The Trump administration on Friday reportedly terminated eight Environmental Protection Agency employees who had publicly signed onto a dissent letter challenging current policies, in a move the agency defended as necessary to preserve accountability and discipline inside government.
“The Environmental Protection Agency has a zero-tolerance policy for career officials using their agency position and title to unlawfully undermine, sabotage, and undercut the will of the American public that was clearly expressed at the ballot box last November,” the EPA said in a statement after administrative leave notices were delivered. The Washington Post first reported the firings.
The letter, which contained both named and anonymous signatures, criticized the administration’s policy direction. “Since the Agency’s founding in 1970, EPA has accomplished (its) mission by leveraging science, funding, and expert staff in service to the American people,” the document read. “Today, we stand together in dissent against the current administration’s focus on harmful deregulation, mischaracterization of previous EPA actions, and disregard for scientific expertise.”
Agency officials pushed back firmly. Carolyn Holran, an EPA spokesperson, said the letter contained “misleading information” and represented only a “small fraction of the thousands of hard-working, dedicated EPA employees.”
The firings, which included six employees still on probationary status and two career staffers, drew sharp criticism from labor unions representing federal workers.
Justin Chen, president of AFGE Council 238, called the dismissals “clearly an assault on labor and free speech rights,” adding, “It is clear that the actions taken by management were baseless and meant to punish any modicum of dissent identifying potential harm to the American Public and violation of the Agency’s mission.”
Another union official, Nicole Cantello, president of AFGE Local 704 in Chicago, told the Post that the dismissals were intended to send a message. “They are trying to intimidate employees into doing the agency’s bidding and making sure that they don’t go public when there is a time that the agency is not looking after human health and the environment,” she said.
Supporters of the administration argue the decision underscores the principle that federal employees must implement the policies of elected leadership rather than substitute their own judgment.
The EPA’s statement emphasized that the terminations were not about silencing science but about ensuring that agency officials do not misuse their positions to “undermine” the choices made by voters through the democratic process.
The firings reflect a broader debate over the scope of dissent within the civil service. While unions framed the move as retaliation, the administration presented it as a defense of public trust and accountability.
By removing employees who openly opposed current policy direction, the Trump administration signaled that government agencies are not autonomous bodies but instruments of elected authority.
The controversy highlights a central tension between career staffers and political leadership at the EPA.
With the agency under continued scrutiny for its deregulatory agenda, Friday’s firings serve as both a flashpoint in labor relations and a demonstration of the administration’s determination to assert control over the federal bureaucracy.
[READ MORE: FBI Director’s Girlfriend Files Defamation Suit Against Former Agent-Turned-Podcaster]
