EPA eliminates research and development office, begins layoffs

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it is eliminating its research and development arm and reducing agency staff by thousands of employees.

The agency's Office of Research and Development has long provided the scientific underpinnings for EPA's mission to protect the environment and human health. The EPA said in May 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 it is creating a new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions that will allow it to focus on research and science ''more than ever before."

Once fully implemented, the changes will save the EPA nearly $750 million, officials said.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement that the changes announced Friday 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 is beginning the process to eliminate thousands of jobs, following a Supreme Court ruling last week that cleared the way for President Donald 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 their jobs.

Total staffing at EPA will go down to 12,448, a reduction of more than 3,700 employees, or 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, using a government term for mass firings.

'Heart and brain of EPA'

Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, the top Democrat on the House Science Committee, called the elimination of the research office ''a travesty.''

''The Trump administration is firing hardworking scientists while employing political appointees whose job it is to lie incessantly to Congress and to the American people,'' she said. ''The obliteration of ORD will have generational impacts on Americans' health and safety."

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

''Without it, we don't have the means to assess impacts upon human health and the environment,'' Chen said. ''Its destruction will devastate public health in our country.''

The research office — EPA's main science arm — currently has 1,540 positions, excluding special government employees and public health officers, according to agency documents reviewed by Democratic staff on the House science panel earlier this year. 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.

In addition to the reduction in force, or RIF, the agency also is offering the third round of deferred resignations for eligible employees, including research office staff, spokeswoman Molly Vaseliou said. The application period is open until July 25.

‘Declaration of dissent'

The EPA's announcement comes two weeks after the agency put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a ''declaration of dissent'' with agency policies under the Trump administration. The agency accused the employees of ''unlawfully undermining'' Trump's agenda.

In a letter made public June 30, the employees wrote that the EPA is no longer living up to its mission to protect human health and the environment. The letter represented rare public criticism from agency employees who knew they could face retaliation for speaking out.