More than a thousand jobs could be on the chopping block at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development.

What You Need To Know

  • More than a thousand jobs could be on the chopping block at the EPA

  • Hundreds of those jobs could come from the EPA’s Research Triangle Park campus

  • As much as 75% of the agency’s Office of Research and Development could be eliminated

Hundreds of those jobs could come from the EPA’s Research Triangle Park campus in North Carolina, where a significant number of the office’s employees are located.

“Morale is at an all time low because … the vast majority of them [workers], it’s not a job, it’s a duty. It’s a calling. It’s part of them,” said former EPA Office of Research and Development employee Jeff Ryan. 

As much as 75% of the agency’s Office of Research and Development could be eliminated, including more than 1,100 chemists, biologists and other scientists, according to documents reviewed by Democratic staff on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. And according to those documents the Office of Research and Development currently has 1,540 employees, not including special government employees and public health officers. 

The plans were first reported by The New York Times.

The Office of Research and Development has 10 regional offices around the country, including in North Carolina at the Research Triangle Park. The former head of the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, Chris Frey, tells Spectrum News that hundreds of the office’s employees work at the Triangle office.

“This announcement is not good at all,” Frey said. “It could cost lives.”“This announcement is not good at all,” Frey said. “It could cost lives.”

The planned cuts are part of the Trump administration’s sweeping staffing cuts across the federal government.

EPA Spokesperson Molly Vaseliou tells Spectrum News: "[The] EPA is taking exciting steps as we enter the next phase of organizational improvements. We are committed to enhancing our ability to deliver clean air, water and land for all Americans. While no decisions have been made yet, we are actively listening to employees at all levels to gather ideas on how to better fulfill agency statutory obligations, increase efficiency and ensure the EPA is as up-to-date and effective as ever.” 

The EPA’s Office of Research and Development is focused on keeping people safe from hazards like poor air quality and water pollution.

The office not only does research, but staffers are also first responders, focused on issues like air quality. 

“If something happens in any part of the U.S. … ORD gets a phone call, what can ORD to help, measure what’s happening in the environment, understand who’s exposed, what the health effect is,” Frey said.

Workers have responded to disasters, including the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, the toxic chemicals found in the Cape Fear River in North Carolina and the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

“ORD provided very specialized scientific expert help. How do you measure some of these contaminants of really special concern to the community in East Palestine and where the agency thought there could be a threat to public health,” Frey said.

California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, said, “EPA’s Office of Research and Development is in statute. Eliminating it is illegal without Congress taking action. Every decision EPA makes must be in furtherance of protecting human health and the environment, and that just can’t happen if you destroy EPA science.”