In the News

Jeremy Symons, Senior Adviser to EPN, was also quoted in The Michigan Public about how the laid off EPA employees in Region 5 “… are the superheroes along with first responders and everyone who mobilizes when disaster strikes.”

Michelle Roos; David Cash, former Regional Administrator, Region 1; and Denny Dart, former Environmental Engineering Manager, Region 1, were quoted about layoffs at EPA, which will affect the enforcement of environmental statutes, and the on-again off-again uncertainty surrounding EPA grants that has put hundreds of projects in jeopardy.

Matt Tejada, former Deputy Assistant Administrator, EPA Office for Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, wrote an opinion piece in Environmental Health News about the value of environmental justice in EPA.

Zealan Hoover, former Senior Advisor to EPA Administrator and Director of Implementation, and Jeremy Symons, Senior Advisor to EPN, were quoted in Planet Detroit about EPA firing hundreds of employees in Region 5 but then reversing the firings for some. 

Stan Meiburg, former Acting Deputy Administrator, was quoted in E&E News about Trump’s Executive Order Canceling the Presidential Management Fellows program, a prestigious program that prepares young people to understand and serve in the federal government.

Mustafa Santiago Ali, former EPA Senior Advisor and Assistant Associate Administrator; Stan Meiburg, former Acting Deputy Administrator; and Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, former Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for Science, Office of Research and Development, were quoted in The Hill about the firings of probationary employees and the consequences it will have on EPA and the Department of Interior.

Lisa Garcia, Former Regional Administrator, EPA Region 2, was quoted in Politico about cuts to EPA’s workforce and how Musk’s goals of cutting back the federal workforce undermines Trump’s goals of environmental deregulation.

Michelle Roos was quoted in Inside Climate News about how grantees are struggling to get updates from EPA as EPA employees are forbidden from talking with outside entities.

EPN was mentioned in WSOC-TV about the estimated amount of federal funding that has been put on pause in North Carolina, specifically from programs for electric school buses, energy affordability programs, and pollution control.

Stan Meiburg, former Acting Deputy Administrator, was a guest on the Often Wrong podcast to discuss how we typically approach environmental disasters and the discourse surrounding them.

Zealan Hoover, former Senior Advisor to the EPA Administrator and Director of Implementation, was quoted in Politico about the firings of probationary EPA employees and how this will slow down Trump’s efforts to fight waste, fraud, and abuse within the federal government.

Stan Meiburg, former Acting Deputy Administrator, was quoted in Politico about a House Republican effort to define EPA’s authority in one bill and the likely bipartisan disagreement the bill will have if brought to the floor.

Joe Goffman, former Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, Zealan Hoover, former Senior Advisor to the EPA Administrator and Director of Implementation, and Stan Meiburg, former Acting Deputy Administrator, were quoted in Politico about an EPA-specific pause on federal funding to analyze for fraud, waste, and abuse, which officials said was separate from Trump’s broad executive order that has been blocked by courts.

Michelle Roos was quoted in the Houston Chronicle about the $400 million Solar for All funds that remain frozen allocated for Texas energy projects.

Michelle Roos was quoted in Planet Detroit about community groups that received EPA grants but are unable to draw down funds from the government reimbursement platform, ASAP, to continue their projects.

Michelle Roos was quoted in NPR about how subcontractors and consultants will be less interested in working for federally funded projects because of the frozen funding, leaving community groups without critical expertise.

Michelle Roos was quoted in Grist about community groups that received EPA grants but are unable to draw down funds from the government reimbursement platform, ASAP, to continue their projects.

Jeremy Symons, Senior Adviser to EPN, was quoted in The New York Times about how Trump is undermining his deregulatory agenda by firing the agency staff needed to write new regulations.

Jeremy Symons, Senior Advisor to EPN, was quoted in Inside EPA about a federal judge’s indefinite block on Trump’s “Fork in the Road” buyout offer and what it could mean for the millions of federal workers that received it.

Betsy Southerland, former Director, Science and Technology, EPA Office of Water, was featured on a podcast hosted by Bloomberg Intelligence about the potential of Trump’s EPA to roll back Biden-era rules that designated certain forms of PFAS as hazardous substances under Superfund, and why this will have negative impacts on the U.S.’s water quality for years to come.

Michelle Roos was quoted in Pittsburgh NPR station WESA about the Trump administration not complying with a temporary restraining order against withholding federal funding and the implications it has had on community projects across the country.

Jeremy Symons, Senior Adviser to EPN, was quoted in NBC News about EPA putting almost 170 environmental justice staff on administrative leave and the worrisome trajectory that Lee Zeldin has in store.

Judith Enck and Heather McTeer Toney co-wrote an op-ed in The Hill about the houses burned in the Los Angeles wildfires and the burned plastic that will leave toxic pollution in the drinking water, air, and soil for generations.

Michelle Roos was also quoted in Planet Detroit about how the federal funding freeze is affecting a wide range of major grants implementation and how there has been a shift in how environmental justice is being carried out this term compared to Trump’s first term.