The repercussions of a mid-February layoff of hundreds of probationary federal employees at the Bonneville Power Administration, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford field office continue to be felt across the Mid-Columbia.

Federal lawmakers from Washington state and Oregon have demanded answers from President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, regarding the layoffs.

A federal judge in California issued a temporary restraining order against the U.S. Office of Personnel Management regarding any of its efforts to continue purging the federal workforce. And about 30 of the BPA employees who were laid off were asked to return due to their “mission critical” roles.

The layoffs occurred as DOGE, led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, honed in on federal agencies as part of the Trump administration’s plan to slash government spending. Probationary federal employees are the newest members of the government’s civil service, having only been in their roles for one or two years, potentially longer. Those in their probationary period do not have the job protections that are given to non-probationary staff. 

Musk has defended DOGE’s work. 

“The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get,” he said, as reported by The Associated Press. “That’s what democracy is all about.” 

More than two dozen staff at DOE’s Hanford site office were let go as part of a broader purging of more than 1,800 layoffs at the department, comprising about 11% of its staffing. A handful of DOE staff at PNNL also were laid off. 

Six hundred staff were terminated at BPA, or roughly 20% of its workforce, including linemen, engineers and power dispatchers, with 90 pending job offers rescinded. 

Federal lawmakers from the region have criticized the Trump administration and DOGE, saying they are recklessly endangering the critical work done by federal workers across the country.

“There is nothing ‘efficient’ about indiscriminately firing thousands upon thousands of workers in red and blue states whose work is badly needed,” U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said in a release. 

Only days before Trump’s inauguration, DOE, along with Washington state officials, announced a new deal on tank waste cleanup at the Hanford site. Lauded as a “realistic and achievable course” for cleaning up the Hanford site, it calls for construction of additional facilities and capacity to support waste treatment and development of new waste retrieval technologies among other provisions.  

It’s unclear how the recent staffing cuts at DOE’s Hanford site office could impact those efforts.  

BPA provides more than a quarter of the energy used in the Pacific Northwest. Utilities serving the Tri-Cities and its surrounding communities receive anywhere from half to more than 80% of their power from the federal agency. 

U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon said in a letter to the president that the BPA layoffs are “reckless but also financially ludicrous” as the power provider is entirely self-funded by the utilities that pay for its power and transmission. Any cuts to the agency thus don’t cut taxpayer spending. 

“Employees on the ground are already warning that these actions will make it nearly impossible to strengthen and expand the grid as needed,” the senators wrote. “Instead, BPA will be forced into ‘damage control’ mode, struggling just to ‘keep the lights on.’ This is not speculation; it is the reality voiced by those who operate our energy infrastructure every day.” 

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, who represents the Tri-Cities and central Washington state, voiced concerns about how the layoffs were being conducted. Newhouse introduced a bill just before the layoffs that would help BPA retain workers at the federal agency by providing more flexibility in determining pay rates.

“I have concerns that the unintended consequences of these workforce reductions will have long-lasting implications,” Newhouse said, as reported by the Washington State Standard. “While I agree that the federal workforce and related spending needs to be reduced, we must ensure that positions critical to public safety, energy and research should be maintained.” 

Unemployment claims

Nearly 1,000 federal workers have filed for unemployment benefits across Washington state as of March 5 since the Trump administration began mass layoffs of the federal workforce.

The state Employment Security Department reported that last year through the same period just over 400 federal workers sought unemployment assistance.

Most of the claims this year – 703 – were filed since Jan. 20, the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, with an average of 25 filed per day since Feb. 13, according to a release from the state agency.

Employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture represent the largest share of those seeking assistance at 190, followed by the U.S. Department of the Interior at 116, and U.S. Department of the Treasury at 93.

The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has 64 former employees filing for unemployment and the U.S. Department of Energy, 49.

Although unemployment claims for federal employees are a small percentage of all the state’s weekly unemployment claims (5,756 weekly claims were received the week of Feb. 22), they are usually more complex and take longer to process. This is partly due to extended response times from federal agencies to verify employment and wages.

“We are ready to assist federal employees in these trying and uncertain times,” said ESD Commissioner Cami Feek in a release. “Whether they are applying for unemployment benefits or need assistance in finding a new job, we’re here to help.”  

AG lawsuit

The state Attorney General’s Office recently joined a lawsuit filed in federal court by labor organizations to rescind the Trump administration’s mass firings. That lawsuit was scheduled for its next hearing on March 13.

About 76,000 federal workers live in the state. 

“There are more than 12 million acres of federal land in Washington, managed by agencies thrown into chaos by these labor cuts,” said Attorney General Nick Brown in a release. “These illegal actions damage Washingtonians across a spectrum of needs – including the reliability of the state’s energy supply, wildfire and forest management, services to veterans, and supports for small businesses.”