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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
EPA suspends and investigates around 140 employees who signed a letter
critical of the agency
By Ella Nilsen, Rene Marsh, CNN
Updated:
4:40 PM EDT, Thu July 3, 2025
Source: CNN
The Environmental Protection Agency has placed roughly 140 employees on
administrative leave days after they signed about the treatment of
federal employees and the Trump administration’s regulations on
climate and public health.
The EPA is conducting an “administrative investigation” into the
employees, who are being placed on administrative leave until July 17,
according to internal emails viewed by CNN.
The letter outlined five key concerns, including that the Trump
administration was dismantling the EPA office of research and
development, canceling environmental justice programs and grants,
making employees fearful, undermining the trust of the public, and
“ignoring scientific consensus to protect polluters.”
“These actions directly undermine EPA’s capacity to fulfill its
mission,” the letter said.
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin had a sharp response to the employees’
concerns.
One of the EPA employees who was placed on administrative leave,
Scarlett VanDyke, told CNN she was “escorted out of their building”
by a higher-level manager after being placed on leave. VanDyke, who
works in the EPA’s office of Research and Development in North
Carolina, told CNN that the experience “was incredibly surreal.”
“I’m considered an extremely high performing employee, so having
management inform me that I needed to be escorted out wrecked me,”
she said. “I’m shocked that signing a letter of dissent regarding
the direction EPA’s administration is taking was met with such
blatant retaliation.”
“The Environmental Protection Agency has a zero-tolerance policy for
career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting
the administration’s agenda as voted for by the great people of this
country last November,” an EPA spokesperson said in a statement.
More than 270 people, including around 170 named EPA employees, signed
the letter, which was released Monday. It’s not entirely clear what
accounts for the roughly 30-person discrepancy between the number of
employees who signed and the 140 who were suspended, but some of the
signees were already on administrative leave. Amelia Hertzberg, an EPA
environmental protection specialist who signed the letter, said it also
appears the agency did not place union leaders on leave.
“Since January 2025, federal workers across the country have been
denigrated and dismissed based on false claims of waste, fraud, and
abuse,” the letter read. “Meanwhile, Americans have witnessed the
unraveling of public health and environmental protections in the
pursuit of political advantage.”
The EPA did not respond to CNN’s questions about what an
administrative investigation would entail. Employees were told in
internal emails that the investigation and being placed on leave is
“not a disciplinary action,” despite the EPA’s public statement
that the letter was akin to sabotage that warranted a zero-tolerance
response.
Employees were told they must provide EPA officials with their current
contact information, so they could be contacted as part of the
investigation while on leave.
“You will be expected to be available at the phone number provided
above (and/or any additional or alternative contact information you
provide) during your regular duty hours in accordance with your
currently approved work schedule should the agency need to contact
you,” the internal EPA email reads.
EPA employees told CNN they were surprised at how aggressively Zeldin
and EPA officials reacted to the letter. Last month, National
Institutes of Health employees published a similar open letter of
dissent, and did not face retaliation from officials there.
“I thought that whistleblower laws would keep people safer than they
have,” said Hertzberg. “I thought this very public action would
make EPA wary of doing any retribution because it would be so public
and obvious.”
Hertzberg was placed on administrative leave in early February because
she worked on environmental justice issues.
Another EPA employee who says they were also placed on administrative
leave after signing the letter of dissent said, “we took an oath to
support and defend the constitution. We promised to follow science and
follow the law. They are trying to scare us and squash any type of
resistance before it starts.”
In a statement given to conservative media outlets, Zeldin said a
“small number of employees signed onto a public letter, written as
agency employees, using their official work title, that was riddled
with misinformation regarding agency business.”
“Our ZERO tolerance policy is in full force and effect and will be
unapologetically implemented unconditionally,” Zeldin continued in
the statement.
Hertzberg told CNN the EPA’s response demonstrates why Zeldin rarely
hears dissent within the agency — employees are afraid.
“We see today that this is why he feels like he’s not getting any
negative feedback within the agency, because as soon as he gets
negative feedback, he considers you an enemy of the agency,”
Hertzberg said. “Science needs to come first, and regulations need to
be upheld. The fact we’re saying that and the fact he finds that
counter to the agency’s priorities is concerning.”
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