Newsweek: DOGE Fires Worker Responsible for Lake Mead Water Tests

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By Joe Edwards

The Trump administration fired more than a dozen National Park Service employees at Nevada's Lake Mead National Recreation Area before Presidents Day weekend, including one worker responsible for testing the water for potentially harmful substances.

Newsweek reached out to DOGE for comment on Wednesday.

Why It Matters

The newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by billionaire Elon Musk, aims to reduce federal spending and has already targeted numerous federal departments, including the Department of Education, the Department of Defense, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Musk and DOGE attracted headlines recently after an email threat was sent to federal employees asking them to list what they achieved in a week or risk dismissal. Multiple federal agencies pushed back against this, assuring workers they were not obliged to reply directly to the request.

What To Know

Among those dismissed was Riley Rackliffe, an aquatic ecologist responsible for monitoring bacteria, toxic algae, waterborne illnesses, and invasive species. His sudden firing on February 14, along with at least a dozen other National Park Service (NPS) employees, has raised fears about the risks posed to public health.

Lake Mead was the ninth most-visited site in the country within the National Park Service in 2023. Democrat Susie Lee, who represents Nevada's 3rd congressional district, said that Lake Mead sees 5.8 million visitors annually and has an economic impact of $358 million.

The lake is home to recurring toxic algae blooms that, if left unchecked, can pose health threats to humans and animals.

Rackliffe, who was part of a two-person team responsible for tracking harmful water conditions, said the abrupt firings could have far-reaching consequences.

"I was the guy that took those samples and measured the toxin loads. I was out there once a week monitoring that as it progressed to Lake Mohave. We actually just lifted the health advisory last week. The day before I got fired, we lifted that health advisory," Rackliffe told Nevada Current, a nonprofit online source of political and policy news and commentary.

What People Are Saying

Riley Rackliffe told Nevada Current: "Nobody that knew me was involved in the decision to fire me. It was all done upper level. They fired everybody that had been there less than a year."

Nevada Representative Susie Lee said in a statement: "This is dangerous for the employees. It's dangerous for our visitors. But more importantly, this does absolutely nothing to save you one dime at the gas pump, one dime at the grocery store, or lower your housing costs. This is reckless, and we're going to fight it."

Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto said in response to the terminations: "Federal employees in Nevada help keep our communities safe, welcome visitors to our public lands and parks, and deliver services to our veterans—firing these critical workers will not make Nevada safer or lower costs."

Elon Musk told the World Governments Summit in Dubai earlier this month: "I think we do need to delete entire agencies as opposed to leave a lot of them behind. If we don't remove the roots of the weed, then it's easy for the weed to grow back."

A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) spokesperson told Newsweek: "Secretary [of Agriculture Brooke] Rollins fully supports the President's directive to improve government, eliminate inefficiencies, and strengthen USDA's many services to the American people. We have a solemn responsibility to be good stewards of the American people's hard-earned taxpayer dollars and to ensure that every dollar spent goes to serve the people, not the bureaucracy.

"As part of this effort, USDA has made the difficult decision to release about 2,000 probationary, non-firefighting employees from the Forest Service. To be clear, none of these individuals were operational firefighters.

"Released employees were probationary in status, many of whom were compensated by temporary IRA funding. It's unfortunate that the Biden administration hired thousands of people with no plan in place to pay them long-term. Secretary Rollins is committed to preserving essential safety positions and will ensure that critical services remain uninterrupted."

What Happens Next

More than 200,000 federal employees have been laid off since President Donald Trump reentered the White House last month. Among those were around 1,000 newly hired National Park Service employees.