More than 170 EPA employees put their names to the document, with about 100 more signing anonymously out of fear of retaliation, according to Jeremy Berg, a former editor-in-chief of Science magazine who is not an EPA employee but was among non-EPA scientists or academics to also sign. The latter figure includes 20 Nobel laureates.

More than 300 current and former employees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency put out a statement Monday to criticize the efforts of current EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.