President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency announced this week that 455 employees will be fired or reassigned to eliminate the Biden administration’s awakening program.
The EPA has notified that 280 employees will be terminated with a “power reduction.” axios It has been reported. Another 175 staff members will be reassigned to be responsible for “statutory functions.”
“To bring people back to the office is a priority right now.”
The affected people were held in the “environmental justice” and diversity, equity and comprehensive roles Environmental justice and external civil rights offices, the comprehensive excellence agency, and its regional offices.
An EPA spokesperson told Axios: “The EPA is taking the next step to end the arms of diversity, equity, inclusiveness and environmental justice of the Biden-Harris administration.”
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin has accused the former administration of abandoning $2 billion in taxpayer funds on environmental justice initiatives.
“If anyone tries to circle the wagon to light up billions of taxes in order to collide with billions of dollars of green slash funds, they won’t compromise on their zero-tolerance policy against waste and abuse!” he wrote Monday. post On social media.
During Monday Press conferenceZeldin worked to streamline agents and save taxpayer funds.
“When we came in, we mostly inherited a tactic where people weren’t here. “When I came in, I asked the team, ‘How many employees have been coming since January 2024?” And the answer is that on Mondays and Fridays, it averaged between 5-8%.
“Now it’s a priority to bring people back to the office,” Zeldin declared, adding that when workers are returned to the office, agencies can make informed decisions about the real estate footprint.
Zeldin’s EPA has already saved US taxpayers about $18 million by removing employees from the Ronald Reagan Building and integrating office spaces in Washington, DC.
EPA administrators are looking to tackle sewage flowing across the border from Mexico to California this week.
On Tuesday, Zeldin toured the San Diego County factory that treats sewage from the contaminated Tijuana River. He said the EPA will present Mexico with a list of actions to resolve the issue.
“This is not the answer on the US side. I hope I can solve all of this myself,” Zeldin said. kxtv. “There are many needs on the Mexican side.”
He said he spoke with Mexican officials about “chemical treatments” and “a 10 million gallons per day detour from the Tijuana River to the dam.”
“We want you to sit on both sides and go to projects, talk about all the timelines and make sure that all the projects are operating on the tightest timeline possible,” he added.
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