Landsman Leads 60+ Members of Congress in Letter Opposing Cuts to EPA Office of Research and Development

Cincinnati, OH – Today, Congressman Greg Landsman (D-OH) sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency opposing cuts the Office of Research and Development.

Congressman Landsman – joined by 64 House Democrats – sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin demanding the immediate reversal of plans to cut the EPA’s Office of Research and Development.

On March 17, the New York Times reported that the Trump Administration was considering firing 75 percent the Office of Research and Development’s (ORD) staff. Cincinnati is home to the second largest EPA research and development facility in the country – the Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center – which has more than 300 ORD employees and is recognized as a world-leader in water research, bioremediation and pollution prevention.

Congressman Landsman’s letter reads, in part:

“Firing nearly 1,200 dedicated ORD public servants across the country would decimate the scientific backbone of EPA which provides independent, objective, and unparallelled research that informs Agency assessments and decision-making…

“Firing the majority of ORD employees would be particularly harmful to EPA’s work to address industrial pollution, contaminated air and drinking water, environmental health, and worsening natural disasters – and would especially hamper responses to emergencies such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Flint, Michigan water crisis, and the California wildfires.

“Dismantling ORD’s ability to fulfill its duties would jeopardize decades of progress in protecting public health and the environment. This includes everything from understanding and addressing the environmental causes of asthma in children and the long-term effects of exposure to lead pipes and paint in the home, to reducing the presence of forever chemicals in drinking water.

“As such, we demand the immediate reversal of any plan, and the cessation of any activities, that would result in the mass firing of ORD employees or the dismantling of ORD as a whole.”

The full text of Congressman Landsman’s letter can be found here.

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