The Environmental Protection Agency has placed roughly 140 employees on administrative leave days after they signed a public letter expressing concern about the treatment of federal employees and the Trump administration’s regulations on climate and public health.

The Environmental Protection Agency suspended 144 employees on Thursday and began investigating their participation in signing a recent dissent letter accusing the Trump administration of politicizing the agency.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed 139 employees on administrative leave Thursday after they signed a public “declaration of dissent” against the agency. The affected employees, described by the agency as “career bureaucrats,