The Trump administration announced plans for a significant reorganization of the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday, and signaled major cuts in staffing to come – especially for the agency's scientific research arm.
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said the EPA expects to cut staff to levels similar to the 1980s, when President Ronald Reagan occupied the White House, in order to "operate as efficiently and effectively as possible."
That could mean potentially thousands fewer employees. The agency currently has a workforce of about 15,000 people. Staffing during the Reagan administration fluctuated between about 11,000 to 14,000 employees.
The agency plans major changes in the Office of Research and Development, the wing of EPA that provides scientific analysis on the risks of air pollution, chemicals, and other environmental hazards. It plans to move some scientific staff from ORD into existing policy-making offices, which write regulations, and send others to newly created offices.
In a meeting on Friday, EPA leadership told ORD staff to expect cuts in the coming weeks.
Former EPA official Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta says the reorganization could undermine research at the EPA, and its ability to protect human health.
"By splitting things up or eliminating that expertise, we put people at greater risk and we put this country at greater risk," Orme-Zavaleta says.
The ORD has historically provided independent scientific assessments about the risks of environmental contaminants, from lead in drinking water to air pollution. Its scientists have provided foundational research into some of the country's most challenging environmental problems.
ORD researchers were some of the first to identify sources of PFAS as health hazards over a decade ago, for example. Before that, research from a North Carolina laboratory established direct links between breathing in different amounts of ozone – the primary component of smog – and health problems like asthma. Policymakers within the agency rely on ORD science to design rules to protect Americans from pollution.
Experts are concerned that staff and budget changes could result in major cuts to research. Zeldin has previously announced his intention to slash EPA's overall budget by 65% in coming years. In its budget submitted to Congress this week, the Trump administration called for a roughly 45% cut to ORD's budget.
"The magnitude of these kinds of cuts would really affect the entire research enterprise of the EPA," says Chris Frey, a dean of research at North Carolina State University who led ORD during the Biden Administration.
In an op-ed published Friday in Newsweek, Zeldin said the reorganization efforts are intended to "transform the EPA into a more efficient and effective agency."
He says the proposed changes will save an estimated $300 million by 2026 – a roughly 3% savings compared to the agency's 2024 budget of more than $9 billion.
Scientific staff worry about "musical chairs"
In a meeting Friday, EPA leaders encouraged ORD's 1500 staff to apply for the roughly 500 new positions created in the reorganization.
"I feel like they're playing musical chairs, but taking out half the chairs, and everyone else is going to get cut," says an EPA staff scientist who attended the meeting. NPR is not using their name because they fear retribution for speaking publicly.
The reorganization is just the latest change at EPA. In March, Zeldin announced ambitious plans to review and potentially roll back more than two dozen environmental rules and policies.
Earlier this year, the agency announced it would close offices focused on environmental justice and diversity, equity and inclusion and freeze millions of dollars in grant funding. In its statement Friday, the agency said those cuts resulted in a reduction in force of about 280 people, while 175 people were transferred to other offices.
In its first 100 days, the Trump administration has made cuts to scientific programs across the federal government. It has fired hundreds of scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and slashed funding for research administered through the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. It has also dismissed scientists working on the National Climate Assessment, the government's flagship report on how global warming is affecting the U.S.
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