By Cole Gee | Staff Writer
The Environmental Protection Agency was put under a spotlight this week as the Trump administration proposed a 65% spending cut. On top of that, many in the EPA fear that more federal job layoffs may be coming as a part of the proposed budget cut.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin went on Fox News last Thursday to reiterate the proposed 65% cut to the budget. He also discussed how the EPA doesn’t “need to be spending all that money that went through last year,” and how that money should be going to the American people.
On Feb. 6, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) discussed how “dozens” of EPA projects focusing on clean energy and environmental justice have been shut down. The administration has also made plans to shutter the agency’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, an office that focuses on protecting the civil rights and liberties of local communities in the face of environmental issues.
However, many EPA workers and officials argue they need their budget to help protect the day-to-day health of the American public. From monitoring chemicals and goods in the marketplace to providing grants for environmental research and infrastructure to enforcing laws against environmental waste, EPA workers argue that the department is a safety net for the health and safety of many Americans.
Dr. George Cobb, department chair of environmental science, has served on many environmental organizations including the American Chemical Society and has been chair of the Science Advisory Committee for Chemicals to the EPA.
Speaking strictly about his profession as an educator in environmental science, Cobb said the current string of cuts does cause some concern for the future of environmental science.
“The budget reductions are widespread and have the effect of limiting the ability of the agency to adequately monitor the presence of toxic chemicals and assess their potential health risk not only to humans but to the rest of the organisms in the environment,” Cobb said.
Cobb also notes how this may affect potential job opportunities in the government sector for some environmental studies majors. With many of these offices being shuttered or losing their budget, he believes government sector jobs may be hard to come by for Baylor students.
“I certainly do not want to discourage people from our major and environmental pursuits; however, these types of budget cuts do limit the opportunities in the government sector,” Cobb said. “The alumni from our department alone that have lost their jobs is really starting to mount in number.”
However, Cobb said that in the private and academic sector there are still many jobs that students could pursue with their environmental science degrees. He thinks that the “highly coveted government positions” might be too competitive for some students fresh out of college to earn.
Las Vegas senior and environmental studies major Lindsay Wheeler has her thoughts on the recent EPA cuts. As a college student who wants to work in the environment, she said she has had a strong passion for environmental science for years.
“I love the EPA, and I love what they do,” Wheeler said. “I think they push for a lot of things that people don’t see in the common space, and I think that’s what makes it so admirable because you have these people who are doing this just because they want to protect other people around them.”
Wheeler said the idea of not working for the EPA is defeating for her, as this had been her dream job for many years while at Baylor as well as one of the many reasons she chose her environmental studies major.
“It’s just heartbreaking and it’s defeating, I think for sure, because that’s like my dream job right? I want to be the person that’s empathetic and that has the humility to be like, ‘I’m okay without getting the recognition to make this place better. To make lives better indirectly,’ and that’s what I love about the EPA,” Wheeler said.
