The Environmental Protection Agency facility in Erlanger faces an uncertain future after Elon Musk鈥檚 Department of Government Efficiency late last week.
The 20,000-square foot building in the unincorporated Boone County portion of Erlanger houses the agency鈥檚 Environmental Response Team and a stockpile of emergency response equipment.
It鈥檚 one of four ERT facilities in the country that provide rapid response services during emergencies like train derailments, natural disasters, and oil spills.
The other three are in Edison, N.J., Research Triangle Park, N.C., and Las Vegas, . None of their leases currently appear on DOGE鈥檚 online list of cuts, also known as the
DOGE claims terminating the Erlanger EPA lease would provide a total savings of $889,450.
The Office of Land and Emergency Management, which oversees ERT, did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
What the loss could mean
Greg Powell worked for the EPA in Erlanger for decades before he retired in January 2022. He says the loss of the facility would mean slower responses to emergencies in the Midwest.
鈥淚t would greatly increase the response times from other offices to support the EPA on-scene coordinators ... They have quite a big responsibility for protection of the public health and the environment,鈥� Powell said. 鈥淚f they don't have the necessary monitoring equipment to make those determinations in the field, it impacts the quality and the duration of a response.鈥�
While working at the Erlanger EPA facility, Powell responded to emergencies from an oil spill in Oak Glen Nature Preserve in Colerain Township to Hurricane Katrina.
Powell says there are at least nine people currently working at the facility who would be affected by the lease termination.
The facility also is used to store and maintain millions of dollars of equipment, including a hazmat response truck, mobile command post, several boats for oil spills and air quality monitors.
鈥淚f you lose that capability, it's not easy to get back,鈥� Powell said.
DOGE plans to end the leases on 21 other federal buildings throughout Kentucky, including several Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service offices.
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