EPA eliminates research and development office, begins layoffs

Washington – The Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday that it eliminated its research and development arm and reduces agency staff by thousands of employees.

The agency’s research and development office has long provided the scientific foundations of the EPA mission to protect the environment and human health. EPA said that in May, it would move its scientific expertise and research efforts to program offices that would focus on major issues such as air and water.

The agency said on Friday that it created a new applied science office and environmental solutions that will allow it to focus on research and science “more than ever before”.

Once fully implemented, the modifications will allow the EPA to allow the EPA of nearly $ 750 million, officials said.

The EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, said in a statement that the changes announced on Friday would guarantee that the agency “is better equipped than ever to deliver our main mission to protect human health and the environment, while fueling the American return”.

The EPA also said that it was starting the process to eliminate thousands of jobs, following a decision from the Supreme Court last week which paved the way for President Donald Trump to reduce the federal workforce, despite warnings that the critical government services will be lost and that hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of their jobs.

Total EPA staff will drop to 12,448, a reduction of more than 3,700 employees, or almost 23%, endowment levels in January when Trump took office, said the agency.

“This reduction in force will guarantee that we can better fulfill this mission while being guards responsible for your hard -won taxes,” said Zeldin, using a government term for mass layoffs. “”

California’s Zoe Lofgren representative, the best democrat of the Chamber Science Committee, described the elimination of the “A parody” research office.

“The Trump administration draws assiduous scientists while using political names whose work is constantly lying to the Congress and the American people,” she said. “The location of the Ord will have generational impacts on the health and safety of the Americans.”

The Research and Development Office “is the heart and brain of the EPA,” said Justin Chen, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, which represents thousands of EPA employees.

“Without that, we do not have the means to assess the impacts on human health and the environment,” said Chen. “Its destruction will devastate public health in our country.”

The Research Office – The main scientific arm of the EPA – currently held 1,540 positions, excluding special government employees and public health agents, according to documents from the agency examined by the Democratic staff of the Chamber of Chamber Committee earlier this year. Up to 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists could be dismissed, indicate the documents.

The research office has 10 facilities across the country, extending from Florida and North Carolina to Oregon. An EPA spokesperson said on Friday that all laboratory functions currently carried out by the research office would continue.

In addition to the reduction in force or the RIF, the agency also offers the third cycle of deferred resignation to eligible employees, including the staff of the research office, said spokesperson Molly Vaseliou. The request period is open until July 25.

The EPA’s announcement comes two weeks after the agency has filed an administrative leave 139 employees who signed a “dissent declaration” with the policies of the agency under the Trump administration. The agency accused employees of “illegally undermining” Trump’s agenda.

In a letter made public on June 30, employees wrote that EPA no longer lived on its mission to protect human health and the environment. The letter represented rare criticisms of the public of the agency employees who knew that they could make reprisals for speaking.