Sheer, unmitigated carnage

 

This is devastating.  And stupid.  

Did I say stupid?  REALLY stupid.

From the Washington Post:

EPA eliminates its scientific research arm
The Office of Research and Development conducted research into hazardous chemicals, with studies that often underpinned stricter regulations.

"However union officials said the agency is destroying one of the world’s leading office of environmental scientists, which could leave the nation vulnerable to potential threats.

“Without the Office of Research and Development, our nation’s air, water and land will turn more toxic and our people more sick with preventable disease,” said Nicole Cantello, a legislative and political coordinator in the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Council 238, a nationwide union that represents more than 8,000 EPA employees."

Below is a link to another article about this, from Science:

In ‘blow to the environment,’ EPA begins to dismantle its research office

"ORD also maintains toxicology databases that are widely used by researchers, state and local governments, industry, and nonprofit groups, notes Joel Tickner, an environmental health scientist at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Both Tickner and [University of Colorado - Boulder environmental engineer Jana] Milford fear EPA will no longer keep the databases up to date, such as by adding newly identified contaminants. Similarly, ORD’s atmospheric and hydrologic models are used by researchers around the world to understand the sources and impacts of pollutants such as particulate matter and ozone, Milford notes.

Industry trade groups have been especially critical of ORD’s Integrated Risk Information System assessments, which EPA and state agencies rely on to restrict the use of toxic chemicals and guide cleanup decisions. “This joust is nothing new, but this is total victory for the polluters right now,” says Thomas Burke, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University and former EPA science adviser."