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The second week of the United States government shutdown is having an increasing effect on various federal agencies.
The agencies affected by the lapse in the 2018 Appropriation include the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”).
Because of the availability of carryover funds, EPA was able to remain open last week. However, the funds were unable to completely fund agency operations past December 28th.
By way of example, Chemical Watch notes that programs affected include implementation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”). This is presumably a significant concern since the amendments to TSCA require a number of agency activities that are subject to strict deadlines.
ENE News states that under its shutdown plan 13,705 agency employees are furloughed. The publication references 753 employees who are deemed exempt. These are personnel who are deemed needed to protect “life and property” such as disaster response teams.
A link to the EPA Contingency Plan for Shutdown can be found here.
