The Environmental Protection Agency is starting to feel the effects of the government shutdown.

While it did not have to implement a full furlough plan at the beginning of October because it operates with multi-year funding, the agency ordered its first large-scale furloughs this week.

“As time goes by and the carryover funding goes down, the total lapse would be an 89% furlough at EPA,” EPA head Lee Zeldin said. “But again, we’re not there yet.”

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The EPA is responsible for enforcing environmental laws, protecting air and water quality and conducting research on public health and the environment.

The agency had already been scaled back after President Donald Trump took office as part of an

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