New EPA furloughs hit NC Triangle workers during government shutdown
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- EPA furloughed RTP staff amid shutdown, unpaid suspensions lasting up to 30 days
- Agency declined local counts; Politico cited about 4,000 EPA workers affected nationwide
- Unions and lawmakers warned community health risks as EPA furloughs and cuts continue
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency furloughed workers at its Research Triangle Park campus Monday, part of the agency’s latest, and likely largest, employment move during the ongoing government shutdown.
“This action is being taken because of a budget emergency requiring curtailment of the Agency’s activities,” read an Oct. 20 email to affected RTP staff that was obtained by The News & Observer. “Therefore, no advance notification is possible.”
The furlough is unpaid and will last up to 30 days, the agency’s notification stated.
The EPA did not share how many employees were furloughed, or in which offices, but Politico reported around 4,000 workers were impacted nationwide, according to a source familiar with the cuts. On Tuesday, EPA union leaders in the Triangle assessed the local scale.
“Trying to get a handle on actual numbers,” said Holly Wilson, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3347. “We haven’t figured out the pattern yet.”
Wilson said earlier EPA furloughs during the current shutdown, which began Oct. 1, did not affect RTP employees.
The EPA office in Research Triangle Park is the agency’s biggest physical campus. It focuses on air quality and housed a significant portion of the EPA’s scientific research division, called the Office of Research and Development, which the Trump administration has begun dissolving into other offices with fewer positions.
More than 2,000 full-time federal employees and contractors reported to the site last year, but this headcount has shrunk under the second Trump administration though layoffs and voluntary buyouts. This summer, the agency said it expected to reduce its total workforce by 23% in 2025, from 16,155 to around 12,450.
“We’ve been intentional and aggressive in establishing a structure to ensure EPA is focused on statutory obligations & Presidential priorities, not the overreach of the previous administration,” the agency’s press office wrote in a statement Tuesday to The N&O.
Political fight over EPA furloughs and shutdown
During government shutdowns, essential federal employees must still show up to work, but don’t receive paychecks. Nonessential employees are typically furloughed. Who is considered essential varies from shutdown to shut down, with agencies following shutdown contingency plans and receiving additional guidance from the Office of Management and Budget.
“When thousands of EPA employees are furloughed and can’t go to work, the health of our communities suffers,” said Justin Chen, president of AFGE Council 238, which represents several thousand EPA workers nationwide. He called on Congress and the Trump administration to “stop playing political games and end this shutdown immediately.”
In a statement released by the EPA press office on Tuesday, the agency blamed Democrats for the government shutdown, which is now entering its fourth week. “Congressional Democrats are not only unwilling to vote for a clean funding bill, but their goal is to inflict as much pain on the American people as possible,” the agency wrote.
U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross responded in a statement to The N&O, criticizing President Donald Trump and his party for the prolonged shutdown.
“Republicans control the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives,” Ross, a Wake County Democrat, wrote. “If Republicans are looking for someone to blame for the harms being inflicted on the American people during this shutdown, they should look in the mirror. Who is firing federal workers? Who is refusing to negotiate in a bipartisan way to reopen the government?”
As of Sept. 12, 51,900 federal workers live and work in North Carolina, excluding uniformed military personnel, contract employees and several specific agencies. There are more than 91,000 active-duty personnel in North Carolina.
The Trump administration has laid off more than 4,000 federal workers since the shutdown began, an action that a federal judge halted last week.
Since 1976, there have been four government shutdowns that lasted more than one day. The last one occurred during Trump’s first term. That shutdown was 35 days.
News & Observer Washington Correspondent Danielle Battaglia contributed reporting.
This story was originally published October 21, 2025 at 3:18 PM.
