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.

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