Nearly 250 employees of the U.S. EPA might be out of a job soon as the Trump administration announced the closure of both the agency’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) office and the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights.

These departments are the latest to face closure in the wake of Trump’s executive order ending DEI and other similar offices across the federal government.

Employees of the EPA’s DEI office were placed on administrative leave in January, with the Office of Environmental Justice informed their department is expecting a similar written notice as early as Thursday.

The move aligns with Trump’s broader efforts to reduce federal staff and cut back on environmental regulations, and follows similar reports where 100 US EPA Region 5 office employees were warned they could be fired in the coming weeks. 2/5/2025