EPA workers rally in downtown Denver to protest looming federal job cuts
More than 70 people who are members of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3607 chanted, "You will miss us when we're gone," and "Let us work."
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Employees at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 8 office in downtown Denver held a lunchtime rally Wednesday to protest looming cuts to the federal agency.
More than 70 people who are members of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3607 chanted, “You will miss us when we’re gone,” and “Let us work,” as they marched from the EPA’s Region 8 headquarters on Wewatta Street to Union Station and back.
“We’re not waiting around until we lose our jobs or lose our funding before we amplify this important work,” said Miles Batson, vice president of Local 3607.
President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk have pledged to cut thousands of federal jobs, including those at the EPA, which was created in 1970 by President Richard Nixon to protect air, land and water from pollution.
So far, only a handful of people in the Region 8 office have been put on administrative leave because they either were in their probationary period or work in environmental justice. Union representatives said they keep hearing more cuts are coming, but no one from the agency’s headquarters has been clear about details such as when reductions will start and which positions will be targeted.
Earlier this year, Trump said his new EPA administrator Lee Zeldin recommended cutting 65% of the entire agency’s workforce but the president did not offer specifics.
The EPA employs more than 17,000 people in the United States, and about 450 unionized workers are in its Denver office, Batson said. The Region 8 office serves Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and 28 tribal nations. Workers include scientists, engineers, lawyers and administrators who work on things like air-pollution permits, clean drinking water programs and hazardous waste cleanup at old industrial sites.
Many at the rally were hesitant to speak with reporters for fear of retaliation by the Trump administration.
“We have to protect the people at the EPA if we want to protect human health and the environment,” said Matt Castelli, a union steward. “We believe in this mission. This isn’t a 9-to-5 for us. This is a large part of our identity in our lives.”
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