The Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., is in disarray, with 84-degree heat and broken elevators, conditions that some staff members suspect are a ploy to drive out employees, CBS News reported Wednesday.
“One group of employees was relocated to a basement area next to a firing range where federal law enforcement officials practice shooting,” wrote CBS reporters Jennifer Jacobs and Tracy Wholf.
“EPA staff, experts in environmental hazards, have expressed wariness about lead levels in the air. Career staffers have wondered among themselves whether the workplace issues are another mechanism to induce resignations and further shrink the federal workforce, according to multiple people who requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media.”
President Donald Trump campaigned heavily on trimming down federal agencies, with tens of thousands of government employees having already accepted deferred resignations. While legal challenges have been mounted against the mass layoffs, Trump scored a victory Tuesday after the Supreme Court ruled that his administration could move ahead with its plan, at least in the meantime.
The EPA has not been spared from Trump’s mass layoffs, with hundreds of staff having already accepted voluntary resignations. Well over 100 EPA staff were placed on administrative leave last week for signing a letter criticizing the Trump administration’s efforts to cut the agency’s budget by more than 55%.
And now, as the EPA headquarters continues to fall into further disarray, its staff, CBS News reported, are suspicious of whether a motive exists behind the neglect.
The Trump administration has denied such allegations, however, telling CBS News that the EPA headquarters' condition is merely the result of “delayed maintenance,” and blamed the past administration under Joe Biden for the issues.
“The previous administration didn't invest in buildings that were partially empty, due to work-from-home habits,” a Trump administration official told CBS News. “The air conditioning at the White House, too, has had recent issues.”