Top E&C Democrats Demand Answers from Zeldin for Ignoring Agency Guidance Before Illegally Retaliating Against EPA Staffers

Washington, D.C. – Energy and Commerce Committee Democratic leaders wrote to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin today demanding he answer for the illegal retaliation he directed against EPA employees who signed a letter expressing concern over the agency’s actions, and for misleading the Committee during testimony earlier this year. The letter was sent by Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member Paul Tonko (D-NY), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY).

“You and your closest advisors engaged in a coordinated campaign of mass retaliation against EPA employees after they signed a public letter calling attention to the harm that your leadership was causing to EPA and the nation,” Pallone, Clarke, and Tonko wrote in their letter to Zeldin. “Disturbingly, these actions came after agency attorneys and ethics officials had explicitly warned that retaliating would likely violate the signers’ First Amendment rights. When directly asked about your actions at a Committee hearing in April, you failed to explain why you ignored these warnings. Your willingness to disregard the law to punish well-founded criticism and then mislead the Committee is deeply concerning, and further evidence that you are unfit to serve as Administrator.”

The retaliation occurred after hundreds of EPA scientists and staff published an open letter in June 2025 warning that the Trump EPA’s actions had eroded public trust and the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission. In response, reports indicate that Zeldin and his closest advisors immediately initiated a coordinated campaign of mass retaliation against those EPA staff who had exercised their First Amendment rights to sign the open letter. 

Despite EPA attorneys and ethics officials warning senior officials against taking any personnel actions “that may be viewed as retaliatory,” between July and October 2025, Zeldin and senior EPA officials placed nearly 150 employees on extended administrative leave. Ultimately – after spending months on paid administrative leave – many of these employees were suspended for two weeks without pay and at least 16 were fully terminated.

Pallone, Tonko, and Clarke blasted Zeldin for giving contradictory testimony to the Committee when Tonko specifically asked about these retaliatory actions at an April 2026 hearing.

“During your most recent appearance before the Committee, Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member Tonko directly asked you about your retaliation against EPA staff. Despite being confronted with evidence that EPA counsel had directly advised against conducting these investigations, you continued to claim that you acted ‘on the advice of counsel,’” they wrote. “At no point during the hearing did you even attempt to explain this troubling discrepancy.”

The three Committee leaders stressed that the First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees all people subject to the laws of the United States the inalienable right to free speech, and government employees do not forfeit all First Amendment rights upon entering public service.  

Pallone, Tonko, and Clarke are demanding answers as to why Zeldin ignored legal advice and retaliated against agency employees for exercising their First Amendment rights and why he misled the Committee. Their request includes:

• Documents and communications containing the legal advice Zeldin received when, as he testified before the Committee, that he “acted on the advice of counsel;”
• Documents and communications regarding who decided to place EPA employees on administrative leave, and the basis for that decision;
• A detailed description of the investigation the agency completed into EPA employees who signed the open letter; and
• Documents and communications regarding the process and outcome of the investigation of EPA employees and any disciplinary actions taken.

The full letter is available HERE.

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