WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald

Trump's administration has halted all pending environmental

litigation and reassigned four career Justice Department

attorneys focused on environmental issues, three sources

familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

The decision to move the four officials, who are not

political appointees, from overseeing the natural resources,

environmental enforcement, appellate and environmental crimes

sections is the latest in a string of similar actions as the new

Republican administration shakes up the federal government's 2.2

million-strong workforce.

The department's Environment and Natural Resources Division

is responsible for bringing criminal and civil cases related to

air and water pollution, animal welfare and public safety, as

well as defending in court government agencies such as the

Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy.

The four section chiefs were told in an email late Thursday

they have 15 days to accept the new assignment to a newly

created Sanctuary City Working Group or face adverse

consequences, the sources told Reuters.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.

The sources were granted anonymity because they are not

authorized to speak to the media. The sources said the

reassigned officials have not been provided further details

about their new assignments.

Trump has long dismissed climate change as a "hoax," vowed

to cut regulation and in his first day in office withdrew the

U.S. from the Paris climate treaty.

Four other Justice Department employees who worked on

environmental justice issues were also placed on paid

administrative leave this week, four sources familiar with the

matter said.

The four officials placed on leave include Cynthia Ferguson,

who led the environmental justice office, and Lana Pettus, a

prosecutor who worked on some high-profile cases such as the

2015 criminal Clean Water Act case against Duke Energy ( DUK ).

The Trump administration this week ordered anyone in the

federal government on diversity, equity and inclusion issues to

be placed on leave, and also called for the elimination of any

office or position involving environmental justice.

Ferguson and Pettus could not be immediately reached for

comment.

The order to freeze all pending environmental regulation was

issued to employees on Thursday morning, the sources said.

It is similar to another memo issued earlier in the week to

the Civil Rights Division which also halted all litigation,

including efforts to finalize court-approved settlements with

Minneapolis and Louisville to address civil rights abuses by the

police.