“This man is not our boss” — EPA workers rally against DOGE cuts

Environmental Safety Company staff took to the streets throughout the US at this time to protest drastic cuts President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE have made on the federal company whose mission is to “defend human well being and the surroundings.” 

Musk, the face of DOGE and the goal of rising protests at Tesla dealerships, was an even bigger identify on the rally than Trump. “How do you spell corruption? E-L-O-N” staff and their supporters chanted at a picket line in entrance of a federal constructing in New York Metropolis. Some held indicators with “this man shouldn’t be our boss” written in pink over a sketch of Musk’s face. Greater than 150 individuals rallied with picket indicators chanting “Transfer, DOGE, get out the way in which,” to the tune of a Ludacris song, and “What will we do when clear land/air/water/science is beneath assault? Rise up, battle again!”

The employees, represented by union AFGE Council 238, held marches in 8 cities as a part of a ‘Nationwide Day of Motion.’ Plans to dismantle a lot of the company and weaken protections towards air pollution put Individuals in danger, EPA staff warn.

“I work on imposing laws that cope with hazardous waste and poisonous substances, which is figure that I really feel shouldn’t be a partisan difficulty,” says Suzanne Englot, an lawyer who works in enforcement on the EPA. “Everybody needs to ensure that hazardous waste and poisonous substances are correctly regulated, disposed of, saved and all of that. However in these instances, it makes me nervous that issues are going to alter.”

The EPA, beneath Trump’s govt orders, is now barred from taking any enforcement or compliance actions that may “shut down any stage of vitality manufacturing” except there’s an “imminent and substantial” well being menace, in accordance with a memo that EPA leadership issued on March 12th.

On the identical day, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin introduced what he called “the best day of deregulation our nation has seen,” proposing rollbacks on dozens of rules meant to curb air pollution from energy crops, oil and fuel refineries, chemical crops, vehicles and vans, factories, and extra.

The Trump administration has additionally moved to shutter the company’s scientific research office and environmental justice offices. Trump has mused about cutting the EPA’s budget by 65 percent. Round 1,100 probationary staff on the EPA received notice in January telling them the company “has the best to instantly terminate you.” A federal choose later ordered the Trump administration to rehire hundreds of workers who had been laid off on the company. And the White Home faces extra authorized challenges over its dismantling of federal companies and deregulation spree.    

Each Trump and billionaire-backer Musk complained about laws slowing corporations down throughout final 12 months’s election season. “It prices way more to do issues environmentally clear,” Trump stated in an interview with Joe Rogan on October twenty fifth. 

“We’ve acquired to have wise spending. And we’ve acquired to have deregulation …. I’m pro-environment, [but] I don’t assume we should always vilify the oil and fuel business as a result of they’re holding civilization going proper now,” Musk stated in his X interview with Trump on August 12th. Musk later wielded a chainsaw “for bureaucracy” on the Conservative Political Action Conference stage last month.  

“Elon is perpetuating a local weather of worry and focusing on federal staff and the mission that they perform to guard human well being and the surroundings,” EPA environmental engineer Harper Stanfield informed The Verge on the rally in New York Metropolis. “We will’t let EPA be silenced by billionaires.”

Trump has accepted tens of millions of dollars in funding from the oil and fuel business. Elon Musk spent greater than $250 million helping Trump get elected. The president then handed Musk the facility to dramatically makeover federal companies by way of his submit main the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE). 

In an e-mail to The Verge, the EPA stated that it’s “listening” to staff and made cuts to adjust to Trump’s agenda to remove applications it considers variety, fairness, and inclusion initiatives.

Stanfield and Englot stated on the rally at this time that they’re calling on Congress to behave as a examine on the manager department, and asking individuals to achieve out to their elected representatives to assist the EPA’s work. 

“Democrat, Republican, impartial, whoever it’s, everyone seems to be impacted by this,” Englot says. “EPA’s work touches everybody’s lives.”