Environmental Protection Agency restructures its science focus and reorganizes with possible staff cuts

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Friday a significant restructuring that will redirect the efforts of its scientists toward approving new chemicals and pesticides, while hinting at possible staff cuts in the future.

According to a press release from the agency, 130 experts will be transferred to the chemicals office to address a backlog of 504 chemicals and 12,000 pesticides awaiting approval.

The change is part of a broader effort to align EPA science with its "statutory obligations and mission-essential functions”.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin explained in a video accompanying the release that the restructuring seeks to optimize the agency, with staffing levels that could approach those of the Reagan era, when the EPA employed between 11.000 to 14,000 workers,as opposed to the more than 15,000 employees today.

For their part, critics such as Chitra Kumar, a former EPA official and current director of the Climate and Clean Energy Program, expressed concern about the impact of moving scientists to policy offices. Kumar stressed that EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD)is designed to operate independently, producing unbiased, peer-reviewed studies.

"Moving ORD scientists into policy offices could subject those experts to political influence, particularly in this administration”, she said in a written statement.

The Office of Water will see adjustments to align regulations and policy with science, while an Office of State Air Partnerships, to collaborate with states on air pollution plans, and an Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions, which will prioritize research in rulemaking and technical assistance, will be created.

The agency projects that this phase of the reorganization will save taxpayers more than $300 million annually.