ANN ARBOR, MI – Fired federal worker Nicole Rice said government jobs “aren’t just paychecks” — they’re safeguards.

It was an early remark as she addressed a crowd of dozens of protestors at an Earth Day rally Tuesday, April 22, a stone’s throw from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s facility in northeast Ann Arbor.

Support for clean air and water statutes, climate science and the preservation of environmental protections were common messages trumpeted among rally attendees, including U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Debbie Dingell. However, as groups took turns marching along Plymouth Road, chants and protest signs displayed a far broader sentiment.

Support federal workers who protect the earth, they said, and end reductions in federal spending under President Donald Trump.

“These cuts aren’t just bureaucratic, they’re dangerous,” said Rice, who was previously a communication specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. By March, she was one of more than 600 NOAA employees sent home amid reports that hundreds more terminations were to follow.

“NOAA’s hurricane hunters and storm chasers and satellite analysts provide the early warnings that save lives,” she said. In addition to staff reductions, she pointed to other reported byproducts of federal cuts like the suspension of Spanish language weather alerts and gaps in radio coverage during tornadoes and floods.

Support for federal staff was a motivating factor in organizing Tuesday’s rally.

Tricia Paff, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, or AFGE, local No. 3907, said members of their federal workers’ union began socializing earlier this year with members of other groups.

Tuesday’s event, she said, was about solidarity and spreading awareness for environmentally focused issues on Earth Day. Her union’s members work with the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality.

In addition to the EPA, other local labor groups on site represented NOAA and the U.S. Geological Survey.

“We work for the earth, and so does USGS,” Paff said. “And we want everyone to know about it. Like what we do here should not be a mystery to any taxpayer because all the work here is funded by the taxpayers.”

Tlaib and Dingell, too, spoke out against federal funding cuts and the impact they have on environmental protections.

“You say children can’t learn if they’re hungry, but children can’t learn if they’re being poisoned by dirty water and by dirty air, and we see that again and the fact that, right now, the EPA was already underfunded,” said Tlaib, who represents Detroit and Dearborn in the nearby 12th congressional district.

Tlaib called funding cuts under Trump and the Elon Musk-spearheaded Department of Government Efficiency “reckless.”

Dingell, whose 6th district includes Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County, cited the early environmental protections born five decades ago and said they couldn’t go back.

“I am very worried,” Dingell said. “We have a responsibility to protect these lands for the generations to come.”

Rice, Dingell and other rally attendees also pointed to another potential casualty under Trump: A proposed 27% cut to NOAA and a dismantling of research facilities, including the one in Ann Arbor manned by the nonprofit Great Lakes Observing System, which receives federal support.

“This lab’s work is not duplicated anywhere else,” Rice said, adding it’d be a blow to drinking water safety, climate resilience, maritime safety, invasive species control and international treaty compliance with Canada.

Others said federal funding cuts put the environmental work of outside groups at risk.

Rebecca Esselman, executive director for the Huron River Watershed Council, said their budget is roughly 20% to 30% supported by federal funding sources.

“We started hearing that our federal agency (partners) … are all being targeted for major cuts, both to their budgets and their ability to do the work they do and their staff who serve as experts for us on our projects,” Esselman said. “It’s really concerning. It highly impacts the work of local environmental organizations.”

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