A kayaker glides through a salt marsh tidal creek near Folly Beach, SC. Scientists studying chemicals in salt marshes lost their jobs Feb. 27, 2025 in a purge of federal workers by President Donald Trump. Jason Lee jlee@thesunnews.com
Before losing his job in President Donald Trump’s purge of federal workers, Phil Tanabe planned to study how toxic forever chemicals are affecting tidal creeks that draw anglers to coastal South Carolina.
Relatively few research projects have examined the chemicals’ impact on fish in salty and brackish water, so for Tanabe – who has a Ph.D in environmental toxicology – this was a chance to educate the public about the threat the chemicals present in the Lowcountry.
Then came Feb. 27.
Late that afternoon, Tanabe received a curt email, saying his job had been eliminated as a research scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Charleston. He was deemed non-essential to NOAA, a widely respected government research agency now under scrutiny by Trump.
Weeks later, Tanabe remains angry he was fired – and he’s worried that important research will fall by the wayside.
“I don’t think many people realize the way this is happening, the lack of logic behind it and the inhumane treatment like this,’’ Tanabe said of the Trump Administration’s layoffs. “We are not being treated as people. We’re just numbers on paper.’’
Tanabe is one of tens of thousands of federal employees across the country in the crosshairs of Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who are working rapidly to reduce the size of agencies, cut regulations and eliminate government jobs.
For science, environment and natural resource agencies, many of the jobs being eliminated are related to research projects, as well as protection of the nation’s waters, wildlife, air and landscape.
Critics liken the method of trimming the budget to that of using a sledge hammer when a precision tool is needed. Some, like Tanabe, agree the government could become more efficient, but they say the manner in which cuts are being carried out is bad for the public and cruel to workers.
That’s notable in South Carolina, where rapid growth and industrial development are producing environmental challenges that critics of Trump’s worker purge say will be left unmet.
“It’s going to be a rough time for natural resources,’’ said Steve Gilbert, a biologist who formerly worked at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA in South Carolina. “The president doesn’t believe in science. And he doesn’t care what happens to the environment.’’
Pitched at one point as a way to weed out government employees who don’t produce much, the worker reduction effort has been met with criticism from the science community. People who have dedicated their lives to science and environmental protection are suddenly out of work.
Many laid off federal employees are fighting back.
This past week, a federal judge ordered the government to give back the jobs of thousands of workers let go from six departments: agriculture, defense, energy, interior, treasury and veterans affairs. Another judge’s ruling indicated that other agencies may also have to reinstate workers.
In addition to lawsuits already filed on behalf of workers, others are in the works. Some workers who were let go say they would return to their former jobs, if the court rulings hold up, but worry that their returns would not be permanent.
Even if workers do get their jobs back, federal agencies could change the procedure for letting them go, again seeking reductions of staffing. The Reuters news service reported more cuts were expected to be announced. Thursday was a deadline for agencies to submit large-scale cuts, Reuters reported.
At the same time, the Trump administration has appealed at least one of the federal rulings that workers should get their jobs back.
Gilbert, now retired from government service, said claims that federal employees don’t work hard are misleading.
“The people I worked with were very dedicated to their missions and we took a lot of pride in the accomplishments we made,’’ said Gilbert, an adviser to the S.C. Wildlife Federation. “It’s a fallacy that federal employees are lazy or not doing much.’’
Grace Gasper, who heads a support group for four U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuges in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, said that while she’s heard of no staff cuts at the agency’s South Carolina offices, there is concern that they are coming.
“It’s sad to see, all the turmoil and stress this is causing,’’ she said.
Any layoffs could be painful because the four South Carolina refuges have only about 15 to 18 employees to manage them. Those workers provide many services, ranging from helping protect sea turtle habitat to combating invasive insects that can devastate forests and non-native plants that can disrupt coastal ecosystems , she said. Without enough workers, access to the federal lands also could be reduced, she said.
Since Trump took office in January, tens of thousands of jobs have been targeted for elimination across federal agencies.
At NOAA, for instance, about 1,300 employees have been laid off or forced to retire, even as the agency prepares to cut another 1,000 jobs, according to multiple media reports. The agency provides a range of functions, including compiling climate data, forecasting sea level rise and studying the effects of toxins on the environment.
Another service is predicting hurricanes and weather through the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center.
Aside from cuts at NOAA, Trump and Musk also are moving to eliminate potentially thousands of jobs at places like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, charged in the early 1970s with making sure the nation’s air, land and water are safeguarded from unchecked pollution. Trump’s EPA chief, Lee Zeldin, announced a wave of initiatives last week to cut federal regulations, including those related to greenhouse gas pollution and wetlands protection.
““Science is under siege,’’ University of Pennsylvania climate researcher Michael Mann said in a recent New York Times story.
As for Trump, he remains critical of the federal workforce, saying last week that “Many of them don’t work at all.,’’ according to Time and Yahoo News. He did not provide details.
Phil Tanabe is a scientist who was caught up in President Donald Trump’s purge of federal workers. He learned Feb. 27, 2025 that his job at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Charleston was being eliminated. Tanabe had been working on studies of how toxic pollution is affecting coastal areas, as well as marine fish.
Startling discovery
Tanabe, who grew up on Long Island in New York, said efforts to eliminate his job at NOAA in Charleston are a disappointing twist to the career he had mapped out, and to what he considers important research for South Carolina and the country.
“Devastated,’’ he said. “That’s the word a lot of people use to sum this up. It is a combination of every emotion possible.’’
As an undergraduate at the University of Miami (Fla.) eight years ago, he worked a summer internship at NOAA in Charleston, where he researched the effects of toxic pollution on marine life.
After getting his degree from Miami, he began work in a doctoral program at the University of California-Riverside, where Tanabe researched crude oil toxicity and how that affected marine life. Upon gaining his Ph.D, Tanabe talked with the U.S. Geological Survey about a full-time job in a Pacific Northwest office.
But he also heard about a contractor’s position – without benefits – at NOAA’s laboratory in Charleston, a well-equipped research facility where teams of scientists from different agencies work together. The marine lab had resonated with him while he worked there as an undergraduate, and returning to pursue his career made sense.
Then, last fall, he landed a full-time job with NOAA. Among the research projects he launched from the Charleston County lab was a look at forever chemicals, the emerging class of contaminants being found in virtually every waterway scientists check. Multiple forever chemicals have been shown to degrade the health of people and wildlife exposed over time.
In examining these chemicals, Tanabe made a surprising discovery. While the chemicals, also known as PFAS, have sparked national health warnings because of their toxicity, Tanabe found in one study that a mixture of two types of the chemicals present in certain types of minnows actually had less toxicity than he expected.
“The toxicity actually decreased when mixed together,’’ he said. “This was the first study to my knowledge to show this kind of interaction with these chemicals in saltwater fish.’’
It was a significant finding that he believes was the starting point for other studies to determine if certain PFAS, when mixed, could collectively be less harmful than expected. In this case, it could help guide federal departments like the EPA on how strictly to set limits on certain types of forever chemicals.
His findings provided much needed information about PFAS in salt water, an environment in which forever chemicals have not been studied as extensively as freshwater. Some 95 percent of PFAS fish studies highlighted in an EPA database have been conducted in freshwater, he said.
That’s why Tanabe was excited to begin more research comparing the toxicity of PFAS in fish that live in brackish or salt water to those that live in freshwater. It’s an answer that could help enlighten agencies like the EPA – and the public – about where PFAS might be most dangerous. Such information could let people know how safe fish are to eat.
“If there’s a bunch of PFAS going into salt water, where a lot of yummy fish are, I’d like to know what it’s doing to the fish, how much is in the fish and what’s going to be happening in the future,’’ he said.
Tanabe has been looking for a job in a tight market as other laid off federal employees seek employment. And that’s difficult for him personally.
The layoff occurred with no severance package and the immediate loss of dental and vision insurance. Health insurance is only good for 30 days, said Tanabe, who was considered a probationary employee because he had not worked as a NOAA employee long enough.
“It’s like hitting a brick wall,’’ he said. ”No support. Nothing.’’
Tanabe said he might come back, if that’s possible, and if the political environment becomes more stable.
Oysters, which are popular seafood along the Carolina coast, have been the focus of studies at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Charleston. Some scientists studying threats from toxic chemicals to shellfish were told Feb. 27, 2025 they would lose their jobs in a purge of federal workers by President Donald Trump. JLEE@THESUNNEWS.COM
Hard work didn’t pay off
Nick Castillo was an ecotoxicologist hired last fall at NOAA’s Charleston area laboratory after completing his doctorate at Florida International University.
He had applied for 85 federal jobs while working on his Ph.D and was stunned last year to learn that NOAA wanted to hire him as deputy director of its National Mussel Watch Program, a 38-year-old research effort that monitors shellfish to gauge levels of toxins in coastal waters.
Castillo, who attended Duke University as an undergraduate, planned multiple studies with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources and Coastal Carolina University on forever chemicals.
A red knot picks eggs off the shell of a female horseshoe crab. The male crab is the smaller one behind her. Federal scientists in Charleston had planned to participate in a study of how toxins affect crabs and red knots before President Donald Trump’s administration began laying off workers in 2025. Jan van de Kam Griendtsveen Provided
One of those was to look at forever chemicals in horseshoe crabs. That could help determine if PFAS was affecting their ability to breed, and also whether it was building up in crab eggs that other species eat. Birds, such as one type of the rare red knot, depend on horseshoe crab eggs for survival.
“We wanted to understand what’s going on,’’ he said. “Is there the capability of this transferring and affecting other organisms that feed on the eggs?’’
The work was so important to Castillo that he put extra effort into his job – beyond his normal long-work days – after hearing that the federal government was looking to fire employees.
As with Tanabe, Castillo was considered a probationary employee, or one who had not been on the job long enough to offer certain protections from dismissal. Those employees were targeted by Trump and billionaire Elon Musk because they can be more easily fired than workers who’ve been through their probationary periods.
“I worked harder than I ever have,’’ Castillo said. “I’d get in the office at 5 a.m., then I’d leave after 5 p.m. I figured the best thing I could do is just be awesome, an irrefutably good worker. I didn’t really expect this to happen because they (Trump administration officials) gave the false sense of opportunity for supervisors and agencies to advocate for people.’’
When it finally became obvious that he remained vulnerable to being laid off, Castillo began saving files and data from his computer, and he prepared a rebuttal that he emailed to Washington quickly after word came down that he was out of a job.
Castillo, who earned $95,000 at NOAA, said he was told that his skills did not meet the needs of the agency in the future. He also said the government officials who put him out of work were, at one point, demeaning in their emails to him and others at NOAA in Charleston.
One communication he received indicated he and other federal workers were lazy, Castillo said.
“The way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector,’’ the unsigned government missive said.
Castillo said the emailed communication “was so offensive because everyone I know worked hard.’’
Nick Castillo is a scientist caught up in President Donald Trump’s purge of federal workers. He learned Feb. 27, 2025 that his job at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Charleston was being eliminated. He was working on scientific studies that could help unravel the threats of toxic forever chemicals in marine waters. Supplied photo
For now, Castillo, 32, said he’s making ends meet, but that may not be the case in a few months. His savings are running low, Castillo said. Like Tanabe, he said it hasn’t been easy finding a position such as the one he had at NOAA because so many federal workers are now looking for jobs.
He’s also working with a group of Washington lawyers and fellow laid off workers on a lawsuit challenging the layoffs. It’s a frustrating time because he plans to get married and the layoff isn’t helping prepare for a wedding.
“Most of us are applying for unemployment because we don’t know what is going on,’’ he said. “Financially, I’m not on the streets right now, but I’ve got enough money for rent for maybe two more months. I’m just trying to keep expenses low.’’
Like Tanabe, Castillo said he would return to work it the court ruling is adhered to, but it’s possible that might not be for long.
“I would gladly take it back, but I’d be very cautious in the sense that a lot of things you have as a federal employee, which is a pretty good sense of security knowing that this is your career, might not be there anymore,’’ he said.
Cuts could slow development
Caroline Causey, 50, is an expert on endangered species, including birds and mammals found in the interior of the Carolinas.
A Virginia native and former Columbia resident, Causey worked for 10 years as a government biologist, first at the state Department of Natural Resources and later at Shaw Air Force Base. Among her duties was trying to save what had been dwindling populations of rare red-cockaded woodpeckers.
That included the unusual responsibility of protecting woodpecker nests in an area where Shaw Air Force Base fighter jets conducted target practice.
The government maintains a bombing range in Sumter County, and it must sometimes clear trees so jets can practice on open areas. In her job with the Department of Defense, she helped pinpoint wooded areas where the unusual birds lived so that trees would not be cut down in those places.
But Causey also worked diligently on other efforts to protect red-cockaded woodpeckers in South Carolina. Before taking a post with the Department of Defense in 2020, Causey worked for the state DNR on woodpecker recovery.
Today, thanks to her efforts – and those of many biologists nationally – red-cockaded woodpeckers are making a comeback. They are no longer listed as an endangered species, but are a threatened species under the law.
Causey, who has a biology degree from James Madison University, ran into trouble because she left Shaw Air Force base for a new job with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year.
She moved to North Carolina, where she began endangered species work in the eastern part of the state. One of her main tasks was commenting on proposals to fill wetlands for development projects along the coast.
Red cockaded woodpeckers are making a comeback after years on the federal endangered species list. But the federal government still needs staff members to monitor progress and make sure new development doesn’t crowd the birds out. Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Now, she’s looking for work, as the government sorts out whether she can return to her former job.
She was laid off from $75,000 per year job Feb. 14, a day that carried the first major wave of cuts to the federal workforce. Causey was considered a federal probationary employee, having worked less than a year in her new job at the Fish and Wildlife Service, which made her easier to let go.
She said it has been tough making ends meet. She has had to dip into savings she was planning to pay for her upcoming marriage. It was a loss of a job she loved as a wildlife biologist and one she needed to make a living.
“I’m pretty terrified,’’ she said. “My job security is gone and I’m also demoralized. I really like the agency I worked for. I really liked the team members.’’
The layoff also affected her ability to help other family members take care of her 88-year-old father, who lives not far away from Raleigh in southeastern Virginia.
From a public standpoint, Causey’s departure from the wildlife service means one less person is examining the relative threats to endangered species of filling wetlands in North Carolina.
It means one less set of eyes available to make sure development projects don’t destroy rare plants and animals.
Developers, like environmentalists, should be aware of that. With fewer people available to examine wetlands permits, it could slow down decisions on when the permits are issued so developers can get to work, she said.
For now, Causey said she hopes an appeal she has made of her firing works out and she can return to her job. The recent court decision restoring probationary workers in some agencies also gives her some hope.
Short of getting her job back, she’s now seeking unemployment benefits.
“To lose all that … It was pretty discouraging,’’ she said.
Open windows in the dock house at Bowen’s Island look out on the Folly River in Charleston County. Some scientists studying salt marshes and the shellfish that live there were told Feb. 27, 2025 that they had lost their jobs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Charleston. The layoffs were part of a purge of federal workers by President Donald Trump. JASON LEE
The State
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Sammy Fretwell has covered the environment beat for The State since 1995. He writes about an array of issues, including wildlife, climate change, energy, state environmental policy, nuclear waste and coastal development. He has won numerous awards, including Journalist of the Year by the S.C. Press Association in 2017. Fretwell is a University of South Carolina graduate who grew up in Anderson County. Reach him at 803 771 8537. Support my work with a digital subscription
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