EPA Chief Lee Zeldin Says Only 5 to 8% of EPA Workers Show up to Work on Mondays and Fridays

MATTINGLY: “Yeah, I think it was three weeks after then-Senator Vance was sworn in, in the U.S. Senate, when he got that phone call, had been working on it throughout his time in the chamber. I want to step back — and sorry for saying ‘weeks,’ all the time is kind of meshing together at this point in a very, very accelerated administration, the first couple of weeks of the administration. Your role is critical to the president‘s kind of broader agenda, particularly on energy, climate, environment, conservation, permitting issues as well. When you look at kind of the workforce that you‘re coming over the top of from the last administration, very different policy priorities from the last administration, how do you see this playing out?”
ZELDIN: “I think it’s important for our team to be showing up. I was just briefed yesterday that on Mondays and Fridays, the EPA headquarters was averaging about 5 to 8% capacity. I mean, think about how low that number is. We need people in the office collaborating, working together. We need to be productive and efficient. As far as ramping up efforts on the ground, right now in Los Angeles, EPA has just launched what is the largest wildfire cleanup in the history of the EPA. As of today, the last number that I got, we have over 1100 people in the field cleaning up hazardous materials. We‘re still finishing up in western North Carolina. But I think it‘s very important, Phil, that we have our team here in headquarters and in the regions showing up, working hard and making the American public proud.”
MATTINGLY: “And that’s been certainly a push by the administration writ large, as well. You were quoted shortly after being sworn in that every single agency, every single cabinet official has a mandate to have a workforce reduction. Obviously, efficiency and leaning out the government has been a pretty significant focal point of this administration. Right around the same time, I think more than a thousand employees in your workforce, who had been working a year or less at EPA, got emails telling them, because they were on that probationary period, they could be fired at any time. What is the plan and what was the point of that email?”
ZELDIN: “Well, first off, that email, which I believe went to around 1700 or so employees, were to people who were probationary employees, just re-stating what that means. What we‘re seeing right now is that a lot of employees are taking the fork in the road. That is, they can choose to leave the federal government and get paid through the end of September. We just instituted a voluntary early retirement opportunity for people, which is being warmly received from a number of employees who are looking for that option. And it‘s important for us to just be efficient and productive. We have core statutory requirements that are in law that EPA needs to do exceptionally. It‘s important that we‘re able to execute on our mission, which is protecting human health and the environment. And as as I laid out this morning in announcing an initiative to power the great American comeback, I think it‘s important that while executing that first pillar of pursuing clean, safe, healthy air, land, water, that we are looking at what‘s in our jurisdiction to help unleash energy dominance, to make America the AI capital of the world, to have permitting reform and to bring back American auto jobs. And that‘s just a sample of some of what we could do to be part of a solution, because the American public spoke last November that they have great concern over economic issues to be able to pursue their American dream. And that‘s something we‘re sensitive to.”