President Trump: Lee Zeldin plans to cut 65% of EPA staff
During the first meeting of his cabinet, President Donald Trump said EPA sdministrator and Long Island native Lee Zeldin informed him the agency could see its staff cut by more than a half.
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President Donald Trump announced the Environmental Protection Agency could be the next federal agency to see its staffing be slashed.
During the first meeting of his cabinet, President Trump said EPA administrator and Long Island native Lee Zeldin informed him the agency could see its staff cut by more than a half.
"I spoke with Lee Zeldin and he thinks he's going to be cutting 65% of the people from environmental, and we're going to speed up the process too,” said President Trump. “At the same time, you had a lot of people that weren't doing their job. They were just obstructionists and a lot of people that didn't exist."
Zeldin, of Shirley, was a former congressman on Long Island.
Citizens Campaign for the Environment executive director Adrienne Esposito said she worries how these staffing cuts could impact key federal programs protecting Long Island’s environment.
"The restoration and protection of the Long Island Sound, the Peconic Estuary. Those are federal programs,” she said. “Also, doing things such as enforcing, helping us to enforce drinking water standards."
According to the EPA’s website, the agency currently employs more than 15,000 people.
News 12 reached out to AFGE Local 3911, the union representing EPA workers from New York, for a comment about the proposed cuts.
News 12 is awaiting a response back.
