Late last week, the administration fired thousands of "probationary" officials — those who had been employed for a relatively short period of time — at various agencies including nearly 400 at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and about 2,300 at the Interior Department.
While the job functions of those let go are not fully clear, former officials say the cuts could hamstring the agencies' abilities to carry out their missions.
"The public health is going to be at risk, and certainly environmental protection," said Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, who worked at the EPA for about 40 years.
"If there were some kind of an environmental incident, if it was another East Palestine train wreck. We just had the wildfires in California. … It's going to be difficult to mount a federal response to help out, and that's going to put a huge added burden on states who are already under-resourced to deal with these things," she said.
"President Trump was elected with a mandate to create a more effective and efficient federal government that serves all Americans, and we are doing just that," the EPA said last week.
Phil Francis, a former National Park Service official who, among other roles, was superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway, said that for national parks alone, the consequences of the firings could be far-reaching.
"They're going to find visitor centers likely to be closed in places. Restrooms are not going to be as clean. If something goes wrong, they're going to have a harder time finding someone to report to. It may take longer for emergency personnel to reach someone," he said.
Laura Daniel-Davis, who was the Interior Department's acting No. 2 official during the Biden administration, warned that getting rid of staff, particularly at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), could hamper the Trump administration's own energy goals.
"A primary focus for us in terms of hiring for BLM over the last year, which is that probationary period … were people who do the permitting," Daniel-Davis told The Hill, referring to a step in the process needed to get energy projects up and running on federal lands.
Read more at TheHill.com.
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