Trump Administration Plans To Eliminate EPA Research Unit That Monitors Pollution & Human Health

The Trump administration plans to eliminate a major research body of the Environmental Protection Agency, possibly cutting more than 1,000 employees, according to documents on the government’s reduction in force agenda.

As many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists — 75% of the research program’s staff who help provide the scientific foundation for rules safeguarding human health and ecosystems from environmental pollutants — could be laid off, according to documents reviewed by Democratic staff on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

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House Democrats have stated that the plan to reduce the EPA’s science staff is part of a larger strategy for layoffs and restructuring within the agency. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump ordered all federal agencies to submit proposals for workforce reductions and reorganizations, with another round of submissions expected in April.

The agency also plans to eliminate the office, which serves as its scientific research arm, as a national program office. Some of the science shop’s functions, positions and employee skills have “been identified as directly supporting statutory work in other EPA program offices,” the plan says.

The research office has 10 facilities across the country, stretching from Florida and North Carolina to Oregon.

The plan calls for dissolving the research office and reassigning remaining staff to other parts of the agency “to provide increased oversight and align with administration priorities,” the memo says. EPA officials have presented the plan to the White House for review. E&E reported that the EPA’s plan also suggests the agency will request an exception to a requirement to give employees 60 days’ notice about layoff plans.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has said he wants to eliminate 65% of the agency’s budget, a huge spending cut that would require major staffing reductions for jobs such as monitoring air and water quality, responding to natural disasters, and lead abatement, among many other agency functions. The EPA has also issued guidance directing that spending items greater than $50,000 require approval from Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency.

“The EPA is claiming that this is not a done deal yet, so it’s paramount that the administration hear: This is not acceptable,” said Chitra Kumar, the managing director of the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Everyone, including President Trump and his cabinet’s children and grandchildren, would feel the consequences of this move, not to mention the most polluted communities, predominantly Black, Brown and low income, who would bear the brunt. Is the administration’s ideology and pledge to industries that strong that they are willing to put their own loved ones at risk?”