{"id":94407,"date":"2025-07-03T15:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T19:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=94407"},"modified":"2025-07-03T15:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T19:28:07","slug":"epa-puts-on-leave-139-employees-who-spoke-out-against-policies-under-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/03\/epa-puts-on-leave-139-employees-who-spoke-out-against-policies-under-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA puts on leave 139 employees who spoke out against policies under Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Melina Walling The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a \u201cdeclaration of dissent\u201d with its policies, accusing them of \u201cunlawfully undermining\u201d the Trump administration&#8217;s agenda. In a letter made public Monday, the employees wrote that the agency is no longer living up to its mission to protect human health and the environment. The letter represented rare public criticism from agency employees who knew they could face blowback for speaking out against a weakening of funding and federal support for climate, environmental and health science. In a statement Thursday, the EPA said it has a \u201czero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging and undercutting\u201d the Trump administration\u2019s agenda. Employees were notified that they had been placed in a \u201ctemporary, non-duty, paid status\u201d&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F07%2F03%2Fepa-puts-on-leave-139-employees-who-spoke-out-against-policies-under-trump%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Melina Walling The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a \u201cdeclaration of dissent\u201d with its policies, accusing them of \u201cunlawfully undermining\u201d the Trump administration&#8217;s agenda. In a letter made public Monday, the employees wrote that the agency is no longer living up to its mission to protect human health and the environment. The letter represented rare public criticism from agency employees who knew they could face blowback for speaking out against a weakening of funding and federal support for climate, environmental and health science. In a statement Thursday, the EPA said it has a \u201czero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging and undercutting\u201d the Trump administration\u2019s agenda. Employees were notified that they had been placed in a \u201ctemporary, non-duty, paid status\u201d... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F07%2F03%2Fepa-puts-on-leave-139-employees-who-spoke-out-against-policies-under-trump%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>EPA puts on leave 139 employees who spoke out against policies under Trump - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/03\/epa-puts-on-leave-139-employees-who-spoke-out-against-policies-under-trump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EPA puts on leave 139 employees who spoke out against policies under Trump - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Melina Walling The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a \u201cdeclaration of dissent\u201d with its policies, accusing them of \u201cunlawfully undermining\u201d the Trump administration&#8217;s agenda. In a letter made public Monday, the employees wrote that the agency is no longer living up to its mission to protect human health and the environment. The letter represented rare public criticism from agency employees who knew they could face blowback for speaking out against a weakening of funding and federal support for climate, environmental and health science. In a statement Thursday, the EPA said it has a \u201czero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging and undercutting\u201d the Trump administration\u2019s agenda. Employees were notified that they had been placed in a \u201ctemporary, non-duty, paid status\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/03\/epa-puts-on-leave-139-employees-who-spoke-out-against-policies-under-trump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-03T19:28:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/03\\\/epa-puts-on-leave-139-employees-who-spoke-out-against-policies-under-trump\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/03\\\/epa-puts-on-leave-139-employees-who-spoke-out-against-policies-under-trump\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"EPA puts on leave 139 employees who spoke out against policies under Trump\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-03T19:28:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/03\\\/epa-puts-on-leave-139-employees-who-spoke-out-against-policies-under-trump\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":478,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/03\\\/epa-puts-on-leave-139-employees-who-spoke-out-against-policies-under-trump\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/03\\\/epa-puts-on-leave-139-employees-who-spoke-out-against-policies-under-trump\\\/\",\"name\":\"EPA puts on leave 139 employees who spoke out against policies under Trump - 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