E&C Democrats Probe Mass Firings at DOE, EPA

Energy and Commerce Democratic Committee leaders wrote to Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin demanding answers about the effects of mass firings at both agencies on energy costs, American innovation, and public health.

The letter to Secretary Wright was sent from full Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Energy Subcommittee Ranking Member Kathy Castor (D-FL), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY). The letter to EPA was sent from Pallone, Clarke, and Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member Paul Tonko (D-NY).

“Americans in every state and territory benefit from the jobs and lower energy costs that DOE investments create and are safeguarded by the critical role DOE plays ensuring our national security,” Pallone, Castor, and Clarke wrote in their letter to Secretary Wright. “Destroying programs and indiscriminately eliminating the workforce that is striving to provide reliable energy at lower costs would drive up home electricity prices even as the Trump Administration separately guts programs elsewhere in the government dedicated to assisting families with those costs.”

“The work that EPA career staff do each day is essential to ensuring Americans can breathe clean air and have access to safe drinking water,” wrote Pallone, Tonko, and Clarke in their letter to Administrator Zeldin. “Your persistent assault on career civil servants threatens public health and will make it impossible for EPA to fulfill its mission ‘to protect human health and the environment.’”

The Democratic Committee leaders voiced concern that additional cuts are being planned as a result of Trump’s Executive Order requiring agencies, including DOE and EPA, to submit a plan to the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management by March 13 detailing proposed mass layoffs. Last month, there were reports of plans at EPA to terminate more than 1,100 scientists and recent reports that DOE may consider only about 56 percent of its workforce as “essential” and therefore safe from future workforce cuts.

Numerous audits have found that both DOE and EPA require additional staff and resources to fulfill their missions. At recent hearings before the Committee, both the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and each agency’s Offices of Inspector General (OIG) highlighted progress the agencies have made but reiterated their past findings regarding persistent workforce challenges.

The Committee leaders demanded information from Secretary Wright and Administrator Zeldin by April 24, including:

• The current staffing levels in each DOE and EPA office identified in the agency’s organizational chart;
• The number of probationary employees terminated from each agency since January 20, 2025;
• The number of non-probationary employees involuntarily terminated by each agency since January 20, 2025;
• All reports, analysis, memoranda, and any other documents assessing the impact of recent and planned workforce reductions at DOE and EPA on programs at the agencies; and
• A detailed description of whether or how DOE and EPA intend to mitigate the impact of recent and planned workforce reductions.

Full text of the letters to Secretary Wright is available HERE and to Administrator Zeldin HERE.

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