Potential staffing changes for more than 1,100 Environmental Protection Agency employees are just one of the first dominoes to fall in the agency’s changes during the Trump Administration, activists say.
Northwest Indiana activists say environmental and public health are on the line if significant staffing changes are made.
More than 1,100 employees who work on climate change, reducing air pollution, enforcing environmental laws and other programs were told they could be fired at any time, according to The New York Times. The employees were hired in the past year and have probationary status.
An EPA spokeswoman told The New York Times that Lee Zeldin, the agency’s administrator, plans to “create a more effective and efficient federal government that serves all Americans.”
Jen Duggan, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project, said that the potential firings aren’t “necessarily surprising.”
“It’s not surprising, but it’s alarming,” Duggan said. “Removing that highly trained workforce at this agency that makes sure that we have safe drinking water and clean air to breathe is dangerous.”
In December, the Environmental Integrity Project released a report that said EPA enforcement could drop sharply during the Trump administration’s second term.
The report found that during Former President Joe Biden’s term, the EPA had improvements to enforcement, which Duggan said is crucial to ensure American citizens have a high quality of life.
Removing employees could lead to less enforcement during the Trump administration. It’s dangerous for the administration to cut significant staffing and oversight, Duggan said.
“Americans didn’t vote for dirty air and water,” she said. “We didn’t vote for unsafe or unhealthy communities. Our waterways and the air we breathe, those are public resources. They are not the private dumping ground for fossil fuel companies.”
Environmental Defense Fund General Counsel Vickie Patton said Zeldin is taking a sledgehammer to the EPA’s ability to protect communities from toxic chemicals, and provide clean air and water.
“These mass firings of engineers, scientists and others will weaken (the) EPA and create a dangerous imbalance skewed in favor of polluters over people’s health and safety,” Patton said in a statement.
Local environmental advocates have also said they’re concerned about upcoming energy policies. Trump’s executive order, “Unleashing American Energy,” outlines how his administration plans for the U.S. to stay a “global energy leader long into the future.”
“In recent years, burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations have impeded the development of these resources, limited the generation of reliable and affordable electricity, reduced job creation, and inflicted high energy costs upon our citizens,” said Trump’s executive order. “These high energy costs devastate American consumers by driving up the cost of transportation, heating, utilities, farming, and manufacturing, while weakening our national security.”
The executive order also terminates the Green New Deal, which aims to use public resources to help transition from a reliance on fossil fuels to clean energy, according to the Sierra Club’s website.
Carolyn McCrady, member of Gary Advocates for Responsible Development, said she is not surprised by Zeldin’s move.
“I think what he’s trying to do is intimidate people and let people know that he’s not afraid to harm human beings or the environment,” McCrady said.
McCrady believes less oversight can lead to more public health issues in the region. Oversight, rules and regulations in legislation like the Clean Air Act are necessary to ensure residents are safe, McCrady said.
Gary is one of five U.S. cities with the nation’s lowest life expectancy, according to GARD data. East Chicago and Gary schoolchildren are exposed to higher levels of airborne toxins than anywhere in the country, data said.
Asthma prevalence for Gary adults is among the worst in the U.S., and Lake County is among Indiana counties with the highest cancer mortality rates.
“Taking away guidelines and taking away people who administer those guidelines is going to harm us,” McCrady said. “Any attack on the Clean Air Act is an attack on Northwest Indiana because we have some of the worst air in the country.”
Susan Thomas, legislative and policy director for Just Transition Northwest Indiana, said firing 1,100 EPA employees will create “a tremendous amount of chaos and confusion.” Thomas agrees that loosening restrictions will be detrimental to public health in the region.
“We’ve always had to push to get the needle to move,” Thomas said. “Sometimes it did move, albeit slowly. Now, this is detrimental and dangerous.”
Although the Trump administration has been in power for less than a month, Thomas said that this has been the game plan all along. However, Thomas believes communities will become more self-reliant as a result.
“Hopefully this will bring about a new interest in making systems better going forward that truly benefit the health of our citizens and community,” she added.
