04-06-2025
‘Sitting duck'? Meet an EPA environmental justice staffer.
Swati Rayasam knew her job at EPA would be upended. She just didn't expect it to happen so soon.
'You are receiving this email because you have been identified as an EPA employee working in 'environmental justice' or a diversity, equity, and inclusion position and/or office,' the Feb. 6 message read.
Rayasam, an environmental protection specialist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, was immediately placed on paid administrative leave. Now threatened with a potentially permanent layoff, she's one of hundreds of EPA employees facing dismissal or reassignment in a purge without precedent.
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For Rayasam, it likely spells the end of a career begun only a year and a half ago. But the episode also highlights a seeming paradox at the heart of the Trump administration's agenda as EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin highlights the importance of clean air, land and water for 'every American.'
