# EPA Declaration of Dissent The **EPA Declaration of Dissent** was an open letter to [[EPA]] Administrator [[Lee Zeldin]], made public on June 30, 2025 and signed by hundreds of the agency's employees, nearly 300 by one count, objecting to the direction of the agency under the [[Second Trump Administration]]. Unlike the [[Katrina Declaration]] it was a public dissent letter rather than a formal whistleblower disclosure, but the response to it became one of the largest retaliation cases of the period. On July 3, 2025 the EPA put roughly 140 employees who had signed by name on leave. Most were later reprimanded or suspended without pay for about two weeks. Firings followed from late August: about 15 by early October 2025, seven of them [[Probationary Period]] employees, according to Government Executive, while a June 2026 letter from 22 senators put the total at 20, including seven on probation. The termination notices said the employees' public-facing jobs required "alignment with the agency's communication strategies." Six fired employees appealed to the [[Merit Systems Protection Board]] in December 2025, represented by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Probationary employees cannot use that route, so on the letter's first anniversary seven of them sued in federal court, arguing that the firings punished speech made on their own time and protected by the First Amendment. > [!note] Stub > This is a short entry that hasn't been fully written yet. ## See also - [[Federal Whistleblower Roster]] - [[EPA]] · [[Lee Zeldin]] - [[Criminalizing Whistleblowers]]