Environmental Safety Company staff took to the streets throughout the US at this time to protest drastic cuts President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE have made on the federal company whose mission is to “shield human well being and the setting.”
Musk, the face of DOGE and the goal of rising protests at Tesla dealerships, was an even bigger title on the rally than Trump. “How do you spell corruption? E-L-O-N” staff and their supporters chanted at a picket line in entrance of a federal constructing in New York Metropolis. Some held indicators with “this man just isn’t our boss” written in pink over a sketch of Musk’s face. Greater than 150 individuals rallied with picket indicators chanting “Transfer, DOGE, get out the way in which,” to the tune of a Ludacris music, and “What can we do when clear land/air/water/science is beneath assault? Get up, struggle again!”
The employees, represented by union AFGE Council 238, held marches in 8 cities as a part of a ‘Nationwide Day of Motion.’ Plans to dismantle a lot of the company and weaken protections towards air pollution put People in danger, EPA staff warn.
“I work on imposing laws that cope with hazardous waste and poisonous substances, which is figure that I really feel just isn’t a partisan difficulty.”
“I work on imposing laws that cope with hazardous waste and poisonous substances, which is figure that I really feel just isn’t a partisan difficulty,” says Suzanne Englot, an lawyer who works in enforcement on the EPA. “Everybody desires to guarantee that hazardous waste and poisonous substances are correctly regulated, disposed of, saved and all of that. However in these instances, it makes me nervous that issues are going to vary.”
The EPA, beneath Trump’s government orders, is now barred from taking any enforcement or compliance actions that will “shut down any stage of power manufacturing” except there’s an “imminent and substantial” well being menace, based on a memo that EPA management issued on March twelfth.
On the identical day, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin introduced what he referred to as “the best day of deregulation our nation has seen,” proposing rollbacks on dozens of guidelines meant to curb air pollution from energy crops, oil and fuel refineries, chemical crops, vehicles and vans, factories, and extra.
The Trump administration has additionally moved to shutter the company’s scientific analysis workplace and environmental justice workplaces. Trump has mused about reducing the EPA’s price range by 65 p.c. Round 1,100 probationary workers on the EPA obtained discover in January telling them the company “has the best to instantly terminate you.” A federal choose later ordered the Trump administration to rehire tons of of staff who had been laid off on the company. And the White Home faces extra authorized challenges over its dismantling of federal companies and deregulation spree.
Each Trump and billionaire-backer Musk complained about laws slowing corporations down throughout final yr’s election season. “It prices far more to do issues environmentally clear,” Trump mentioned in an interview with Joe Rogan on October twenty fifth.
“We’ve obtained to have smart spending. And we’ve obtained to have deregulation …. I’m pro-environment, [but] I don’t assume we must always vilify the oil and fuel trade as a result of they’re retaining civilization going proper now,” Musk mentioned in his X interview with Trump on August twelfth. Musk later wielded a chainsaw “for paperwork” on the Conservative Political Motion Convention stage final month.
“Elon is perpetuating a local weather of concern and focusing on federal staff and the mission that they perform to guard human well being and the setting,” EPA environmental engineer Harper Stanfield instructed The Verge on the rally in New York Metropolis. “We will’t let EPA be silenced by billionaires.”
Trump has accepted tens of tens of millions of {dollars} in funding from the oil and fuel trade. Elon Musk spent greater than $250 million serving to Trump get elected. The president then handed Musk the facility to dramatically makeover federal companies by way of his submit main the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE).
In an electronic mail to The Verge, the EPA mentioned that it’s “listening” to workers and made cuts to adjust to Trump’s agenda to remove applications it considers range, fairness, and inclusion initiatives.
Stanfield and Englot mentioned on the rally at this time that they’re calling on Congress to behave as a verify on the chief department, and asking individuals to succeed in out to their elected representatives to help the EPA’s work.
“Democrat, Republican, unbiased, whoever it’s, everyone seems to be impacted by this,” Englot says. “EPA’s work touches everybody’s lives.”
