Lee Zeldin on Capitol Hill for his Senate confirmation to serve as EPA administrator. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The EPA said the Office of the Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), and Office of Water will all face restructuring.
Zeldin said he will reorganize the agency's research office to shift its focus on "statutory obligations and mission-essential functions," including by creating a new office called the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions.
The new office will "prioritize research and put science at the forefront of the agency's rulemakings and technical assistance to states. At the program level, the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention will add more than 130 scientific, technical, bioinformatic and information technology experts to work directly on the backlog of over 504 new chemicals in review that are beyond the statutorily required timeframe. And they're also going to address the backlog of over 12,000 reviews that are well beyond the expected review timelines in the pesticides program," Zeldin said.
EPA CHIEF TAKES ON MEXICAN 'SEWAGE CRISIS' FLOWING INTO US WATERS WHERE NAVY SEALS TRAIN
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin attends a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House on Mar. 13, 2025 in Washington, D.C. The two leaders met as the Trump administration has once again put the military alliance between the United States and Western Europe in question. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
"In 2024, the record high day of attendance at EPA headquarters in D.C., clocked in around 37%. Upon President Trump's swearing in, we immediately ended COVID-era remote work," Zeldin said.
The former New York congressman added that EPA's budget and awards in granted last year alone, under the Biden administration, sat at $63 billion — though it had previously been funded to the tune of between $6 billion and $8 billion a year, he said.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images )
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"We are going to massively reduce this excess spending. We owe it to the American taxpayer to be as efficient as possible. We've already started to make significant progress by re-examining grants and contracts, real estate footprint, travel costs, staff and more. With the help of DOGE, EPA has identified and canceled more than $22 billion in grants and contracts. These are direct savings for the American people," Zeldin said.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/epa-chief-zeldin-announces-overhauls-bring-agency-back-reagan-level-staffing