A Letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin
From Former Regional Administrator, EPA Region 5, Debra Shore
Thank you for tuning into Environmental Protection News. The Environmental Protection Network is a 501(c)(3) with over 600 volunteers, all former EPA career civil servants and political appointees, including former EPA Administrators and Regional Administrators. Recently, former Regional Administrator, EPA Region 5 (2021 - 2025), Debra Shore, penned a letter to current EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin concerning the abrupt dismissal of EPA civil servants. Please read her letter below so you, too, understand what dismissing these dedicated civil servants could mean for your family and your neighbors.
February 27, 2025
Administrator Lee Zeldin
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20460
Dear Administrator Zeldin –
Until January 20, I was the Regional Administrator for the US Environmental Protection Agency in Region 5, serving six Midwestern states and 37 Tribal nations. The proudest day of my life was when I joined the team of smart, devoted professionals at Region 5 who had a shared sense of mission – namely, to protect human health and the environment.
As I am sure you are finding, Administrator Zeldin, every one of these public servants provides critical services, striving daily to ensure that all Americans have clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, and places to live and work that are not laced with toxic chemicals.
Let me tell you about some of these civil servants, the folks who have been summarily dismissed without cause, with no due process, in many cases with only 30 minutes’ notice, merely because they had been at their positions for less than a year. Some of these were EPA’s emergency responders in training, the people who show up at the site of train derailments and warehouse fires, at oil spills and leaking underground storage tanks, in the aftermath of tornadoes and hurricanes, wildfires and floods to find and safely dispose of hazardous wastes. Some were in training to inspect water and wastewater treatment plants or chemical manufacturing plants, to find methane leaks in landfills, and assist communities with replacement of lead service lines, to oversee grants to protect and restore water quality and healthy fisheries in the Great Lakes, to hold polluting industries accountable so that they pay for cleaning up dirty air and contaminated soils. What a waste to dismiss these smart, dedicated civil servants in whom the American people have invested for nearly a year.
These are the chemists testing air and water samples, the community engagement folks reaching out to communities that have been burdened by polluting industries for too long, and the rural assistance advisors working with farmers to restore healthy soils and to reduce nutrient loading in rivers and streams and harmful nitrates in well water. But now, the safeguards built into our federal system that have resulted in much cleaner air, water and land over the last 50 years are in peril.
Administrator Zeldin, I happen to be Jewish, and I have been asking myself as I see the wrenching disruption and pain caused by the abrupt firing of these civil servants, how is this consonant with Jewish values? Is this treating others the way we would wish to be treated? And for those in the administration who profess to be devout Christians, I ask, is this treating people the way the loving Jesus of Nazareth preached? I know Pope Francis has called the Earth “our common home.” I believe that no matter what our faith tradition, we all have a sacred obligation to protect and restore human communities and the rest of Nature on which we all utterly depend.
The folks at EPA are good people, Administrator Zeldin. You have said as much yourself. They deserve your respect and trust. Do better.
Sincerely,
Debra Shore
Regional Administrator, EPA Region 5 (2021-2025)
 | A guest post by
|