DeSaulnier Leads Bay Area Delegation in Calling on EPA to Halt the Closure of Richmond’s Region 9 Lab

Richmond, CA – Today, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11) was joined by Bay Area Representatives Anna G. Eshoo (CA-18), John Garamendi (CA-03), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Barbara Lee (CA-13), Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Doris O. Matsui (CA-06), Jerry McNerney (CA-09), Jackie Speier (CA-14), Eric Swalwell (CA-15), and Mike Thompson (CA-05) in calling on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, to reconsider the proposed closing of the Region 9 Laboratory in Richmond, California.

"This closure appears to be yet another tactic to shrink the overall number of EPA employees, a move that is unfair to its dedicated civil servants and does and injustice to the American people," wrote the Members.

In response to the Trump Administration's budget cuts to the EPA, they plan to relocate or merge at least five labs across the country, including in Richmond, CA. The Richmond Lab is a full-service analytical lab, which assists the region in its work throughout Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, the Pacific Islands, and on behalf of 148 tribes. If closed, most of the Richmond Lab's work would be transferred outside of Region 9 to a lab in Corvalis, Oregon.

"Moving the Lab out of state – and out of the Region completely – disconnects the lab with the people and the Pacific Southwest region that they serve. Loss of career civil servants will result in ‘brain drain' that will prevent EPA Region 9 from being able to best serve the Pacific Southwest," the Members continued.

"This short-sighted move could end up requiring the outsourcing of critical lab work, which could be more costly and threaten the integrity of the work," the Members concluded.

Full text of the letter can be found here.

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