A Long-Term Hiring Freeze Could Add To New Chemicals Division Problems

If Trump administration officials maintain their freeze on external hiring at EPA’s chemicals office for the duration of the administration, it will further exacerbate challenges within the TSCA program, particularly the New Chemicals Division’s long-running effort to eliminate the years-long backlog of applications, a source familiar with the matter says. Any long-term continuation of the hiring freeze “means you have to cannibalize what you have before you can get something new,” the source says. The comments follow President Donald Trump’s...