"For 30 years, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has conducted controlled air-pollution studies at a state-of-the-art facility at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The facility is equipped to test numerous airborne pollutants, including ozone, diesel, wildfire smoke and chlorine. Data collected in its chambers have been pivotal to establishing stricter air-quality standards for deadly pollutants, and have been instrumental in protecting the health of people in the United States."
"However, in February, shortly after US President Donald Trump took office, the EPA - which is charged with protecting the nation's environment and its people's health - notified the university that it would not be renewing its lease. By May, research had ceased. "There are no other places with the capability of doing these studies on the wide range of pollutants that the Chapel Hill facility does," says Robert Devlin, a former EPA researcher who worked at the facility until recently. In August, after almost 40 years at the agency, Devlin retired when his appointment was not renewed."
"Internal documents suggest that lay-offs and voluntary early-retirement programmes have already reduced ORD's 1,600-person staff by one-third. The remnants of ORD are expected to be folded into a new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions (OASES) that reports directly to the EPA administrator, a presidential appointee. The reorganization has spooked agency scientists, who fear that research priorities might end up being set according to a political agenda."
EPA ended its lease at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill exposure laboratory, halting controlled air-pollution studies that tested ozone, diesel, wildfire smoke and chlorine. The facility generated data pivotal to establishing stricter air-quality standards and protecting public health. Research ceased by May and several long-time researchers, including Robert Devlin, left after appointments were not renewed. The EPA Office of Research and Development lost roughly one-third of its 1,600-person staff through layoffs and early retirements. ORD is being folded into a new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions (OASES), raising concerns about political influence on research priorities.
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