BREAKING: Trump just fired thousands of EPA, Energy and Interior Dept. employees
Landmark has reviewed a termination letter sent to probationary EPA employees. Thousands of Interior and Energy Department employees have also been targeted, groups said.
(Editor’s note: Are you a federal employee who works on environmental or energy issues and want to talk about something that’s happening? Landmark has the secure messaging service Signal. Send us a message.)
Thousands of federal workers who work on environmental matters at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Energy Department, Interior Department and elsewhere were fired Friday as part of a Trump administration effort to cut the federal workforce across agencies, sources tell Landmark.
Sources told Landmark that emails were sent out to hundreds of probationary EPA employees on Friday afternoon.
The Center for Biological Diversity meanwhile said Friday that 2,300 Interior Department employees were also fired. Earthjustice said nearly 2,000 Energy Department employees have been fired since Trump took office and 3,400 Forest Service employees were dismissed.
The firings came after the U.S. Office of Personnel Management reportedly instructed various agencies to terminate employees in their probationary periods, which typically means workers who were hired within the past two years.
Landmark has reviewed a copy of one letter sent to EPA employees, which instructs employees to turn in badges, credit cards and other EPA property by 5 p.m. ET. The letter says the “Agency finds that you have failed to demonstrate fully your qualifications for continued employment.”
“If you believe that your termination was based on partisan political reasons or marital status, you have the right to appeal your termination to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board,” the letter states.
There are about 1,100 EPA employees who were hired within that two-year span including attorneys, sources said. Sources believe around 500-700 were likely terminated. (Other news agencies have reported the EPA said it fired 388 employees, but had previously said it fired 497).
The federal agencies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.