The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it's eliminating its main science arm and reducing agency staff by thousands. The agency's Office of Research and Development has long provided the scientific underpinnings for its mission to protect the environment and human health. The EPA, which in May said it would shift its scientific expertise and research efforts to program offices that focus on major issues like air and water. The agency said Friday that it's creating a new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions that will allow it to focus on research and science "more than ever before," per the AP. The proposed changes will save the EPA nearly $750 million, officials claimed.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement that the changes would ensure the agency "is better equipped than ever to deliver on our core mission of protecting human health and the environment, while powering the great American comeback.'' The EPA also said it's beginning the process to eliminate thousands of jobs, following a Supreme Court ruling last week clearing the way for President Trump's plans to downsize the federal workforce, despite warnings that critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of jobs.
The research office currently has 1,540 positions, excluding special government employees and public health officers, per agency documents. As many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists, and other scientists could be laid off, the documents indicated. The research office has 10 facilities across the country, stretching from Florida and North Carolina to Oregon. An EPA spokeswoman said Friday that all laboratory functions currently conducted by the research office will continue.
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Total staffing at EPA will drop to 12,448, a reduction of more than 3,700 employees—nearly 23%, from staffing levels in January, when Trump took office, the agency said. "This reduction in force will ensure we can better fulfill that mission while being responsible stewards of your hard-earned tax dollars," Zeldin said. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the top Dem on the House Science Committee, called the elimination of the research office "a travesty.'' Justin Chen, head of American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, which represents thousands of EPA employees, concurs, noting that the Office of Research and Development "is the heart and brain of the EPA."
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