Bushco, making government smaller ... by poisoning us

EPA Plans to Close Labs, Drop Scientists and Reduce Oversight

The Environmental Protection Agency intends to close labs, cut its cadre of upper-level scientists and reduce regulatory oversight, according to an internal agency document.
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The EPA's budget has been dropping steadily since it reached a record $8.13 billion in fiscal 2003. The Bush administration's proposed fiscal 2007 budget was nearly $1 billion lower, but Congress hasn't yet approved a final version. The fiscal 2008 budget plan is due in February. Gray said the financial outlook was "very challenging."

In his memo, he asked for plans to close at least 20 percent of the EPA's 16 research laboratories by 2011 - a minimum 10 percent cut by 2009 and another 10 percent by 2011.
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Staff cuts could worsen what some experts have said is already a deteriorating situation, particularly with a significant number of EPA employees due to retire over the next decade.
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A report in August from the EPA inspector general found that various studies have concluded that the agency doesn't always have reliable data to support its conclusions and "does not always use reliable science to support its rules and regulations."

Gray's memo also calls on the agency to work with state and tribal groups to look for ways to reduce regulatory oversight.

"The state and tribal grants have been reduced 25 percent since the administration started," said Heather Taylor, the deputy legislative director of the National Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group. "First we take away the money to do their jobs, now we take away the oversight."