The agency said in a press release, “Today, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a decrease in the force as the agency has continued its widespread reorganization efforts.” “RIF will affect the office of research and development.”
An EPA spokesperson told The Hill in an email that the agency plans to abolish the office of Research and Development (Ord) “.
But this does not mean that the agency’s scientific research will end.
The agency earlier announced that it would transfer at least some science In a new office Applied Science and Environmental Solutions (Oases) is called the office. Whereas Ord has operated As its own office within the EPA, Oases will be placed within the administrator’s office.
The EPA stated in May that the new science office would “align research and put the science at the forefront of agency rules and technical assistance to the states.”
Critics expressed concern that transferring science to the administrator’s office would be easy for political impact for scientific research.
EPA says that it is getting rid of Ord to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of EPA operations and to align the main statutory requirements with its organizational structure. “
It is not immediately clear how many employees are being allowed to go as part of the announcement of Friday afternoon.
The press release stated that the agency had 16,155 employees in January and would be below 12,448 employees. It said that 3,201 bought one and additional 280 was informed that they would be pushed to take out the employees who worked to deal with pollution in the underscribe and minority communities.
It leaves 226 workers, but it is not clear whether all those people will be allowed to go as part of the latest step of the agency.
Read more at Thehill.com,
