Washington, DC — U.S. Administrator Lee Zeldin’s recent move to place approximately 140 agency employees on leave for signing a letter of dissent appears at odds with a Trump Executive Order forbidding any official action “that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen,” according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Zeldin placed the EPA employees on paid leave “through July 17 pending an administrative investigation.”

On the first day of his second term, Trump signed an Executive Order entitled “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship,” denouncing the prior administration’s trampling of free speech to advance its “preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate.” The Order states that “government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society,” and it forbids any taxpayer resources from being “used to engage in or facilitate any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.”

Six months later, a group of current and former EPA employees signed a “declaration of dissent” criticizing current agency actions on a range of public health, enforcement, and scientific integrity issues. In a statement, Zeldin indicated that he will enforce EPA’s current “preferred narrative,” declaring “We have a ZERO tolerance policy for agency bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the agenda of this administration,” without specifying which law they allegedly breached.

Notably, the Trump Order accused the Biden administration of censorship “under the guise of combatting ‘misinformation,’” yet Zeldin decried the employee letter precisely because it was allegedly “riddled with misinformation.”

“In this administration, do only those who agree with Donald Trump enjoy free speech?” asked PEER General Counsel Joanna Citron Day, an attorney formerly with the Departments of Justice and Interior, as well as EPA. “Censorship is censorship – full stop. Trump’s Order is selectively being used as a weapon to silence critics of the Administration and its policies.”

The July 17^th date is significant because EPA is not authorized to keep workers on paid administrative leave for more than ten days unless they are formally charged with misconduct. Ironically, some of the employees are already on administrative leave due to prior agency action against environmental justice and probationary employees.

“Administrator Zeldin needs to engage with his own employees instead of seeking to suppress their concerns,” added PEER’s Executive Director Tim Whitehouse. “The right to dissent is a fundamental right that EPA must protect.”

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Read the Trump Executive Order “Restoring Free Speech”

Compare EPA employee protest letter

Examine pending federal employee free speech lawsuit

Revisit 10-day limit on administrative leave