Environment — News & Analysis

EPA on track to lose one-third of its workforce; environmental justice office eliminated (September 18, 2025)

September 18, 2025 — Analysis by the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative found that the EPA was on track to lose one-third of its entire workforce by the end of 2025 — a combination of DOGE-driven early retirements and resignations, formal reductions-in-force, and early-out offers accepted by more than 3,000 staffers. The agency had already cut approximately 3,707 employees as of a July press release — 23 percent of its workforce — with additional cuts pending. In February, Trump had publicly mused about cutting 65 percent of EPA staff.

The cuts fell especially hard on programs Congress had not authorized for elimination. In April 2025, the EPA sent 280 environmental justice employees notices that they would be fired or reassigned by July, effectively eliminating the agency's Office of Environmental Justice — the unit responsible for addressing disproportionate pollution burdens in low-income communities and communities of color. The agency also dismissed its scientific advisory boards, removed climate change references from its website, and froze disbursement of already-authorized grant funding across multiple programs, even where court orders directed release of the funds.

Former EPA officials warned that the hollowing-out of institutional knowledge and technical expertise would take a decade or more to reverse. The National Association of Clean Air Agencies, which represents state and local air quality regulators, noted that many of the enforcement and monitoring functions being eliminated relied on EPA staff who had spent careers building expertise. States attempting to run their own programs were left without federal partners.