The Trump administration has initiated cuts to federal employees at the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of the Interior, focusing on conservation and research roles. Furloughs at the EPA coincide with the government shutdown, while the Interior plans to eliminate over 2,000 positions. Critics argue these moves undermine environmental protections amid ongoing litigation.
Last Monday, the Trump administration advanced plans to reduce federal jobs in key environmental agencies. At the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), employees received a new round of furlough notices last week as agency funding diminishes during the government shutdown. The Department of the Interior disclosed intentions to permanently cut 2,050 positions through a "reduction in force," according to a court filing by its chief personnel officer. This filing responded to a judge's order regarding layoffs for unionized employees and occurred before the shutdown began, contradicting President Donald Trump's claim that such actions resulted from the shutdown.
The proposed Interior Department cuts primarily affect the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service regional offices, and headquarters. These roles support management of national parks, wildlife refuges, and public lands, including research on endangered species, water resources, natural hazards like flooding and wildfires, Great Lakes ecosystems, and toxic contaminants such as PFAS at the USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center in Missouri.
Environmental advocates have condemned the plans. Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, stated, "This plan would eviscerate the core science that every American depends on," warning of devastation to research in the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, and Great Lakes, and harm to park workers. She noted the filing covers only unionized positions, leaving non-union cuts unclear.
At the EPA, Trump described the shutdown as an opportunity to dismantle "Democrat programs." J.W. Glass, EPA policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity, criticized, "Only Trump’s EPA would lay off the people who protect our kids from breathing polluted air and drinking contaminated water but keep the pesticide office open to greenlight more poisons." EPA press secretary Carolyn Holran rejected claims of a deliberate dismantling, attributing furloughs to Democratic responsibility for the shutdown and emphasizing a "calculated approach" to presidential priorities. Peter Murchie, former EPA official with the Environmental Protection Network, urged congressional intervention, saying, "The health harms facing American families — cancer, childhood asthma, infertility, organ failure — don’t pause for politics."
The White House referred questions to the Interior Department, which did not respond. These actions occur amid broader efforts, including what EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the largest rollback of environmental protections in U.S. history.