The EPA's shaken foundation.

Abstract

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was founded in 1970 during a period of pervasive pollution and environmental degradation. Based on a foundational principle to follow the science, its Office of Research and Development (ORD) has since developed and translated science to inform decisions that protect human health and the environment. Yet, even with many environmental challenges to address, ORD was eliminated by the Trump administration in July. Cutting the legs off a science-based agency, as well as the paucity of information about how ORD would be absorbed into policy or political parts of the agency, raises concerns that fundamental, long-term research and innovation will suffer and that EPA science will be vulnerable to political interference. This could affect national and global science for years to come.