EPA Eliminates Office Of Research & Development, Now Busy Transferring Scientists, Apparently At Random
The Trump administration is tightening its grip over EPA’s scientific enterprise as it prepares to relocate employees from its once esteemed research arm. The agency’s new, smaller science office has laid out its policies on how EPA will approve new research and publish its work for the public, according to internal memos obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News. Further, EPA’s remaining scientists from the now-dissolved Office of Research and Development received reassignments earlier this week, including many who will have to move if they want to continue working at the agency. The agency’s nonstop swirl of change has suffocated agency scientists, said Chris Frey, who led EPA’s research office during the Biden administration. “The deck is stacked against scientists who want to do good-faith science,” Frey said.
Darya Minovi, a manager at the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Center for Science and Democracy, said, “We’ve seen the Trump administration be very clear that they’re unwilling to regulate pollutants.”
EDIT
Eight EPA employees, granted anonymity because they fear retaliation, spoke with E&E News about the changes afoot with the agency’s scientific work, including reassignments of the last ORD staff. They expressed frustration with how the agency is handling the transfers, which are perceived as yet another measure to traumatize the EPA workforce. “It definitely feels punitive, especially as we were told no one would have to move,” said one agency employee. “Unfortunately, I have no idea if my expertise is a good fit. … The lack of information/clarity seems like a deliberate choice on their part.”
Earlier this week, EPA employees received an email from an anonymous address, Notice5, with their reassignments to head elsewhere in the agency as part of “a strategic restructuring effort.” “At the core of this restructuring is the integration of scientific and related administrative expertise directly into EPA’s offices,” said the email, which was viewed by E&E News. “The effective date of your reassignment will be communicated at a later date.” Staffers, puzzled by the emails, turned to their immediate supervisors but found they were not substantively involved in choosing who was being reassigned and why. Some were demoted or placed into positions where their skills weren’t relevant while others were told to relocate.
“There are concerns that some people are deliberately being given geographic reassignments as a pretext to force them out of the agency,” said a second EPA employee. “I feel like there are unidentified sinister forces at work here.” On Thursday afternoon, research staffers who have been reassigned were scheduled to meet with human resources officials to learn more about the reassignments. “Absolute insanity that they are literally closing ORD and only give us a lousy 45 minutes for office hours,” said a third EPA staffer, who is mourning the loss of the research office. In response to questions for this story, EPA spokesperson Carolyn Holran said the agency’s reorganization over the past year will help EPA achieve its mission, “Power the Great American Comeback,” responsibly manage taxpayer dollars and make decisions “based on gold-standard science.”
EDIT
https://www.eenews.net/articles/epa-sets-no-surprises-science-policy-reassigns-researchers/
“As part of this science-centered transformation, EPA has issued reassignment notices to those employees who remain in the Office of Research and Development,” Holran said.