The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is eliminating a scientific research office known as the Office of Research and Development and firing some of the staffers who work there.
“Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a reduction in force (RIF) as the agency continues its comprehensive restructuring efforts,” the agency said in a press release. “The RIF will impact the Office of Research and Development.”
An EPA spokesperson told The Hill in an email the agency plans to “eliminate the Office of Research and Development (ORD).”
But that doesn’t necessarily mean the agency’s scientific research will end.
The agency previously announced it would move at least some science into a new office called the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions (OASES). While the ORD has operated as its own office within EPA, the OASES will be housed within the office of the administrator.
The EPA said in May the new science office will “align research and put science at the forefront of the agency’s rulemakings and technical assistance to states.”
Critics expressed concerns that moving science into the administrator’s office would make it easier for political influence to taint scientific research.
The EPA says it is getting rid of the ORD to “improve the effectiveness and efficiency of EPA operations and align core statutory requirements with its organizational structure.”
It’s not immediately clear exactly how many staffers are being let go as part of the Friday afternoon announcement.
The press release states the agency had 16,155 employees in January and will be down to 12,448 staffers. It said that 3,201 took a buyout and an additional 280 were notified they would be fired amid a push to oust employees who worked on tackling pollution in underserved and minority communities.
That leaves 226 workers, but it’s not clear if all of those people will be let go as part of the agency’s latest move.
Asked to clarify, the EPA spokesperson noted buyouts are still underway, which could impact the total number of employees who are ultimately fired.
“This reduction in force will ensure we can better fulfill that mission while being responsible stewards of your hard-earned tax dollars,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a written statement.
Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, who previously served as ORD’s principal deputy assistant administrator, told The Hill that axing the office will “lead to further stove piping, lack of coordination, and reduce the impact and role of science in what the agency does.”
“At the end of the day, I think the American public is going to be underserved,” said Orme-Zavaleta.
She added that the office “provided scientific information to inform agency decisions, and it did it in a way that was credible and unbiased, and that information was transparent and available to the American public, as well as for use within the agency.”
The EPA’s move comes after the Supreme Court lifted an order that was preventing the administration from conducting mass layoffs. Cuts are not just coming to EPA — the White House has directed widescale staff cuts across the administration.
The latest announcement comes just one day after the EPA announced that it would conduct another round of buyouts that would be open to staffers at various offices including ORD.
Previously, the EPA’s union told The Hill that political officials instructed scientists in ORD to apply to other positions in the EPA’s chemicals, air and radiation, water and administrator’s offices — and that it was implied that employees who did not do so could be fired.
Reports from March indicated that the EPA had been considering axing ORD.
Updated at 6:13 p.m. EDT