New York Times: “Trump Administration’s Cuts Targeted Wildfire Research”
RFF Senior Fellow Bryan Hubbell comments on the evolution of federal wildfire research.
“At the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the administration has almost completely dismantled the scientific research office, which studied the health effects of exposure to pollutants including wildfire smoke for more than a decade.
When President Trump returned to office in January 2025, scientists in the EPA’s Office of Research and Development were analyzing the chemicals in wildfire smoke, including toxic metals like copper, lead and zinc, according to a summary of their research at the time.
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‘Eliminating the Office of Research and Development and its national research programs means there is likely to be less organized and strategic research to address threats from wildfire smoke,’ said Bryan Hubbell, who left the EPA research office last year and now works at Resources for the Future, a think tank.”
