EPA Eliminating 13 Top Executive Positions; 2331 Employees - 13.5% Of Workforce - Gone Since January 2025
EPA plans to clip its managerial corps as the agency is reshaped under the Trump administration. More than a dozen top executive positions will be eliminated, according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by POLITICO’s E&E News. The reduction in the agency’s leadership ranks comes as it undergoes a wide-ranging reorganization and thousands of staff have left its payroll.
Ending those positions will impact EPA’s “institutional knowledge” and continuity of career leadership across administrations, said Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, who served 40 years at EPA, including as principal deputy assistant administrator for science. “If the agency is really streamlining the organization and having fewer leaders who help make sure the work gets done, that could complicate the effectiveness of how the agency would implement the work that it wants to do,” Orme-Zavaleta said.
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Yet EPA’s report to OPM indicates no Scientific and Professional, or ST, positions will be abolished. Those 19 jobs, typically filled by hardcore scientists steeped in the agency’s research, will remain in place. Orme-Zavaleta said it may mean people are still occupying those positions, which the agency still needs even after dismantling the research office. Some of those STs could be in the Office of Applied Sciences and Environmental Solutions, a new, smaller science component housed in the administrator’s office.
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EPA’s workforce has departed in droves since Trump’s second inauguration. Overall, 2,331 employees have separated from the agency in that time, according to data as of November compiled by OPM. Further, that data shows EPA’s workforce has declined to 14,926 for fiscal 2026. By the end of this fiscal year, the agency is forecasted to be at roughly 12,500 employees.
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https://www.eenews.net/articles/epa-cuts-top-executive-jobs-under-trumps-reorg/