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The Trump Administration not only cut “environmental justice” programs at the Environmental Protection Agency, they put nearly 200 staffers on leave.
According to reports, the staffers were called into a meeting on Thursday afternoon where they were informed that they were being placed on leave.
“Effective immediately, you are being placed on administrative leave with full pay and benefits. This administrative leave is not being done for any disciplinary purpose,” the email stated, according to Politico.
“Career staff made determinations on which Office of Environmental Justice employees had statutory duties or core mission functions,” EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou said in a statement. “As such, 168 staffers were placed on administrative leave as their function did not relate to the agency’s statutory duties or grant work. EPA is in the process of evaluating new structure and organization to ensure we are meeting our mission of protecting human health and the environment for all Americans.”
Reuters reported:
The Trump administration has placed on leave nearly 200 employees who work on environmental justice programs at the Environmental Protection Agency, and is pursuing staff reductions in similar programs at the Justice Department.
The moves are in line with President Donald Trump’s broader orders to remove U.S. government support for diversity, equity and inclusion practices within the federal government, as well as to weaken Biden-era climate regulation.
Environmental groups said the cuts put minorities and lower-income families living near polluting facilities at risk, by weakening their regulatory and legal protections.
The EPA notified 168 employees working for the agency’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights – a division tasked with integrating equity and civil rights into environmental policymaking – on leave, the EPA confirmed.
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