The Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts billions in Environmental Protection Agency funds, but Rep. Tom Cole, the top appropriator in the House, doesn’t want environmental research in his district to become collateral damage.
Cole, an Oklahoma Republican who has a reputation for working as a bipartisan negotiator, may think that the EPA’s budget is “bloated,” as he put it, but he’s focused on making sure resources for his district remain in place. He has said he successfully negotiated with DOGE and the administration to prevent cuts at a Social Security office, an Indian Health Services office and a National Weather Center location.
At a House Appropriations hearing last week, Cole pressed the EPA’s administrator, Lee Zeldin, over deep cuts that could impact the Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Center in Ada, Oklahoma. The center researches groundwater and soil quality, and the administration plans to cut funding for research not required by Congress, reduce personnel and dissolve the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, the arm that oversees the facility.
“It’s a premier groundwater research facility, not just for the EPA, but arguably, in the United States,” Cole told NOTUS on Monday. “That’s where about half of the country gets its water, is actually groundwater, it’s not surface water, so we don’t want to lose that capacity. And I just wanted to make sure [Zeldin] was aware of that.”
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In the hearing Thursday, Cole asked Zeldin to discuss how the research from the center is used to meet congressionally passed requirements.
“Can you take a moment to discuss how the research carried on at Kerr actually would inform some of the EPA statutory functions and decisions that you have to make, as well as assist rural communities around the country?” Cole asked Zeldin.
Zeldin described the work done at the lab as “important” and said the “investment should increase.” He emphasized that a number of staff at the EPA are from Oklahoma and tribal communities.
“They have a strong and passionate fighter on their behalf in you, Chairman Cole,” Zeldin said of the lab.(The EPA referred NOTUS back to the exchange when asked to comment.)
As of Monday, Cole said he wasn’t actively negotiating with Zeldin about funds for the research center, but Cole wanted to make sure Zeldin was paying attention.
“We just kind of put a thought in his head, and we’ll see where we go,” Cole said. “We haven’t had a chance to visit or follow up about it since the meeting.”
This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and Oklahoma Watch.
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Em Luetkemeyer is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow. Anna Kramer, a reporter at NOTUS, contributed to this report.
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