‘Zero Tolerance’: EPA Puts Rogue Minority of Staffers on Leave, Launches Investigation into Effort to Upend Will of American People

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin on Thursday put a rogue minority of staffers on leave and launched an investigation into staffers that are seeking to upend the will of the American people regarding President Trump’s energy dominance policies.

“We have a ZERO tolerance policy for agency bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the agenda of this administration as voted for by the great people of this country last November. The will of the American public will not be ignored at our agency,” Zeldin said in a written statement to Breitbart News.

The leader of the EPA will place 144 employees, a fraction of the agency’s 15,000-plus staffers, on administrative leave pending further investigation after some employees exploited their titles and official status as EPA employees to push a partisan agenda that does not reflect the will of the American people, who elected Donald Trump as the 47th president.

“The vast majority of agency employees are dedicated to the core mission of protecting human health and the environment, Powering the Great American Comeback, and respecting the will of the American people,” Zeldin continued in his statement. “Whether at our agency headquarters in DC or spread out across America’s regions, during my travels to 22 states since confirmation, it has been a high honor to actively engage with the EPA’s talented and dedicated career staffers, answering their questions, listening to their counsel, and partnering to implement the agenda our country voted for last year.”

The letter features many former EPA employees, 207 anonymous figures, and many who are former Democrat political appointees.

The EPA has a zero tolerance policy against any employee using their federal position to seek to mislead the public and undermine Trump’s political mandate to unleash energy dominance while working to maintain clean air, water, and land.

The partisan letter accuses Administrator Zeldin of violating the Hatch Act by discussing Trump’s tariffs policies or the Big Beautiful Bill; however, many of these employees do not appear to have had any issues with Democrat Administrator Michael Regan promoting the Inflation Reduction Act.

While some have criticized the “Call It A Comeback” EPA newsletter, Justina Fugh, the EPA director of the agency’s Ethics Office, said that the newsletter complied with the Hatch Act.

Fugh wrote in an email statement obtained by Breitbart News:

EPA Ethics received several inquiries as to whether the Hatch Act applies. As I indicated to you both orally, the text does not, in and of itself, actually violate the Hatch Act: it does not advocate for or against a candidate for partisan election, political party or partisan group. We have been explaining to employees and ethics officials that, while my staff and I advise about federal ethics and the Hatch Act, we are decidedly not the “tone police.”

Nicole Cantello, who signed the letter, is the president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 704, whose local union group has written strident anti-Trump posts on social media.

For instance, the AFGE Local 704 wrote in June, “Trump and @epaleezeldin are doing all that they can to stop us from protecting you and the environment. On behalf of @eparegion5 employees, WE DISSENT!”

“Unfortunately, a small number of employees signed onto a public letter, written as agency employees, using their official work title, that was riddled with misinformation regarding agency business. Our ZERO tolerance policy is in full force and effect and will be unapologetically implemented unconditionally,” Zeldin concluded his statement.