EPA chief eyes 65% workforce reduction, Trump says

27/2/2025 6:15

U.S. President Donald

Trump on Wednesday said that Environmental Protection Agency

Administrator Lee Zeldin is planning to cut 65% of his agency's

workforce, a move that came as a surprise to agency staff.



Trump revealed the potential EPA staff reduction at the

first meeting of his cabinet, where his downsizing czar Elon

Musk pledged that he would move quickly to slash federal

spending.



"I spoke with Lee Zeldin, and he thinks he's going to be

cutting 65 or so percent of the people from environmental

," Trump said. "And we're going to speed up the process too

at the same time."



The EPA did not specify the details of the potential

workforce reduction figure that Trump mentioned, but said the

agency is focused on cutting federal grants, "reassessing" its

real estate footprint and "delivering organizational

improvements to the personnel structure."



“President Trump and EPA Administrator Zeldin are in lock

step in creating a more efficient and effective federal

government," an EPA spokesperson said.



News of the 65% target that Trump cited caught agency staff

off guard, with its union leadership saying it had not been

given advance notice or any detail of the desired cuts.



"Mr. Zeldin stated during his confirmation testimony that

he pledged 'to enthusiastically uphold the EPA’s mission…foster

a collaborative culture within the agency, supporting career

staff who have dedicated themselves to this mission," Joyce

Howell, executive vice president of AFGE Council 238

representing EPA employees, told Reuters.



"So which is it? Upholding the EPA mission or imposing a

reduction in force that makes upholding the EPA mission an

impossibility?"



So far, the EPA terminated nearly 400 probationary employees

and placed nearly 200 employees on leave who worked on

environmental justice issues at the agency.



A memo released ahead of the cabinet meeting called for a

"significant reduction" but did not specify how many workers

should be laid off, beyond the 100,000 of the nation's 2.3

million civilian federal workers who have already taken a buyout

or been fired.



The unprecedented government overhaul has so far fired more

than 20,000 workers, frozen foreign aid, and disrupted

construction projects and scientific research, though it has not

slowed spending so far.