As the EPA formalizes end of research office, critics fear health impacts

The US Environmental Protection Agency has officially notified Congress that it is eliminating the Office of Research and Development (ORD) about 9 months after EPA administrator Lee Zeldin first announced that the agency was planning to close the office. An EPA spokesperson says the agency is not planning any more reduction-in-force actions or location closures in relation to the office termination.Opponents of the move say that ORD’s official end feels like a death knell for independent scientific research at the EPA. “Trump and Zeldin's reckless choice to shutter the office studying how to best protect Americans from pollutants, emissions, and climate change, will leave people sicker and worse off,” Gabe Amo (D-RI), ranking member of the Environment Subcommittee, says in a statement.In a letter dated Feb. 13, the EPA notified the heads of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of “the upcoming elimination of the Office of Research and Development (ORD) and reallocation of remaining resources into other Agency programs.”According to former ORD employees who spoke to C&EN on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional repercussions, about 150 employees remained in ORD as of Feb. 13. Most got letters that day saying that they would be reassigned to other offices in March. The letters did not specify which offices. One former ORD scientist says they were recently reassigned but not allowed any input about their new office or position.“Sadly, the actual end of ORD seems near,” the scientist says. “The dismantling of human health research at the