Overview

• The EPA will reduce its workforce from 16,155 to 12,448 positions, a 22.9 percent decrease enabled by a recent Supreme Court ruling that removed barriers to mass federal layoffs.
• The standalone Office of Research and Development will be eliminated and its functions absorbed by a newly created Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions.
• Agency officials project the reorganization will yield $748.8 million in savings by focusing research on program needs and improving operational efficiency.
• Unions and former EPA scientists warn that dismantling the research arm will undermine scientific capacity and weaken public health and environmental safeguards.
• This overhaul follows earlier cuts to environmental justice and diversity programs and forms part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to downsize federal agencies.