EPA chief Zeldin announces overhauls to bring agency back to Reagan-level staffing

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is facing a massive overhaul to slash staffing down to Reagan-era levels and save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year, agency chief Lee Zeldin announced on Friday. 

“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,” Zeldin said in a press release on Friday. 

Zeldin announced that he is on a mission to save taxpayers an estimated $300 million annually by next year through an office overhaul that he said will maintain the EPA’s focus on protecting human health and the environment while “recommitting” the agency to “common sense policies.” 

The EPA employs roughly 15,000 full-time workers, which Zeldin said he is working to bring down to levels “near those seen when President Ronald Reagan occupied the White House,” according to a video announcement of the office overhauls. There were 11,400 EPA staffers in 1984 under the Reagan administration, Reuters reported. 

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The EPA said the Office of the Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), and Office of Water will all face restructuring. 

Zeldin said he will reorganize the agency’s research office to shift its focus on “statutory obligations and mission-essential functions,” including by creating a new office called the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions.

The new office will “prioritize research and put science at the forefront of the agency’s rulemakings and technical assistance to states. At the program level, the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention will add more than 130 scientific, technical, bioinformatic and information technology experts to work directly on the backlog of over 504 new chemicals in review that are beyond the statutorily required timeframe. And they’re also going to address the backlog of over 12,000 reviews that are well beyond the expected review timelines in the pesticides program,” Zeldin said. 

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The EPA will also create the Office of State Air Partnerships within the Office of Air and Radiation, which Zeldin said will streamline resolving air permitting concerns across the state, local and tribal levels.

“EPA is also creating the Office of Clean Air programs that will align statutory obligations and mission essential functions based on centers of expertise to ensure more transparency and harmony in regulatory development. Similarly, changes to the Office of Water will better align the development of regulations, guidance and policy with the science that underpins it,” Zeldin added of another new office in the agency shakeup. 

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Zeldin underscored that when he took the reins of the agency earlier this year, he “inherited a workforce that didn’t come into the office.”

“In 2024, the record high day of attendance at EPA headquarters in D.C., clocked in around 37%. Upon President Trump’s swearing in, we immediately ended COVID-era remote work,” Zeldin said. 

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The former New York congressman added that EPA’s budget and awards in granted last year alone, under the Biden administration, sat at $63 billion — though it had previously been funded to the tune of between $6 billion and $8 billion a year, he said. 

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“We are going to massively reduce this excess spending. We owe it to the American taxpayer to be as efficient as possible. We’ve already started to make significant progress by re-examining grants and contracts, real estate footprint, travel costs, staff and more. With the help of DOGE, EPA has identified and canceled more than $22 billion in grants and contracts. These are direct savings for the American people,” Zeldin said.