Staffers at the Environmental Protection Agency's environmental justice and civil rights office should expect personnel changes this week as the Trump administration is expected to place more than 100 employees on leave, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Trump administration also plans to fire 20 employees at the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, a department that defends the federal government's environmental actions in court, The Washington Post reported.
The move comes after an executive order President Donald Trump signed ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the federal government.
Employees on administrative leave will still receive salary and benefits. Federal agencies are only allowed to place employees on administrative leave 10 days per calendar year, Peter Jenkins, senior counsel at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility told the Journal. It is unclear what would happen to the employees after 10 days.
Employees have been told the agency is compiling a list of employees who have worked on environmental-justice projects, the Journal reported. An email sent to employees who have worked there less than a year and obtained by the Journal said the agency "has the right to immediately terminate you."
The Inflation Reduction Act provided the EPA with funds to help low-income and historically disadvantaged communities recover from exposure to health risks from industrial activity, according to the Journal.
Republicans criticized it as wasteful spending.
The EPA is "working to diligently implement President Trump's executive orders," a representative told the Journal.
EJScreen, an EPA map that highlighted pollution in municipalities across the country went dark Wednesday.
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, told the Post the move would save money.
"I feel very sorry for anyone who's lost their jobs unexpectedly," Furchtgott-Roth said. "It's not their fault that the administration has changed and there are new priorities. But the federal government has a substantial deficit.
"They are looking for places to cut. And the environmental justice program," she added, "has outlived its usefulness and often results in increases in costs."
The Office of Environmental Justice was created in 1992 by Republican President George H.W. Bush.
Sam Barron ✉
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