The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced plans on Friday to slash its budget by $300 million in fiscal year 2026, reduce staffing to 1980s levels and dissolve its research and development office as part of a sweeping overhaul of the agency. The reorganization, which will consolidate several key offices, will reflect plans to cut regulatory red tape and promote more energy development, as laid out in President Donald Trump’s executive orders, the EPA said.
“This reorganization will bring much needed efficiencies to incorporate science into our rulemakings and sharply focus our work on providing the cleanest air, land, and water for our communities,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement.
The agency said its staffing will fall to a level last seen when President Ronald Reagan occupied the White House in the 1980s, when the EPA was led by an administrator who was critical of it. In 1984, the EPA had just over 11,400 staff members compared to more than 15,100 in 2024.
The reorganization follows weeks of speculation about staff cuts and Zeldin announcing the cancellation of billions of dollars of EPA grants.
Major changes to the agency’s structure include shifting scientific research from the Office of Research and Development to different program offices, such as a new office of applied science that would align research with the politically-appointed administrator’s policy priorities.
ORD researchers had warned that dissolving the research unit would undermine scientific independence.
The EPA will also elevate issues of cybersecurity, emergency response, and water reuse and conservation, it said.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Leslie Adler and Nia Williams)