These federal employees feel stretched thin by attrition and worn down by regulatory rollbacks.
Workers at the Environmental Protection Agency say staffing and morale levels have fallen so low that they’re calling for a new “bill of rights” to protect the EPA’s scientific integrity.
Backed by a handful of Democratic lawmakers, the employees are demanding that agency leadership not interfere politically in their enforcement duties or their environmental research. They’re also asking for a beefed-up budget, an end to government shutdowns and a new union contract bargained by both sides.
Bethany Dreyfus, a lawyer working on Superfund enforcement for the EPA in San Francisco, said the agency’s offices have been stretched thin by employee attrition and worn down by what she sees as the White House’s hostility to the agency’s core work. While the proposed bill of rights is essentially a symbolic gesture, she said she hopes it reminds leadership of the EPA’s stated mission, which is to protect human health and the environment. Continue reading.