Elizabeth Kolbert writes:

Thomas Luben is an epidemiologist who for nearly 20 years worked for the scientific arm of the Environmental Protection Agency — the Office of Research and Development — in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park. His work focused on what are known as the “criteria pollutants,” which are regulated, under the Clean Air Act, by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, often shortened to NAAQS (pronounced “nacks”).

At the start of the second Trump administration, life for most scientists at ORD changed dramatically: Many research projects were terminated, and rumors began to circulate that the whole division was being eliminated. (Since then, ORD has, in fact, been dismantled.) Last June, Luben, along with more than 150 other EPA staff members, signed a letter objecting to the way the agency was being run. For putting his name on the letter, Luben was fired in the fall. He now works at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health.

Luben spoke to e360 contributor Elizabeth Kolbert about what it was like to work at the EPA under Trump 2.0, about the implications for the public of getting rid of ORD, and about the future of science at the agency. “I think that it will take a lot longer to rebuild than to break down,” Luben said. “And I also think that attracting, hiring, and retaining great scientists to the EPA or any federal agency after this administration is going to be incredibly difficult.” [Continue reading…]