The Environmental Protection Agency has placed on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a so-called “declaration of dissent” against the federal agency's policies.

The letter was organized by Stand Up for Science, a group that planned a March rally in Washington to protest the Trump administration’s steep cuts to federally funded scientific research. Of the 278 E.P.A. employees who signed the letter, 173 signed their names, while 105 signed anonymously for fear of retaliation.