EPA plans to cut scientific research program, could fire more than 1,000 employees
Source: https://apnews.com/article/epa-science-layoffs-trump-doge-8a5743b9281e3f82afdf2cdd5f972d5f
By MATTHEW DALY
Updated 5:44 PM EDT, March 18, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its scientific research office and could fire more than 1,000 scientists and other employees who help provide the scientific foundation for rules safeguarding human health and ecosystems from environmental pollutants.
As many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists 75% of the research programs staff could be laid off, according to documents reviewed by Democratic staff on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
The planned layoffs, cast by the Trump administration as part of a broader push to shrink the size of the federal government and make it more efficient, were assailed by critics as a massive dismantling of the EPAs longstanding mission to protect public health and the environment.
The plans were first reported by The New York Times.
Read more: Associated Press