The Environmental Protection Agency’s once-prominent presence in Cincinnati is likely over, according to U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman.
Landsman told The Enquirer that the agency informed employees earlier this month that it is closing its Office of Research and Development and reassigning any remaining employees in March.
“The decision will have a devastating impact both on the city of Cincinnati specifically and the nation as a whole,” Landsman told EPS Administrator Lee Zeldin in a Feb. 24 letter he provided The Enquirer.
The EPA once employed more than 900 people at the Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center, its second-largest U.S. research and development site. The Breidenbach Center sits at Martin Luther King Drive and Vine Street in Corryville, part of an eight-building EPA complex on 22 acres there.
Cincinnati-wide EPA employment had slipped to between 300 and 600 by last May. Employment remains in that range, according to Michael Ottlinger, president of Chapter 279 of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents local EPA employees.
The EPA did not respond to a request for comment about its plans or Landsman’s request.
EPA ‘moving forward’ with closure, email says
Landsman, who lives in Cincinnati’s Mount Washington neighborhood, has been advocating for Cincinnati’s EPA employees since last March. That’s when the Trump administration first said it would eliminate the agency’s research and development arm and up to 75% of its 1,500-person U.S. workforce. In response, Landsman recruited more than 60 Congressional colleagues in a call to reverse the decision.
By May, the agency said it would shift research to a new entity it would call the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions.
At the time, an agency spokesperson said Cincinnati would retain its water-related offices. Over the years, local researchers have focused on issues related to drinking water and stream contamination. Water research is continuing in Cincinnati, Ottlinger said.
On Feb. 13, the agency said it was “moving forward to close the Office of Research and Development” as part of a “science-centered transformation.”
In an email that Landsman provided, the agency told remaining research and development staff members they would be reassigned to support “mission-essential functions” in March. Staffers “will receive an individual notice regarding the specifics,” the email said.
Some may continue to work in Cincinnati, Ottlinger said.
‘Reverse this wrong,’ Landsman tells EPA head
In his letter to Zeldin, Landsman said the agency still had time to “reverse this wrong and possibly illegal decision.”
Zeldin broke his promise to visit Cincinnati’s research center before finalizing its future, according to Landsman. Landsman said he invited Zeldin to visit during a May 2025 meeting of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In response, Zeldin said he’d be “happy to come visit that lab.”
“Will you honor your promise to come to Cincinnati personally before the reorganization notices go out next month?” Landsman’s letter said.
Local EPA work dates to 1912
The EPA’s local roots date to 1912, when a U.S. Marine hospital became part of the U.S. Public Health Service with a focus on investigating stream pollution.
Over the years, the office took on work related to air, industrial and chemical pollution, becoming part of the Department of Interior and then, with its creation in 1970, the EPA.
In addition to its focus on water issues, Cincinnati EPA researchers have focused on how to manage and clean up landfills and chemical spills.
As to the considerable EPA real estate in Corryville, Ottlinger said EPA officials have said the federal government wants to retain the property.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Local EPA will close major office here, Landsman says
Reporting by Patricia Gallagher Newberry, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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