There has been extensive damage done to these agencies, the scientists that support them, and the labs. It is believed the labs were destroyed and decades of files destroyed.
By "Nature" Editorial Board
When former US president Richard Nixon (click here) proposed establishing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970, he spoke of the need to preserve Earth as a place that is both habitable by — and hospitable to — people. Nixon, a Republican, acknowledged his own fear of creating a new federal bureaucracy. But the task of rescuing the natural environment, he argued, required a strong, independent agency that would be able to marshal “a coordinated attack on the pollutants which debase the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land that grows our food”.
The EPA’s successes are undeniable. Over the past 4 decades, US emissions of the most common pollutants, as measured by weight, have fallen by 71%, even as the country’s population grew by some 105 million people and the size of its economy nearly tripled. Most emissions from the average automobile have fallen by 98–99% over the same period, to take just one industrial sector. Petrol is cleaner — and free of toxic lead. City sewage and industrial waste no longer flow unchecked into waterways, and rivers no longer catch fire as a result of discharged oil waste. And, internationally, the EPA’s science and regulatory standards have helped other countries to protect their environments, too....
...Biden’s campaign pledges suggest that he and his team have every intention of working to restore and strengthen rules and regulations, and to rebuild the EPA’s in-house science teams. But the incoming administration must think seriously about structural reforms. In addition to the need for past damage to be repaired, the agency must be strengthened in a way that makes it harder for any future administration to even think about strangling the structures of evidence that are essential to good policy. This will not be easy, but the following actions will help.
An EPA administrator will soon be nominated. Once in the post, they must make it an urgent priority to nominate an assistant administrator for the EPA’s research division, the Office of Research and Development (ORD). This position has not been filled for eight years. Senate Republicans refused to confirm former president Barack Obama’s last nominee, and the EPA leadership appointed by Trump never nominated anybody....
...Biden’s campaign pledges suggest that he and his team have every intention of working to restore and strengthen rules and regulations, and to rebuild the EPA’s in-house science teams. But the incoming administration must think seriously about structural reforms. In addition to the need for past damage to be repaired, the agency must be strengthened in a way that makes it harder for any future administration to even think about strangling the structures of evidence that are essential to good policy. This will not be easy, but the following actions will help.
An EPA administrator will soon be nominated. Once in the post, they must make it an urgent priority to nominate an assistant administrator for the EPA’s research division, the Office of Research and Development (ORD). This position has not been filled for eight years. Senate Republicans refused to confirm former president Barack Obama’s last nominee, and the EPA leadership appointed by Trump never nominated anybody....
