By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency placed 139 employees on administrative leave after they signed a letter critical of President Donald Trump’s policies, with the EPA saying it has “zero-tolerance” for those sabotaging the government’s agenda.
The letter was made public earlier this week and titled as a “Declaration of Dissent.” It accused the federal government of engaging in “harmful deregulation,” “ignoring scientific consensus to benefit polluters” and “promoting a culture of fear” within the agency.
The letter came as another expected round of staff reductions looms and as the agency undergoes a major reorganization, including the dissolution of its office of research and the cancelling of billions of dollars in grants.
Hundreds of current and recently terminated EPA employees had signed the letter. The public version of the letter, as of late Thursday, had taken the names of the signatories off.
An earlier version of the letter was sent to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin internally before being made public.
“The Environmental Protection Agency has a zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the administration’s agenda,” the EPA said in a statement on Thursday.
The EPA added the letter misleads the public about its business and that the agency placed 139 employees on administrative leave, pending an investigation, for signing the letter using their official titles and EPA positions.
The EPA reorganization will consolidate several key offices, reflecting plans to cut regulatory red tape and promote more fossil fuel energy development, as laid out in Trump’s executive orders.
A similar declaration was sent in June by employees of the National Institutes of Health to its director to protest politicization of research and disruption of scientific progress.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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