24% Of EPA Workforce Gone Since 1/25; Staffers Who Left Had Median 30 Yrs Experience, Remaining Have 10 Yrs
Last edited Sun Mar 8, 2026, 09:25 AM - Edit history (1)
When President Donald Trump first sought to be the Republican standard-bearer in 2016, he promised to reduce the Environmental Protection Agency to “little tidbits.” Ten years later, he is closer than ever to that goal, according to an Inside Climate News analysis of federal workforce data released by the Office of Personnel Management. The EPA lost more than 4,000 employees in the first year of Trump’s second term, bringing its staffing down to a total of 12,849—a level not seen since the Reagan administration. That represents a reduction of 24 percent, more than double the rate of losses across the entire federal workforce.
The loss of expertise, particularly in science and health, runs deeper still. Proportionately, there were even greater reductions of staff with doctorate degrees, team leaders and those working in health occupations, a broad government employment category that includes public health experts.
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The full extent of the exodus from the EPA became apparent only this week, when the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released its snapshot of the federal workforce as of the end of January. In the previous monthly data release, the EPA was shown as having lost just over 13 percent of its employees by the end of 2025. But that was before the effective date for a wave of voluntary and early retirements. Data on departures from government employment indicate that almost 2,000 staff left the EPA’s roster at year-end, taking with them huge reserves of institutional experience: Those who left had a median length of service of 30.3 years, compared to 10.8 years for the staff who remain.
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But critics say the dual mission that Zeldin has articulated is at odds with itself, as when industry pollution threatens public health. They see the cuts in the EPA’s scientific expertise as in line with the agency’s decisions to roll back regulations on ozone, soot and greenhouse gas pollution from motor vehicles and power plants. “The scientists at EPA, for generations now, have been absolutely instrumental in doing what Congress intended EPA to do when it enacted the Clean Air Act, which is harnessing knowledge, harnessing scientific progress and harnessing technological progress to improve public health,” said Joe Goffman, who was the EPA’s assistant administrator for air programs in the Biden administration, and shepherded the greenhouse gas rules that are now being dismantled. “If your agenda is to put a stop to all that, then you have to remove one of the key links in this chain of improvement and change, which is the scientists themselves.”
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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06032026/trump-epa-staffing-lows/