"Thousands of federal workers are taking early retirements or accepting buyouts, with senior staffers exiting key energy and environment roles."
"Federal workers who once held energy and environment positions protecting national parks and public health or trying to bolster the electric grid to avoid disasters are heading for the exit as President Donald Trump’s campaign to shrink the government accelerates.
Scores of staffers who’ve recently left jobs at the Interior, Agriculture and Energy departments, as well as EPA, are landing on social networking platforms like LinkedIn, embracing the hashtag #OpenToWork to pitch themselves for new careers.
While Trump administration officials have applauded the staff downsizing as a much-needed curtailing of federal bloat, former and current employees say the overhaul is driving a historic loss of institutional knowledge. The losses could be hard to reverse, damaging the government’s ability to craft and implement energy and environmental policy for years to come, they warned. Potentially, the personnel losses could also undermine the president’s pursuit of his “energy dominance” agenda."
Hannah Northey, Heather Richards, and Sean Reilly report for E&E News April 30, 2025.
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