No Region Shakeup or Staff Layoffs, EPA’s Pruitt Says

The EPA is not aiming to relocate any of its 10 regional offices, and ongoing discussion of that prospect is “pure legend,” Admininstrator Scott Pruitt told House appropriators June 15.

That statement comes after months of speculation over a regional shakeup, which has drawn criticism and concern from outside groups and internally at the Environmental Protection Agency.

On top of that, the agency doesn’t plan to lay off any workers in the coming year, despite a Fiscal Year 2018 budget that calls for a reduction of more than 3,000 employees, Pruitt told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and ...