Staffing Reductions at DOJ's Environment & Natural Resources Division

The Department of Justice's (DOJ) FY 2026 Congressional Budget Submission reflects a substantial reduction of the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD): the Division's direct attorney positions fell from 356 in FY 2024 to 260 in FY 2025, and the FY 2026 request proposed reducing them further to 181 — a decline of roughly half across the two-year period. The budget attributes part of the reduction to the Administration's Deferred Resignation Program and proposes additional cuts labeled "Reduced Civil Litigation Support" and "Reduced Criminal Litigation Support." Within the Division, the cuts were felt acutely in environmental enforcement: according to E&E News, the Environmental Enforcement Section lost roughly half of its lawyers — about 54 attorneys — with enforcement decisions increasingly funneled through the Division's interim leadership. The reductions followed the Department's early-2025 rescission of its May 2022 environmental justice enforcement strategy and the termination of DOJ's Office of Environmental Justice, whose staff were placed on administrative leave in early February 2025.