An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee stepped down after 30 years on the job last week with a letter to EPA chief Scott Pruitt that left no doubt the reason for his resignation—Pruitt’s leadership and the Trump administration.

Michael Cox served as a climate change adviser to EPA’s Region 10, covering Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. His resignation comes as President Donald Trump seeks to defund the agency by 31 percent, lay off 25 percent of its employees, and axe 56 programs—including two that focus on protecting children from lead—as revealed by a 64-page budget memo published last week by the Washington Post.

“I, along with many EPA staff, are becoming [increasingly] alarmed about the direction of EPA under your leadership,” Cox wrote to Pruitt. “I have worked under six administrations with political appointees leading EPA from both parties. This is the first time I remember staff openly dismissing and mocking the environmental policies of an administration and by extension you.”

“You will continue to undermine your credibility and integrity with EPA staff, and the majority of the public, if you continue to question this basic science of climate change,” he wrote.

Post columnist Joe Davidson spoke with several EPA staffers throughout the country, who confirmed that the mood at the agency was grim—so much so that they requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.

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“It is pretty bleak,” said one environmental engineer.