The Environmental Protection Network, a group of former employees of the Environmental Protection Agency, released a report slamming President Trump’s 2019 budget. The group says that if the budget is approved by Congress, its effects on the EPA “would be more punishing than for any other federal agency.”
The budget would continue a pattern of shrinking EPA staff, from nearly 15,000 in 2017 to just over 12,000, its smallest workforce since 1984. The plan proposes a 33-percent cut to EPA programs, including its grants to state agencies, which many states rely on to enforce basic environmental regulations. The plan would also cut scientific research at the agency by 48 percent.
The EPN is a volunteer, bipartisan group of former EPA scientists, economists, lawyers, and others. The group has been very active since the appointment of Scott Pruitt to lead EPA, whose deregulatory agenda has been advancing quickly.