their livelihood and well-being. 

The EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice was focused on reversing the effects of long-standing environmental racism. They did this through grants and programs aimed at combating these disparities and improving conditions for the Black, brown, and low-income communities most affected by them. Under Zeldin’s leadership, much of that work has been rolled back if not outright stopped. 

“Since January 2025, EPA has placed the vast majority of environmental justice staff on administrative leave, canceled billions of grant dollars to communities, and removed a valuable mapping analysis tool that enabled EPA and others to work towards environmental equity. Canceling environmental justice programs is not cutting waste; it is failing to serve the American people,” the declaration reads. 

One clear instance of the EPA’s about-face on environmental racism can be found in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.” The name refers to an 85-mile stretch of land where several petrochemical factories exist side by side with many low-income, predominantly Black communities. Under President Biden, a lawsuit was filed against Denka Performance Elastomer, a chemical plant in Louisiana whose pollution is alleged to cause adverse health effects for the residents in the predominantly Black community in which it’s located. The case was intended to spotlight and hopefully combat the environmental racism endemic to the area. Yet only months into Trump’s second term, the case was dropped. 

The EPA’s moves aren’t only facing scrutiny by employees, but also resulting in legal action. Last week, a lawsuit was filed against the EPA by Downwinders at Risk and several other environmental advocacy groups in North Texas over the agency’s refusal to pay out congressionally approved grants. The grants were meant to help several air-monitoring groups in the Dallas-Fort Worth area expand their network to at-risk and low-income communities. 

The lawsuit alleges the EPA’s refusal to pay out the grants violates “bedrock separation-of-powers principles by effectively repealing a congressional enactment and impounding funds based on nothing more than the President’s disagreement with policies Congress duly enacted.” 

Seems like the EPA would be able to avoid all this controversy by simply allowing the employees to do the job they were hired to do. Of course, that’s probably too much like doing the right thing, and who would ever accuse the Trump administration of doing that?

SEE ALSO:

Several Lawsuits Filed In Louisiana To Combat Environmental Racism

10 Modern-Day Examples Of Environmental Racism

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