Democrats Pressure EPA Official About Shakeup to Science Office

A longtime EPA official told lawmakers Thursday it’s “hard to say” whether the agency’s shakeup of its science division has helped or hurt its scientific output.

“We’re six, seven months in, and during that time we’ve been developing new processes and getting things up to speed,” said Maureen Gwinn, deputy associate administrator for science at the Environmental Protection Agency’s new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions (OASES). “So I’m not sure that I can give a yes or no answer at this point.”

Broadly, Gwinn framed OASES—which was created in 2025 after the EPA shuttered its Office of Research ...