By Samantha Maldonado, THE CITY | Editorial Credit: Samantha Maldonado/THE CITY

From air monitoring to hazardous waste disposal, wary EPA workers and former regional administrators described how the Trump administration’s moves to limit their agency will manifest in New York City.

Over 100 Environmental Protection Agency workers and supporters on Tuesday marched at Federal Plaza in Manhattan during their lunch breaks to protest the Trump administration’s cuts to staff and funding.

The march came as part of a nationwide day of action for EPA employees, who create and uphold regulations to protect clean air and water, conduct scientific research on topics like chemicals, drinking water safety and human health, and provide technical support to local governments and community organizations.

“We’re fighting for keeping federal employees in their offices doing their jobs, making sure that we’re protecting the environment, protecting the air, protecting the land, protecting the water,” said Ed Guster, an EPA employee of nearly three decades and local president of AFGE Local 3911.

Guster said the uncertainty and chaos made it hard to focus day to day.

“We’re constantly in a whirlwind,” he said.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin moved to cut the EPA’s scientific research arm and fire over 1,000 employees. Zeldin has said he wants to enact major cuts to the EPA’s budget, which agency workers say would devastate the agency’s capacity to function, including carrying out research, monitoring water and air quality and responding to disasters.

Zeldin also announced intent to repeal dozens of environmental regulations that limit air pollution and protect waterbodies.

The ax to the EPA comes down as part of Elon Musk’s project to find and eliminate inefficiencies, known as the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

The EPA workers on Tuesday held signs that read, “There is no Planet B” and “delete DOGE.” They chanted, “When clean air is under attack, what do we do? Stand up fight back!” and “How do you spell corruption? E-L-O-N.”

An EPA employee who works in community engagement said Musk’s purported mission to create efficiencies is doing the opposite.

“If we’re talking about Superfund and things like that, we have to pay for ads in the newspaper, we have to travel to our different Superfund sites,” said the worker, who asked to remain nameless for fear of professional reprisals. “Because there are so many limits happening on what we can and can’t do, that work isn’t getting done.”

New York City is home to four Superfund sites, contaminated areas that the EPA is helping to clean up. In places like Newtown Creek and the Gowanus Canal, the EPA conducts community outreach and testing for toxic substances, among other functions.

Suzanne Englot, an EPA attorney working on waste and toxic substances enforcement, works with housing complexes on enforcing rules around lead paint and asbestos, and to make sure companies, manufacturers and other facilities are properly storing and disposing of hazardous waste. She said she’s worried that work will be at risk if cuts go through.

“You’d think that everyone wants to make sure that hazardous waste is being managed correctly, but in this environment it’s unclear what environmental protection will be left after Elon is done dismantling our agency,” Englot said. “The uncertainty extends to the people that we regulate, to the people that we provide grants to, to the people who are our partners, our state and local partners.”

Lisa Garcia, a former regional administrator during the Biden administration who marched Tuesday, pointed out that the EPA also tracks air quality in real time, which provides information about when it’s healthy to be outside.

“When the fires happened in Canada, New York City was dependent on air monitoring that the state and EPA were doing together,” she said. “If you dismantle funding for those resources and get rid of staff, you might not be able to have that real clear data that tells you, is the air safe?”

Garcia said the move to close the offices of environmental justice, which specifically addressed communities most affected by pollution and vulnerable to the effects of climate change, could ruin the relationships forged between locals and the government.

In an emailed statement, an EPA spokesperson who did not provide their name said the staff cuts have been made “in accordance with President Trump’s agenda to eliminate DEI programs.”

“We are committed to enhancing our ability to deliver clean air, water, and land for all Americans,” the spokesperson wrote. “While no decisions have been made yet, we are actively listening to employees at all levels to gather ideas on how to better fulfill agency statutory obligations, increase efficiency, and ensure the EPA is as up-to-date and effective as ever.”

That’s cold comfort for Judith Enck, a former regional administrator during the Obama administration, who in an email called Trump’s EPA “the most anti-environmental administration in the entire 50-year-plus history of the EPA.”

“Federal water quality standards are why we occasionally see dolphins swimming in unlikely places like the East River,” Enck said. “Perhaps most importantly, New York City has been hard hit by the impacts of climate change and environmental injustices, two big things that this EPA has shamefully walked away from.”