In 2023, workers at the EPA penned a memo outlining an agency “staffing crisis” which was preventing it from carrying out its responsibilities. The federal workers union claimed it needed to expand its ranks to 20,000 workers. According to OPM’s Fedscope database, the EPA had only 16,839 workers at the end of FY 2024. Here are the impacts of an understaffed EPA on the health and wellbeing of our environment and communities:
- Slow to Write Far-Reaching Rules To Reduce The Effects Of Climate Change: Writing new regulations to offset the effects of climate change requires a high level of expertise and capacity to train new workers properly. According to EPA workers in 2023, “Writing half dozen highly complex rules that are expected to reduce the most devastating effects of climate change demands an expert, highly trained EPA staff that must act with maximum speed to avert global catastrophe. […] EPA has already missed its own self-imposed deadlines, which is not an encouraging sign for those tracking progress in the war on climate change.”
- The EPA has written rules to replace lead pipes, limit contaminants in drinking water, limit air pollutants, and ensure that toxic chemicals are being safely used, produced and handled, among many others.
- Beyond their antagonism to regulations that force industry to prioritize human wellbeing above profit, , the Trump administration will back up any existing work at the EPA through ensuring it is understaffed. That understaffing would persist well into the term of the next president who is actually committed to the mission of the EPA.
- Failure To Adequately Enforce Environmental Laws: AFGE Local 238, which represents EPA workers, also cites staffing shortages as leading to a reduction in the enforcement capacity of the agency. “EPA’s civil cases against polluters hit a two-decade low in 2022, with only 72 such enforcement cases closed in court. That number is even lower than during the Trump administration, which avoided restrictions on industry yet closed an average of 94 enforcement cases per year.” A 2021 report found that the National Forensics Investigations Center (NEIC), which is responsible for many investigations and a key part in enforcement, had a particularly acute shortage in staff.
- Unable To Adequately Investigate Industrial Chemical Accidents: In 2021, an OIG report found that only one board member was in charge of the EPA’s Chemical Safety Board (CSB). The office was established as a five member board. Today, only 3 spots out of the 5 have been filled. Without full staffing, the board is likely unable to adequately complete its workload, which includes things such as “serving as the principal spokespersons at accident sites and conducting community meetings, hearings, and boards of inquiry during accident investigations,” as well as ensuring CSB recommendations are adopted, participating in conferences, safety forums, and meeting with the leaders of other federal agencies.