Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, in their roles as Ranking Members of the Senate and House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittees, called on the Trump Administration to immediately halt impending Reductions in Force (RIFs) at the Department of Interior and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In letters to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Merkley and Pingree criticized the agency heads for continuing to put public health and public lands at risk while failing to fulfill the mission of the agencies. As senior members of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, the leaders are carrying out critical Congressional oversight.
“The Agency’s ongoing failure to provide complete information and to work transparently with Congress is unacceptable. As a reminder any reorganization, reprogramming, or funding change is subject to the jurisdiction of the Appropriations Committee,” write Merkley and Pingree, respectively Ranking Members of the Senate and house Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittees.
“Decades of institutional knowledge and scientific expertise have been lost and are in further danger of being eroded. Losing staff with specialized training in toxicology, water quality science, and cumulative impact assessment is not efficient and does not achieve mission-critical goals like protecting Americans from environmental hazards, regardless of administration. These are not abstract bureaucratic concerns; these are matters of quality of life, cost of living, and public health,” the Ranking Members told EPA Administrator Zeldin.
In a second letter to Interior Secretary Burgum, Merkley and Pingree press the Secretary to respond ahead of reported RIFs coming as early as next week. Merkley and Pingree pointedly criticize the agency’s attempts to reorganize several offices without providing responses to questions from the subcommittees and its delay in scheduling briefings as required.
“Mr. Secretary, every dollar of funding, every reorganization, every reprogramming, and every funding change or transfer is the direct jurisdiction of Congress and specifically our Committees. The Committees did not receive any notifications, materials, briefings, or other information about this major change – or any of the previous major personnel changes – in order to evaluate it,” write Merkley and Pingree to Interior Secretary Burgum. “There is simply zero justification for the drastic staffing cuts that have already been implemented, let alone another RIF.”
“A staffing loss of this level would cripple our ability to appropriately manage public lands on behalf of the American people, meet tribal treaty and trust responsibilities, and respond to growing threats of wildfire across the landscape and in our communities,” Merkley and Pingree add. “Decades of institutional knowledge were destroyed in a matter of months and are in further danger of being eroded. Losing staff with expertise and experience is not efficient and does not achieve mission critical goals.”
Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Members Merkley and Pingree cite the critical function of the Interior workforce, many in public-facing roles such as park rangers, refuge staff, and recreation specialists on public lands that span 500 million acres in all 50 states and U.S. territories. Additionally, RIFs would delay Tribes from getting their funding from self-governance contracts.
Full text of the letter to Administrator Zeldin is available AQUÍ, and the full text of the letter to Secretary Burgum is available AQUÍ.
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