Paul-Alexander Lejas

The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, will consolidate its Washington D.C. workforce to save $18 million in annual lease costs, according to an announcement released on April 1. The New York Times reported on March 17 that the EPA has drawn up plans to remove more than 1,000 scientists currently employed by the agency. 

This consolidation of the workforce comes after what the agency describes as “the biggest action in U.S. history.” On March 12, Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a series of 31 actions to advance President Trump’s executive orders, stating that while the agency is committed to protecting the environment, they are also interested in fulfilling the Administration’s promises to reduce living costs for Americans, strengthen American energy, among other actions.  

“When the agency was founded, there was this old saying that the air is so polluted that the people of Denver wanted to see the mountains again, the people of Los Angeles wanted to see each other again, the water was so contaminated that we had rivers bursting into flames,” Paul Anastas, professor in the practice of Chemistry for the Environment, told the News. “These are not history lessons, these are guarantees of what our future will look like if we don’t take the actions necessary to preserve our environment.”

Anastas is widely known as the Father of Green Chemistry and served as the assistant administrator of the EPA. During this time, Anastas worked to create the EPA’s Scientific Integrity Policy which prohibits political interference with scientists, the conduct of their work and the share of their work. 

The EPA was created by Richard Nixon in 1970 to address a growing number of environmental concerns including environmental pollution, industrial waste, water pollution and interactions between human health and the environment. 

The Office of Research and Development, ORD, is the arm of the EPA responsible for providing a foundation for decision making to protect human health and the environment from pollutants. 

“We don’t have to see research on climate change as being so awfully different from research on cancer, and paint the picture so black and white, but I do think that is what’s happening,” Karla Neugebauer, professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, told the News.

The information generated by the ORD is the basis of all the regulatory programs, decision making throughout the offices of the EPA, and it is the basis for all of the State departments’ environmental protection initiatives. It is also a widely used source for governments around the world.

The ORD manages the Integrated Risk Information System, IRIS, which is the go-to source for understanding risks involving activities, such as monitoring water quality and quantifying risks associated with various pollutants and how those risks can be mitigated. 

“EPA’s mission of protecting human health and the environment rests on the scientific foundation provided by the ORD. IRIS appears to be a target of both the ORD cuts and the No IRIS Act introduced in Congress,” Shimon Anisfeld, a research scientist in water resources at the Yale School of the Environment, told the News. “Trying to protect water quality without IRIS and ORD is driving blind, an approach that will certainly lead to increased pollution with real-world consequences for ecosystems and communities, especially those with the least power to fight polluters on their own.” 

The agency claims that its actions will roll back trillions in cost of living for American families. The purpose of these deregulatory actions are to remove the government control on industries and sectors to increase competition and lower cost.

Some of these actions include terminating Biden’s Environmental Justice and diversity, equity and inclusion arms of the agency, reconstituting the Science Advisory Board and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, reconsidering the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants and reconsidering Mercury and Air Toxics standards. 

“We have to recognize that science has been the golden goose for the U.S. economy, it has been the driver of innovation. Science drives innovation. Poison in our environment is poison in our economy,” Dr. Anastas told the News. “We have run this experiment before, and it didn’t work out very well. Run it again, we are going to do it at tremendous cost to people’s health and even the economy.” 

James Payne, former acting EPA Administrator, issued a directive ordering the staff at the EPA to halt communications outside of the agency, on Jan. 24. 

When asked for specific examples of research initiatives that have been blocked or delayed, Dr. Anastas admitted he was unable to share without revealing who the scientists are involved, as they currently feel under threat. 

“I know that scientists have been told to stop their work, stop their projects, and not communicate with scientists,” Anastas told the News when asked about colleagues currently at the EPA. “There are examples that I am personally aware of scientists from the EPA who are invited to conferences because of their expertise, who are being directed not to attend and not to participate.” 

The Yale School of the Environment is located at 195 Prospect St.