EPA plans to buy out more than 1,200 employees this summer

The Environmental Protection Agency plans on shedding more than 1,200 employees by early September through buyouts and early retirements, as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to shrink a government entity the president once promised to eliminate “in almost every form.” The departures would amount to about 8 percent of the current 15,000-person workforce of the EPA, where a hiring freeze also remains in effect. The Trump administration has proposed a 31 percent cut to its budget, the largest percentage reduction of any agency and one that could mean several thousand job losses. In an email to EPA union leaders this week, an agency attorney said the EPA plans to make buyout offers to as many as 1,228 employees. “As of now,” the message read, “the last effective date for employee separations is September 2, 2017, so any applications would have to be in before that date.”...more