Environmental Safety Company staff took to the streets throughout the US in the present day to protest drastic cuts President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE have made on the federal company whose mission is to “defend human well being and the surroundings.”
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 isn’t our boss” written in purple over a sketch of Musk’s face. Greater than 150 folks rallied with picket indicators chanting “Transfer, DOGE, get out the best way,” to the tune of a Ludacris song, and “What will we do when clear land/air/water/science is beneath assault? Rise 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 take care of hazardous waste and poisonous substances, which is figure that I really feel isn’t a partisan concern.”
“I work on imposing laws that take care of hazardous waste and poisonous substances, which is figure that I really feel isn’t a partisan concern,” says Suzanne Englot, an lawyer who works in enforcement on the EPA. “Everybody needs to be sure that hazardous waste and poisonous substances are correctly regulated, disposed of, saved and all of that. However in these occasions, it makes me nervous that issues are going to vary.”
The EPA, beneath Trump’s govt orders, is now barred from taking any enforcement or compliance actions that may “shut down any stage of power manufacturing” except there’s an “imminent and substantial” well being risk, in keeping with a memo that EPA leadership issued on March 12th.
On the identical day, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin introduced what he called “the best day of deregulation our nation has seen,” proposing rollbacks on dozens of rules meant to curb air pollution from energy vegetation, oil and gasoline refineries, chemical vegetation, automobiles and vehicles, factories, and extra.
The Trump administration has additionally moved to shutter the company’s scientific research office and environmental justice offices. Trump has mused about cutting the EPA’s budget by 65 percent. Round 1,100 probationary staff on the EPA received notice in January telling them the company “has the best to right away terminate you.” A federal decide later ordered the Trump administration to rehire hundreds of workers who had been laid off on the company. And the White Home faces extra authorized challenges over its dismantling of federal businesses and deregulation spree.
Each Trump and billionaire-backer Musk complained about laws slowing firms down throughout final yr’s election season. “It prices rather more to do issues environmentally clear,” Trump mentioned in an interview with Joe Rogan on October twenty fifth.
“We’ve received to have wise spending. And we’ve received to have deregulation …. I’m pro-environment, [but] I don’t suppose we should always vilify the oil and gasoline business as a result of they’re preserving civilization going proper now,” Musk mentioned in his X interview with Trump on August 12th. Musk later wielded a chainsaw “for bureaucracy” on the Conservative Political Action Conference stage last 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 surroundings,” EPA environmental engineer Harper Stanfield informed The Verge on the rally in New York Metropolis. “We will’t let EPA be silenced by billionaires.”
Trump has accepted tens of millions of dollars in funding from the oil and gasoline business. Elon Musk spent greater than $250 million helping Trump get elected. The president then handed Musk the facility to dramatically makeover federal businesses by means of his put up main the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE).
In an electronic mail to The Verge, the EPA mentioned that it’s “listening” to staff 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 in the present day that they’re calling on Congress to behave as a examine on the manager department, and asking folks to succeed in out to their elected representatives to assist the EPA’s work.
“Democrat, Republican, impartial, whoever it’s, everyone seems to be impacted by this,” Englot says. “EPA’s work touches everybody’s lives.”
