On July 18, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it was eliminating the Office of Research and Development and firing thousands of employees across the agency.
It will be replaced with the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions. It was not explained how the replacement will be a functional improvement over its predecessor. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin vaguely stated:
… 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.”
PBS
The president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, Justin Chen, warned that the country will not “have the means to assess impacts upon human health and the environment.” This is likely, as 1,155 biologists, chemists, and toxicologists stand to be terminated from their current positions.
The EPA will remove 3,700 employees, or almost one-fourth of its total workforce. These will include employees working for critical government services. Deferred resignations for eligible employees will also be made available, as is common throughout most agencies seeing mass firings in the second Trump term.
