US EPA plans to cut staff to 1980s levels, dissolve research office | Hacker News Reader

US EPA plans to cut staff to 1980s levels, dissolve research office

reuters.com

36 pointsgeox14 comments

American quality of life is going to decline so precipitously with the loss of state capacity for basic regulation and most people won't even understand what hit them.

People who can leave will, people who can’t are hosed. Better luck in 4 years after another ~8-10M voters have aged out (~5k-7k/day).

If only we had the collective right of recall, like the Haudenosaunee government that the US is in part based on, rather than having to wait years.

Edit: "if only", ha. If only it were that simple.

is collective recall the new buzz word for anti-democracy?

Nothing wrong with being anti democracy. Peter Thiel said "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible,” and I find it hard to disagree with him at this point. The average American is at a 7th-8th grade reading level, for example. Not much pride in being dragged by that quality of electorate.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/14/politics/the-biggest-predicto...

One has to wonder whether the billionaire might have other motives for being anti-democracy than a fervent belief in 'freedom'

Oh, no, of course. We can both agree democracy is a failure for different reasons.

Why do you think democracy is a failure? And what systems do you think should replace it?

Recent examples:

https://19thnews.org/2025/05/missouri-abortion-rights-laws-p...

https://moritzlaw.osu.edu/unchecked-power-ohio-general-assem...

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/a...

I don't see how that demonstrates that democracy is a failure. Maybe it demonstrates that democracy in America is a failure, but that's a stretch too IMO.

Anyway, what systems do you think would be better? Specifically curious how they'd be immune to the issues outlined in those links.

How is collective recall anti-democracy?

I fear that the administration will drag much of the world into this kicking and screaming.

> In 1984, the EPA had just over 11,400 staff members compared to more than 15,100 in 2024.

Looking forward to rediscovering if acid rain is real or a myth.

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