Trump administration unveils the EPA revision with shift to approving new chemicals

The Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday that it would spread scientists from his independent research agency to other divisions where they will be tasked, among other things, to approve the use of new chemicals.

Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the changes in the EPA in a video and said that the agency “shifts his scientific expertise” to concentrate on issues he described as “Mission Essential”.

Most immediate changes will influence the Office of Research and Development, the most important striking of the EPA research that conducts studies for things like the health and environmental risks of “forever chemicals” in drinking water and the best way to reduce fine particle pollution in the atmosphere.

An internal document Previously assessed Because of the New York Times, the recommendation of the Trump government to eliminate that office, with plans to dismiss no fewer than 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists who work on health and environmental research.

That did not happen on Friday, but the new priorities of the desk were made clear: one hundred and thirty jobs are moved to an office at the desk that is responsible for approving new chemicals before use, Mr. Zeldin said. Chemical industrial groups have long complained about a backlog in approvals, which they say stifles innovation.

During a staff meeting of All-Hands at the end of Friday, Nancy Beck, a former lobbyist in the American Chemistry Council who now leads the EPA office, told scientists that it was ‘a very exciting time’.

“I encourage everyone in the entire desk to request these functions,” she said.

Trump administration officials indicated that there were more changes in store for the research agency. Scientists who were at the call said they had left the impression that if they did not move to one of the new areas, their current jobs could be eliminated.

Also on Friday the EPA has expanded a deadline for accepting a postponed dismissal offer until 9 May.

“This feels like the Hunger Games,” said an employee of the research agency who spoke on condition of anonymity, for fear of retaliation.

Other scientists will move the office of the manager as part of a new office of applied science and environmental solutions, of which Mr Zeldin said that “science would bring at the forefront of the rules of the agency.”

Democrats and environmental activists warned that the relocation would politicize scientific research.

“This so -called ‘reorganization’ is a thin -veil attempt to extinguish the world -famous scientific expertise of the agency by shaking scientists to process chemical assessments for the industry,” said Maine Democrate, representative of Maine, in a statement.

The research office “is deliberately independent of the EPA policy agencies and ensures that it yields unbiased studies,” says Chitra Kumar, the director of the climate program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a interest group. The scientists move to policy offices “those experts can subject to political influence, especially in this government,” she said.

The changes come in the midst of a large deregulating drive at the desk. The EPA under Mr. Zeldin is Review or withdraw of more than 30 regulations Focused on protecting the air, water and the climate. The manager also supervises dismantle the legal substantiation For most climate instructions, known as the threat finding.