News | AFGE Council 238

May 3, 2021 Bloomberg

EPA Continues Pre-Biden Office Moves, Frustrating Employees

The EPA’s various office closures and moves under earlier presidents aren’t slowing down under the Biden administration, distressing union officials who hoped new Administrator Michael Regan would rethink them. The…

April 22, 2021

OP-ED: The State of the Earth 2021 Building Science Back Better

By Pam Lazos AFGE member Philadelphia, PA So here we are again, Earth Day. Founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson, environmentalist, conservationist, consumer advocate, small business proponent, and peace-lover, the first…

April 22, 2021

EPA Union Statement on Committee Hearing on EPA FY 2022 Budget Request

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan today is testifying in front of the House Appropriations Committee regarding the EPA’s FY 2022 budget request. In response, Gary Morton, President of…

April 15, 2021 The Verge

The Environmental Protection Agency Is Cleaning Up Its Image

By 2020, the EPA’s workforce had fallen to its lowest level since 1987. But compared to the 1980s, agency staff now have more complicated regulations to enforce on more complex industries, plus a bigger population to protect, says Chen. “People are getting burned out. This is something tenuous that can’t last forever,” says Chen, who also serves as the president of the local union representing EPA workers in the south central US.

April 9, 2021

EPA Union Statement on Biden’s Proposed Funding Increase for EPA

President Biden today released his proposed FY2022 budget, which includes a $2 billion increase in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to The New York Times, the budget includes, “about $110 million just to…

April 8, 2021 The Hill

EPA and union reach tentative agreement to restore 2007 contract protections

The largest union representing non-postal federal government workers announced Wednesday it has reached a deal with the Environmental Protection Agency to restore provisions of its 2007 contract that were rolled back under the Trump administration.

April 5, 2021 Fayetteville Observer

Op-Ed: Cautious optimism as EPA emerges from dark years of previous administration

Earlier this month, the United States Senate confirmed Michael Regan, the former Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, to serve as the next administrator of the Environmental…

March 24, 2021

EPA Union Statement on Biden Administration Review of Attacks on Science Under Trump

The Biden administration today announced that it will conduct a public review of the Trump administration’s attacks on scientific integrity at the EPA over the past four years. In response,…

March 11, 2021 E&E News

Staffers hail ‘fresh start’ as Regan takes helm at agency

"While there are many reasons for optimism, much work remains in order to rebuild trust between EPA leadership and the workforce," said Gary Morton, the union council's president. "It is critical that Administrator Regan and his leadership team take the time to listen to EPA employees who have endured so much and are eager to rebuild the agency they have dedicated their careers to."

March 11, 2021 BuzzFeed News

Michael Regan Will Be The First Black Man To Lead The EPA

“While EPA workers have great hope for the Biden administration,” Gary Morton, an EPA union president, told Congress on Wednesday, “the fact is that the EPA was decimated after four years of nonstop attacks from the Trump administration.”