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#epa

21 posts18 participants2 posts today
Replied in thread

Update. #Trump Administration Aims to Eliminate #EPA’s Scientific Research Arm"
nytimes.com/2025/03/17/climate

"The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its scientific research arm, firing as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, according to documents reviewed by Democrats on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology…The EPA’s plan… calls for dissolving the agency’s largest department, the Office of Research and Development, and purging up to 75 percent of the people who work there. The remaining staff members would be placed elsewhere within the EPA…Rep. Zoe Lofgren [D-CA],…the top Democrat on the science committee, said that without the Office of Research and Development, the EPA would not be able to meet its legal obligation to use the “best available science” when writing regulations and considering policy. She also said that the office was created by congressional statute and that dissolving it would be illegal."

The Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 2021. The agency presented plans to let go of 75 percent of its staff within its largest department: the Office of Research and Development.
The New York Times · Trump Administration Aims to Eliminate E.P.A.’s Scientific Research ArmBy Lisa Friedman

🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

#Trump Administration Aims to Eliminate #EPA ’s Scientific Research Arm

More than 1,000 chemists, biologists and other scientists could be laid off under a plan to dismantle the Office of Research and Development.” #ClimateCrisis

nytimes.com/2025/03/17/climate

The Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 2021. The agency presented plans to let go of 75 percent of its staff within its largest department: the Office of Research and Development.
The New York Times · Trump Administration Aims to Eliminate E.P.A.’s Scientific Research ArmBy Lisa Friedman

Trump officials decimate climate protections and consider axeing key greenhouse gas finding
EPA takes aim at almost every major pollution rule in what environmentalists call act of ‘malice toward the planet’
...
“The Trump administration’s ignorance is trumped only by its malice toward the planet,” said Jason Rylander, legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute.
theguardian.com/environment/20
“Come hell or high water, raging fires and deadly heatwaves, Trump and his cronies are bent on putting polluter profits ahead of people’s lives. This move won’t stand up in court. We’re going to fight it every step of the way.”
#uspol #uslaw #climate #EPA

The Guardian · Trump officials decimate climate protections and consider axeing key greenhouse gas findingBy Oliver Milman

"Denkbar ist hingegen auch, dass die positive Stimmung erst vor Kurzem umgeschlagen ist: Ende vergangenen Jahres enthüllten Sicherheitsforscher und -forscherinnen auf dem Kongress des Chaos Computer Clubs gravierende Sicherheitslücken in der Patientenakte. Die Behauptung, dass die Patientenakte sicher sei, treffe nicht zu."

Sowas aber auch. #epa

zeit.de/2025/11/elektronische-

ZEIT ONLINEElektronische Patientenakte: Viele misstrauen der elektronischen PatientenakteDas Gesundheitssystem soll digitaler werden. Aber zu welchem Preis? Nur jeder Zweite glaubt, dass seine Daten in der elektronischen Patientenakte sicher sind.

@sfbaykeeper

"Before EPA and laws like the Clean Water Act, America's waters were choked with pollution. Ohio's Cuyahoga River, which became a symbol of environmental degradation in the 60s, was so polluted that it repeatedly caught fire."

My goodmess! There's a cautionary tale right there! 😐

Fancy choosing to return to those days... And for those who say privatisation will take it from here, now that govt's out of the service loop: who will have funds to pay for it with Mango Muffin & Melon Husk tanking the US economy?

#Consequences
#ReconnectingConsequencesToCauses
#EPA
#CleanWater #PublicHealth #EssentialServices

A reminder of what the Bay looked like before environmental regulation—open dumping of industrial waste, raw sewage, and fuel, and constant oil spills.

Before EPA and laws like the Clean Water Act, America's waters were choked with pollution. Ohio's Cuyahoga River, which became a symbol of environmental degradation in the 60s, was so polluted that it repeatedly caught fire.

Today, it's estimated that the #CleanWaterAct alone prevents 700 *billion* pounds of toxic pollution from entering US waters every single year.

We MUST defend these vital laws and institutions.

#EPA #bayarea #sanfranciscobay #SFBay #environment #waterpollution

Photos courtesy of EPA's historic archive

Replied in thread

Update. It's not enough for #Trump to …

* nominate #climate denialists to run key agencies like the #EPA and #NOAA
* remove climate-related words from govt web sites
* take down whole climate science sites and datasets
* defund climate research and researchers
* layoff scientists and civil servants with climate expertise
* repeal climate regulations
* eliminate 10 regional EPA offices, including the one in DC
* and plan to replace consensus climate findings with ideological cherrypicking as the foundation for policymaking …

… now his #FBI is freezing the assets of nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity, which have received EPA grants, alleging that they might be guilty of “possible criminal violations” including “conspiracy to defraud the United States.”
newrepublic.com/post/192660/tr

The New Republic · Trump’s FBI Moves to Criminally Charge Major Climate GroupsThe Trump administration is targeting climate organizations that received a Biden-era grant.

Update. "US science rues ongoing demotion of research under President Trump"
physicsworld.com/a/us-science-

"In his first cabinet meeting on 26 February, #Trump suggested that officials “use scalpels” when trimming their departments’ spending and personnel – rather than #Musk’s figurative chainsaw. But bosses at the Environmental Protection Agency (#EPA) still plan to cut its budget by about two-thirds…The White House’s attack on #climate science goes beyond just the EPA. In January, the US Department of #Agriculture removed almost all data on climate change from its website…The Trump administration has also barred #NASA’s now former chief scientist Katherine Calvin and members of the State Department from travelling to China for a planning meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Meanwhile, in a speech to African energy ministers in Washington on 7 March, US energy secretary Chris Wright claimed that coal has “transformed our world and made it better”, adding that climate change, while real, is not on his list of the world’s top 10 problems."

Physics World · US science rues ongoing demotion of research under President Trump – Physics WorldUS science continues to be hit hard by budget and staff cuts
Replied in thread

In a statement, #LeeZeldin suggested that #EnvironmentalJustice — which the #EPA defined in 2013 as “the fair treatment & meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income” w/respect to #EnvironmentalLaw — was tantamount to discrimination. [BS]

“President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people,” [wrong] Zeldin said. “Part of this mandate includes the elimination of *forced* discrimination programs.”

Replied in thread

“If anybody needed a clearer sign that this administration gives not a single damn for the people of the #UnitedStates, this is it,” Matthew Tejada, a fmr #EPA ofcl who is now a snr VP for #EnvironmentalHealth at the Natural Resources Defense Fund, a nonprofit.
Molly Vaseliou, an EPA spox, described the moves as *organizational improvements* that align w/ #Trump’s orders to end *wasteful* spending & #diversity, #equity & #inclusion programs.
#law #EnvironmentalJustice #PublicHealth #HealthEquity

Continued thread

#LeeZeldin’s move effectively ends 3 decades of work at the #EPA to try to ease the #pollution that burdens #poor & #minority communities, which are frequently located near #highways, #PowerPlants, #industrial plants & other polluting facilities. Studies have shown that people who live in those #communities have higher rates of #asthma, #HeartDisease & other #health problems, compared w/the national average.