Hundreds of EPA employees have asked their boss, Lee Zeldin, to stop lying

Nearly 500 employees of the Environmental Protection Agency have published a “Declaration of Dissent” opposing the actions of the current EPA head, Lee Zeldin, who is working to politicize the agency, ignore science, and spread misinformation.

The letter was sent to Zeldin, and to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and Members of Congress. It was also posted online, where you can read it in full.

It details concerns by EPA employees who have worked to advance the agency’s mission of actually protecting the environment, and who see the current leadership as working against that mission.

Specifically, the letter lays out five primary concerns. It says that:

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• Zeldin has undermined public trust by adopting the messaging of political propaganda, rather than the science that the EPA’s work relies on. This includes spreading misinformation about science through official EPA channels, claiming science is a “religion,” praising “clean coal” (which does not exist), and attacking members of Congress (which may have violated the Hatch Act, which disallows political campaigning by federal employees).
• Zeldin ignores science to benefit polluters. The EPA has solid science showing asbestos, mercury, greenhouse gases, and PFAS (aka “forever chemicals”) are harmful to health; yet Zeldin has worked to increase exposure to all of them. He has also steered the country to more polluting (and more expensive) gas guzzling vehicles and ignored the increased energy use of AI. Doing all of this threatens trust in the EPA as a scientific authority.
• Zeldin is harming America’s most vulnerable communities. Research shows that disadvantaged communities bear the brunt of environmental damage, but Zeldin has worked to deepen harm to those communities.
• Zeldin wants to take the job of research from the EPA’s research office and assume direct control over it himself, allowing political meddling into what are otherwise strictly scientific findings.
• Zeldin promotes a culture of fear, making staff think that they may see retaliation or lose their livelihoods if they do their job of researching how to best protect the environment.

The letter was signed by 424 employees, with 197 of them being anonymous due to that aforementioned culture of fear. The number of signatures seems to be increasing – Science quoted EPA attorney Nicole Cantello as stating that “having folks speak up is contagious.” At the time that article was posted, the employee count was 278.

It concludes by exhorting Zeldin to take the goal of the EPA, and his own stated goal to “inherit a world with clean air, clean water, and a thriving economy” seriously. It points out that under Zeldin’s current course, EPA “will not protect communities from hazardous chemicals and unsafe drinking water, but instead will increase risks to public health and safety.” It states that there is an opportunity to correct course and take the mission seriously, and asks for his “deliberate consideration of these concerns.”

Electrek’s Take

It shouldn’t be a surprise that an environmental saboteur is in charge of the agency, given that we once again have an enemy of America squatting in the White House.

The last time the same incompetent former reality TV host wandered into the White House in 2017 (after receiving 3 million fewer votes than his opponent), we saw Scott Pruitt acting as Chief Saboteur of the EPA. He was hired because, at the time, he was suing the EPA with the goal of making the air dirtier. So you can guess where that went, with a guy who wants to poison you holding the job of protecting you from poison.

Thankfully, he wasn’t as effective as the hundreds of thousands of dollars of fossil fuel industry bribes he received over this life might have hoped, and his tenure was marked by scandal and incompetence. Pruitt ended up being even too corrupt for the champion of corruption himself, and resigned after scandal after scandal.

Pruitt was then replaced by Andrew Wheeler, a coal lobbyist, who unsurprisingly was also an idiot and a liar who tried to organize a $70 billion bailout for the dying coal industry (it didn’t work, the industry is still dying).

So, Zeldin is stepping right into those same shoes.

Even before he assumed his position, he came out with the Orwellian statement that he wants to make the air cleaner by making the air dirtier. And, like the previous two saboteurs appointed by the convicted felon who is actively working to harm you in as many ways as he can (and who is Constitutionally barred from holding office in the US), Zeldin has also received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Oil & Gas industry over his political career – during which he received the worst environmental score out of the entire New York congressional delegation.

Right off the bat, he started his efforts to poison you, raise fuel costs and harm US industry, and there is little evidence that he’s got any interest in stopping.

The rhetoric he has used is not just filled with misinformation, but is cult-like in its style. It randomly puts words in all caps, refers to pollution as “beautiful”, and so on, echoing the style of the ignorant felon squatting in the White House.

So we applaud these EPA employees for taking their job seriously, and trying to get some sort of change from their leadership – or at least, to shine a light on the hostility that it has shown to science and human health.

But given the incompetence and hostility to America is a directive straight from the top, which republicans seem to be mindlessly parroting in lockstep, we’re not sure they’ll get through. The real solution is to stop letting the republican party get anywhere near control over air quality, jobs, the economy, technology, or science, as they repeatedly prove their hostility to all of these things.

Another thing republicans want to kill is the rooftop solar credit. That means you could have only until the end of this year to install rooftop solar on your home, before republicans raise the cost of doing so by an average of ~$10,000. So if you want to go solar, get started now, because these things take time and the system needs to be active before you file for the credit.

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