Last week, the president's former EPA transition team leader Myron Ebell cryptically warned that Trump would likely make staffing cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, he remarked that up to half of the agency's workforce could be eliminated.
An internal memo—first leaked to Motherboard by an EPA employee and later confirmed by the agency—sent to EPA staff by a senior White House advisor today indicates that Ebell's claims are causing unrest within the agency. The memo doesn't mention Ebell by name or say that the agency won't see major staff cuts, but notes that much of what's being reported in the news is not accurate, and that "no final decisions have been made with regard to the EPA."
Ebell's interview came less than a week after Trump implemented a communications ban at the EPA, and froze the creation of all new contracts and grants.
"Let's aim for half and see how it works out, and then maybe we'll want to go further," Ebell said. "President Trump said during the campaign that he would like to abolish the EPA, or 'leave a little bit.' I think the administration is likely to start proposing cuts to the 15,000 staff, because the fact is that a huge amount of the work of the EPA is actually done by state agencies. It's not clear why so many employees are needed at the federal level."
Ebell wasn't officially speaking for the White House at the time—and admits he's never actually met Trump in person—but his views on climate change and scientific integrity aren't that different from those belonging to the president. Ebell has long been criticized by environmental groups for seeding doubt in climate science, and trying to dispel what he has called "the myth" of global warming.
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