Dem senators call on EPA to reinstate workers at EJ office

Democratic senators are calling on EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to reinstate almost 170 idled employees involved in environmental justice work, saying they are needed to help meet a key Trump administration objective.

Without the “specialized expertise” provided by the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, EPA “will be ill-equipped to achieve your stated outcome that ‘every American should have access to clean air, land and water,'" Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and more than a dozen colleagues say in a letter Friday.

That goal is the first of “five pillars” announced by Zeldin earlier this month to shape EPA policy decisions. Others include permitting changes and making the United States “the artificial intelligence capital of the world.”

In addition to Duckworth, 16 other Democratic senators signed on, including Cory Booker of New Jersey, Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Alex Padilla of California.

Absent strong leadership from EPA, they write, “a dangerous precedent will be set, signaling that the federal government will no longer be a resource to all Americans, especially those in areas overburdened by pollution and the accompanying health burden.”

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