Anxiety increases over possibility that Duluth EPA Great Lakes lab could close

DULUTH ‐ Anxieties are mounting that a water pollution laboratory buttressing Lake Superior’s North Shore is slated to be closed, potentially terminating work for dozens of scientists and shuttering an economic engine for northern Minnesota.

So far, no closure to the Environmental Protection Agency laboratory has been announced.

But on Tuesday, U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin asking a series of questions about rumored cuts and offering a blunt warning.

“Firing career scientists and shutting down a lab that leads the nation in freshwater toxicology research would have huge impacts on Minnesota and all Americans,” wrote Klobuchar and Smith.

Molly Vaseliou, a spokeswoman for the EPA, provided the Star Tribune with a statement that the agency is taking “exciting steps” toward “organizational improvements.”

The agency did not comment if any job cuts were coming to the lab.

Last month, the New York Times reported that officials with the EPA introduced a plan to cut more than 1,000 jobs across the federal agency’s research arm as part of a cost-cutting campaign.

Anxiety has mounted in Duluth since. People protested outside the facility, worried that water quality and other environmental effects would be affected with a closure or cutback.

The Duluth laboratory first opened in 1967 as the National Water Quality Laboratory before being subsumed by EPA in 1970.

Scientists use water from nearby Lake Superior to test effects of chemicals such as PFAS on freshwater ecosystems, and also the effects of invasive species and pollution.

In total, according to the facility’s website, more than 170 people are employed at the field office, producing more than $15 million in revenue through salaries and contracts for the region.

A 2018 University of Minnesota Duluth study found the lab’s economic impact to the region then was $24 million annually, considering employee spending.

Closure of a lab that employs highly and specifically trained scientists who may not find similar work locally could force the workers to move, said Monica Haynes, director of UMD’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

Those jobs are there to fulfill a mission set by Congress in the Clean Water Act of 1972, said research biologist David Bolgrien, who retired from the Duluth EPA lab in 2022.

Along with freshwater quality research, the Duluth lab helps states ensure swimmable, fishable, drinkable water. If that work is not done, it would be hard for states to meet federal criteria, he said.

Retired scientist Gary Glass was among its first employees. The work the lab does saves lives — a lab that “is a knowledge fount for the aquatic system,” not just in the Great Lakes, but across the nation, he said.

Rep. Pete Stauber, the Republican who represents much of northern Minnesota, including Duluth, said in a statement Wednesday that no office had “officially been confirmed for closure by the EPA.”

”I am in contact with the EPA and understand that they are currently examining the agency’s overall efficiency, so the merits and workforce of each field office are under review," Stauber’s statement continued. “I will continue to stay appraised on this matter, [and] encourage the EPA and other federal agencies to prioritize important programs and essential staff as they conduct reviews.”

Klobuchar said in a phone interview Tuesday that the laboratory both develops water testing protocols essential to human health and also tracks invasive species in the “biggest freshwater lake in the world.”

She and Smith in their letter requested Zeldin to respond by Friday to questions about the number of researchers targeted by the reduction in force and potential impacts to public health.