EPA considers eliminating its science arm

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering the elimination of its science arm and firing most of that branch’s employees according to documents reviewed by the Democratic staff of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

A plan reviewed by the committee staffers calls for the elimination of the Office of Research and Development as an EPA National Program Office. It called for the elimination of 50 percent to 75 percent of the office’s 1,540 staffers.

This office is the agency’s science branch and provides the underlying research that guides the EPA’s work to protect the public from pollution.  

According to The New York Times, which first reported on the plan, it was presented to the White House on Friday for review.

Meanwhile, the EPA said that nothing is final.

“While no decisions have been made yet, we are actively listening to employees at all levels to gather ideas on how to better fulfill agency statutory obligations, increase efficiency, and ensure the EPA is as up-to-date and effective as ever,” EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou said in an emailed statement.

The Office of Research and Development “conducts research to understand what pollutants are in the environment and how those pollutants impact human health and the environment,” said Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, who was one of its top officials from 2017-21. 

Orme-Zavaleta said that the loss of this office would ultimately result in worse environmental outcomes and more people being exposed to pollution and toxic chemicals. 

“The agency will not be fulfilling its mission, and people will not be protected. They will be at greater risk. The environment will be at greater risk,” she said. 

She also described a tension between the agency’s science and industry — noting that chemical companies have pushed back on risk assessments that tell how toxic a chemical is.

“There’s been a multi-decade… attack on the risk-assessment process, in particular,” she said. 

The Trump administration has also put chemical and oil industry veterans in key EPA roles. 

Cutting its science branch would not be the only sweeping change made at the agency. It has already eliminated its environmental justice offices, which deal with pollution in underserved and overburdened neighborhoods. 

The Trump administration has also said it intends to slash 65 percent of the EPA’s budget — a major cut that could also represent a significant staffing loss.

Updated at 12 p.m. EDT