EPA launched its new environmental research office over the weekend, the culmination of a reorganization that upended the agency’s longstanding Office of Research and Development.
The move comes amid staff worries that the reorganization could lead to political meddling in scientific research, and Senate appropriators have attempted to block the changes. Unlike ORD, the new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions will be housed within the Office of the Administrator.
“On October 19, reorganizations for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and the Office of the Administrator, including the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions, were finalized and effectuated,” EPA spokesperson Brigit Hirsch said in an emailed statement. “The new organizational structures for both offices will directly benefit the American people and better advance the agency’s core mission, while Powering the Great American Comeback.”
Starting Monday, the agency is holding town hall meetings for employees reassigned to the OASES, while an all-staff gathering is planned for Wednesday, according to meeting invitations viewed by POLITICO’s E&E News.
