EPA Formally Eliminates ORD, Creates Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the formal elimination of the Office of Research and Development on July 18, 2025, and the creation of a replacement Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions, known as OASES. Unlike ORD, OASES operates directly under the administrator rather than as an independent division, removing the organizational firewall between research and political leadership. Up to 75 percent of ORD staff were terminated as part of the reorganization, with a smaller portion of displaced staff absorbed into OASES or other program offices.