EPA Axes Hundreds in Environmental Justice Shake-Up, Zeldin Targets Border Sewage Crisis

The Environmental Protection Agency just made a massive move, firing or reassigning over 450 employees as part of the Trump administration's campaign to end "environmental justice" programs.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin revealed Monday that 280 staffers got the axe, while another 175 will be shuffled to different roles. The cuts hit several offices, including Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, Inclusive Excellence, and regional EPA teams.

According to an EPA spokesperson, the agency is "taking the next step to terminate" initiatives launched under the Biden-Harris era that focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and environmental justice. Zeldin, never one to mince words, claimed at a press conference that the money spent on these programs was "widely misspent." He argued, "The problem is that, in the name of environmental justice, a dollar will get secured and not get spent on remediating that environmental issue."

While the pink slips were flying, Zeldin was also busy dealing with a real-life environmental disaster: toxic sewage from Mexico gushing over the border and polluting California's coast. He traveled to San Diego to meet with Mexican officials about the mess, which has even reached the Navy SEALs' training grounds. Zeldin put it bluntly: "There's no way that we are going to stand before the people of California and ask them to have more patience and just bear with all of us as we go through the next 10 or 20 or 30 years of being stuck in 12 feet of raw sewage and not getting anywhere."

He said both the U.S. and Mexico are, in his words, "all out of patience," and that the new Mexican president is eager to fix the crisis. Zeldin met with Mexican environmental officials for 90 minutes Monday night and says both sides are working toward a clear, joint commitment on how to finally end the pollution nightmare. If only government action could move as fast as sewage flows downhill.