Episode 36: EPA’s Past, Present, and Future with Peter Murchie

Last year, in a massive culling of federal workers by the Trump administration, EPA reduced its workforce by 28% with mass layoffs, early retirements, and staff departures. Budget cuts reduced the EPA's pass-through funding and capacity to support states and tribes in enforcing environmental protections and public health under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and other critical statutes. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has made it clear that he favors polluting interests by allowing companies to receive rule waivers or altogether bypass permitting processes. EPA, as it is today, has strayed from its original, collaborative mission to enforce environmental and public health, contrary to what most Americans want. According to a recent poll from the Environmental Protection Network (EPN), by a 7-to-1 margin, Americans across the political spectrum actually want a stronger, expanded EPA, and even the most conservative voters want more accountability from polluters. The data gathered by EPN is an effort by the volunteer-run, nonprofit made up of former EPA employees to understand the impacts of the EPA rollbacks. At EPN, former EPA employees like Peter Murchie continue to hold the line, supporting communities on everything from subject-matter expert testimony in Congress for regulatory rules to technical assistance for CBOs. Even as the EPA has devolved, Peter and his colleagues remain hopeful and are reimagining a future for the agency that goes beyond the status quo. Guest: Peter Murchie is the Senior Director of Policy at EPN, leading national policy, civil service resilience and reimagining EPA programs. With 30 years of public sector leadership, Peter focuses on collaborative governance for environmental health. He spend most of his career at U.S. EPA, where he worked on air, climate, clean energy, and watershed recovery programs. Peter holds degrees in public health and environmental science and resides in Washington State.