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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10/17</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">bak 120</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">field error main 921?</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">kid killer:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/08/19/formaldehyde-leukemia-epa-trump-suppressed/">https://theintercept.com/2021/08/19/formaldehyde-leukemia-epa-trump-suppressed/</a></font></div><div>
</div><div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">KOCH</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">intercept 921</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
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</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Sharon Lerner</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">no lnx mANY  DOC</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><b>a 2017 DRAFT assessment of formaldehyde that was suppressed by the Trump administration found that the chemical causes myeloid leukemia,</b> according to several sources familiar with the document. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The draft assessment concludes that 1 microgram of formaldehyde in a cubic meter of air increases the number of myeloid leukemia cases by roughly 3.5 in 100,000 people, more than three times the cancer risk in the assessment now in use. </span><b>The EPA currently regulates formaldehyde using an outdated set of calculations, finalized in 1991, based on the risk of nasopharyngeal cancer. If the nasopharyngeal cancer and myeloid leukemia risks are combined, the cancer risk could be 4.5 times higher than the current value.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Although the suppressed assessment, produced by a division of the Environmental Protection Agency known as the Integrated Risk Information System, or IRIS, has grave implications for public health, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Trump administration officials, including former EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, refused to allow the agency to release the assessment, several sources told The Intercept.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><b>If the Biden EPA permits IRIS to finalize the assessment, which is among the most controversial in the agency’s history, other branches of the EPA will likely set regulatory limits based on the new risk value</b>. IRIS values are used to determine safety thresholds for the amounts of the chemical permitted in air and water, emissions caps from industrial facilities, and guidance for cleanups. Such thresholds also alert exposed people to the dangers they face.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><b>“This is a big, big deal. It could trigger significant interest by the personal injury bar,</b>” said Bob Sussman, who served as the senior policy counsel to the EPA administrator during the Obama administration and deputy EPA administrator under President Bill Clinton. “Even without including the leukemia, the risk is a significant one. With the leukemia, it’s certainly a very significant public health concern.”</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Even using the much lower, outdated cancer risk number set in 1991, <b>formaldehyde is already the greatest source of nationwide cancer risk from industrial air pollutants, </b>estimated to cause roughly 18 of the 32 cancers in every 1 million people in the U.S. that are caused by toxic pollutants in the air,</span> according to the EPA’s own data. If the risk values are increased by a factor of four or more, the reported cancer risk from formaldehyde will go up accordingly, revealing previously unrecognized cancer hot spots around the country.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Formaldehyde, mainly used to make plywood, particleboard, and glues, is also a hazard for millions of workers who are exposed to the chemical through the production of resins, wood composite and furniture production, plastics manufacturing, paper production, embalming, foundry work, fiberglass production, building construction, agriculture, firefighting, and the teaching of biology, among other occupations. The general public is exposed to formaldehyde through tobacco smoke, cosmetics, food and water, as well as “off-gassing” from consumer goods, construction materials, and furniture. In 2019, 662 facilities reported releasing 47.7 million pounds of formaldehyde.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">In addition to looking at the chemical’s relationships to nasopharyngeal cancer and leukemia, the draft assessment also factored in evidence that formaldehyde causes decreased lung function, allergic conditions, reproductive and developmental toxicity, and sensory irritation.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In part because formaldehyde is so pervasive, a wide range of business interests have attempted to prevent the EPA from finalizing the assessment and publicly acknowledging the connection to leukemia. Until now, the EPA has kept the contents of its assessment under tight wraps. The leaked information provides a window into how the science and regulation around the chemical will finally be updated</span>.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">“Just knowing that the IRIS assessment acknowledges that formaldehyde causes myeloid leukemia is huge, regardless of what the value is,” Jennifer McPartland, a senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, said after being told about the main findings of the draft assessment. “But the numbers tell you even more. They set the tone for how the agency will proceed with risk management.”</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Assessment Was “Ready to Go”</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">While the EPA has claimed in court that the formaldehyde assessment did not exist in a form that allowed it to be shared — and used that argument to refuse to release it in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the environmental whistleblower group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, o<b>r PEER — former EPA officials told The Intercept that the completed assessment not only existed but that it had also been prepared for release in early 2018.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">“We had the document ready to go for review within the agency, but we were not allowed to proceed,” said Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, former director of the EPA Office of Research and Development, who retired from the agency in July.<b> “Political leadership did not want me to move it forward.”</b></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Wheeler, the former EPA administrator, was among the Trump appointees who were involved in suppressing the calculation of the myeloid leukemia risk, according to one former agency official who worked on the assessment.</span> “The administrator would not allow us to put out that number,” the former official said, going on to explain how members of the administrator’s office, particularly his chief of staff Ryan Jackson, kept an unusually close eye on the formaldehyde assessment.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">“Normally when we’re doing an assessment, they [the staff of the administrator’s office] don’t have access to the guts of it, because it’s deliberative. But they would demand that we give them pieces of the assessment, including what literature we were looking at for dose responses,” the former official said, referring to the precise relationship between exposure and cancer risk. <b>“Then they would share it with ACC,” an acronym for the American Chemistry Counci</b>l. Although the former official provided no direct evidence of the administrator’s office sending out the segments of the assessment, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">they said the actions of the trade group made it clear that it had reviewed the unpublished material.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">“All of a sudden, after we gave the information to Ryan Jackson, there would be all this targeted activity by ACC that would basically dismiss or disprove whatever mathematical methodology that we were going to be using even though it hadn’t been published yet,” said the former official. If the EPA did share the information with the trade group, the report would be subject to release under FOIA and would not be exempt under the “deliberative process privilege,” contrary to the agency’s claim in the PEER lawsuit.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">WASHINGTON, DC - A<b>PRIL 26:  Environmental Protection Agency Chief of Staff Ryan Jackson (R) listens to Administrator Scott Pruitt</b> testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Environment Subcommittee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill April 26, 2018 in Washington, DC. The focus of nearly a dozen federal inquiries into his travel expenses, security practices and other issues, Pruitt testified about his agency's FY2019 budget proposal.  (]</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><b>Orme-Zavaleta confirmed that Jackson, who now works for the National Mining Association, played a key role in preventing the assessment from moving forward. “The ACC was in contact with Ryan a lot,” she said.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><b>Asked about his role in the formaldehyde assessment, Jackson stated, “Following enactment of the Lautenberg Act, EPA placed formaldehyde though the risk evaluation required in that new law so formaldehyde could be directly regulated by EPA</b>,” referring to the Trump administration’s decision to add formaldehyde to the list of chemicals to be evaluated under the Toxic Substances Control Act. That assessment has also yet to be completed or released. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Jackson also stated that “I’m not contributing to anonymous rumors.”</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><b>Andrew Wheeler declined to comment. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the ACC wrote that the group “has never had access in any manner to unpublished findings from the formaldehyde draft IRIS assessment.”</b></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Orme-Zavaleta also pointed to other Trump appointees who she said were apparently involved in suppression of the document. Among them was the<b> director of the Office of Air and Radiation, Bill Wehrum</b>, whose input Orme-Zavaleta needed to move the assessment forward. “<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">A couple times we set up briefings for Bill Wehrum. But they canceled those briefings, and I was not given the OK to further the review within the agency.”</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Dunlap Koch email to EPA</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">1 page</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">David Dunlap, who served as deputy assistant administrator in the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, also helped suppress the assessment, said Orme-Zavaleta. “When we were in the process of coming up with the priority list for IRIS assessments, a lot of those discussions were held during ‘politicals-only’ meetings, so I wasn’t there. But [Dunlap] was, he was our representative. Formaldehyde was on the list of chemicals being considered. And in November, I got back a short list of the chemicals IRIS would assess, and formaldehyde was not part of it,” she said. </span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Dunlap worked for Koch Industries </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">and defended formaldehyde until shortly before he joined the Trump administration in 2018. </span></b><b>Dunlap did eventually recuse himself from work on the assessment, though only after formaldehyde was removed from the list of chemicals IRIS would be allowed to assess</b>, according to Orme-Zavaleta. “I only received a copy of his recusal letter after I got the list of chemicals.”</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><b>
</b></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><b>David Dunlap declined to comment on the matter.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">“EPA lied to us. And they lied to the court.”</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Presented with information from Orme-Zavaleta and others about the completion of the assessment in 2017,<b> PEER attorney Kevin Bell</b> expressed anger and frustration. Bell oversees 3-year-old litigation against the EPA over the group’s Freedom of Information Act request for the assessment. In that case, the agency has insisted that it didn’t have a completed version of the document that it could publicly release.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">“EPA lied to us. And they lied to the court,” said Bell. “They said, ‘We just can’t give you anything like this, because it would be totally full of all sorts of irrelevant things, so that it would totally undermine the deliberative process,’ whereas in reality they had a fully drafted document that was all set to go.”</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">The EPA declined to comment on Bell’s statement but did provide a broader response, saying that “EPA is committed to ensuring that science is at the backbone of everything the Agency does to deliver on our public health and environmental protection mission, and that we operate in a transparent manner to ensure public trust.” Bill Wehrum did not respond to requests for comment.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Decades of Industry Influence</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">The suppression of the most recent draft assessment follows many years of interference with government science on formaldehyde. IRIS began updating its original assessment of the chemical in 1997 but almost immediately ran into resistance from industry, particularly <b>around the link to leukemia. A group called the Formaldehyde Council,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);"> Inc.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">,</span> which represented companies that used the chemical, began challenging the numbers in the assessment and came up with a cancer risk that was thousands of times lower than the EPA’s. <b>Political appointees in the George W. Bush administration also helped industry postpone the release of the updated document.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> A 2008 Government Accountability Office report documented those delays and lamented the public health implications of having to rely on an IRIS assessment that was then 18 years old.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Yet that first assessment, completed three decades ago, is still guiding regulation.</span> I<b>n the intervening years, both the International Agency on Cancer Research, or IARC, and National Toxicology Program, whose chemical reviews don’t have the regulatory weight of IRIS assessments, classified formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen and recognized it as a cause of leukemia.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> In 2010, the EPA released a draft of the updated assessment, which also found that formaldehyde caused leukemia, but did not finalize it. </span>The <b>ACC was harshly critical of that draft,</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">and the agency sent the report to the National Academy of Sciences for peer review. The external agency confirmed its finding that formaldehyde causes cancer and encouraged the agency to quickly rewrite and reissue its report. But the EPA didn’t complete that work until 2016.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Vincent Cogliano, who directed the IRIS program from 2010 to 2017, said the delays during those years weren’t due to political or industry pressure. “We were really trying to get a very objective assessment released,” said Cogliano, who attributed the slow progress on the assessment in that period to the heavy workload of the small program. While Cogliano characterized some of the science around formaldehyde as complex, he said that no one on the IRIS staff disagreed about the relationship between myeloid leukemia and formaldehyde. “When I left the IRIS program in January 2017, I thought that it was ready to be released,” he said.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">And yet more than four years later, the EPA has yet to release the updated IRIS assessment.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">“It’s very frustrating,” said Linda Birnbaum, who directed the National Toxicology Program from 2009 to 2019. “Here there is evidence that IARC said that formaldehyde was a known human carcinogen. And we said it was a known human carcinogen and that the data was clear. And more data has come out since then, especially from the National Cancer Institute, yet no word from EPA.”</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Formaldehyde was added back on to the list of chemicals being assessed on the IRIS public calendar in March. According to an EPA spokesperson, the IRIS Program anticipates releasing the draft assessment of formaldehyde for public comment and external peer review by September 30, 2022. The agency is widely expected to ask the National Academy of Sciences to weigh in on how and whether the agency should combine the cancer risk estimates for myeloid leukemia and nasopharyngeal cancer.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Orme-Zavaleta said that no one in the Biden EPA expressed hesitation about resuming work on it when she raised the issue in the first weeks of President Joe Biden’s tenure. “I asked them several times. I said, ‘I’m going to unsuspend formaldehyde, are you good with that?’ And every time, everybody said, ‘Fine, do it,’” she said. “It is moving!”</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Despite the assurances, those intimately familiar with the history of formaldehyde remain guarded in their optimism that the EPA is finally about to update the assessment of one of the most significant and widespread carcinogens in the U.S.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">“For decades, up to now, the industry has pretty much managed to put out all the fires,” said Sussman. “But perhaps something really significant might be about to happen.”</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Update: August 19, 2021</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">This article has been updated with a comment from the American Chemistry Council.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">
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</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">=</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">note: this includes just denigration of sci, eg they are paid to lie cf santorum.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">aha note nexus to dereg, pvt of sci, cult corrupt</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see also SAB and csac reg capture</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TOOL:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/Silencing-Science-Tracker"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://climate.law.columbia.edu/Silencing-Science-Tracker</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">How science has suffered since November 2016.</strong><br helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" /><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">We’ve documented 388 attacks on science by federal, local, and state governments since November 2016 in </span><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://csldf.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=635c98e780ac7191328d30eeb&id=aa1336b8fa&e=15e3916d62" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">the Silencing Science Tracker</a><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">, a database we maintain with the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. </span><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://csldf.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=635c98e780ac7191328d30eeb&id=a8b816ee74&e=15e3916d62" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">The newest entry</a><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">, based on </span><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://csldf.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=635c98e780ac7191328d30eeb&id=8ed1d92306&e=15e3916d62" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">a report by <em>The Washington Post</em></a><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">, describes how hundreds of federal scientists have been forced out, sidelined, or muted since President Trump took office.</span></font></div><div><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></span></div><table class="tablefield responsive-enabled table table-hover table-striped sort-all" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 1155px; max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 20px;"><tbody style="box-sizing: border-box;"><tr ng-repeat="item in filteredLimited track by item.id" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.date != false" ng-bind-html="::item.date" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2019-12-31</font></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div ng-switch="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a ng-switch-when="false" ng-href="/content/fewer-scientists-employed-federal-government-during-trump-presidency" ng-bind-html="::item.title" class="ng-binding ng-scope" href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/fewer-scientists-employed-federal-government-during-trump-presidency" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Fewer Scientists Employed in Federal Government During Trump Presidency</font></a></div></td><td ng-if="departments.length && !hideFilter.departments" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.departments_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">All, </span><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Federal</span></font></div></td><td ng-if="groups.length && !hideFilter.groups" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.groups_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="group in item.groups | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Personnel Changes</font></span></div></td><td ng-if="categories.length && !hideFilter.categories" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.categories_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span ng-repeat="cat in item.categories | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Climate, </span><span ng-repeat="cat in item.categories | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Other</span></font></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.summary != false" ng-bind-html="::item.summary" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the first three years of the Trump administration, 1,600 scientists left the federal government. That represents 1.5 percent of the total federal scientific workforce. </font></p></div></td></tr><tr ng-repeat="item in filteredLimited track by item.id" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.date != false" ng-bind-html="::item.date" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2019-12-24</font></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div ng-switch="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a ng-switch-when="false" ng-href="/content/online-pollution-tracking-database-removed" ng-bind-html="::item.title" class="ng-binding ng-scope" href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/online-pollution-tracking-database-removed" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Online Pollution Tracking Database Removed</font></a></div></td><td ng-if="departments.length && !hideFilter.departments" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.departments_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">HHS</font></span></div></td><td ng-if="groups.length && !hideFilter.groups" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.groups_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="group in item.groups | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Government Censorship</font></span></div></td><td ng-if="categories.length && !hideFilter.categories" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.categories_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="cat in item.categories | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other</font></span></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.summary != false" ng-bind-html="::item.summary" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The National Library of Medicine, within the National Institute of Health, removed a publicly accessible interactive pollution-tracking map from its website.</font></p></div></td></tr><tr ng-repeat="item in filteredLimited track by item.id" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.date != false" ng-bind-html="::item.date" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2019-12-16</font></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div ng-switch="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a ng-switch-when="false" ng-href="/content/epa-scientists-advice-disregarded-0" ng-bind-html="::item.title" class="ng-binding ng-scope" href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/epa-scientists-advice-disregarded-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">EPA Scientists' Advice Disregarded</font></a></div></td><td ng-if="departments.length && !hideFilter.departments" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.departments_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA, </span><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Federal</span></font></div></td><td ng-if="groups.length && !hideFilter.groups" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.groups_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="group in item.groups | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bias and Misrepresentation</font></span></div></td><td ng-if="categories.length && !hideFilter.categories" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.categories_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="cat in item.categories | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other</font></span></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.summary != false" ng-bind-html="::item.summary" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A majority of EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) rejected agency scientists' finding that existing limits on fine particulate matter (PM) may not adequately protect public health. That finding was based on scientists assessment of recent studies on the health impacts of exposure to PM. CASAC members labelled the assessment "inadequate." No CASAC member is, however, an expert on air pollution epidemiology.  </font></p></div></td></tr><tr ng-repeat="item in filteredLimited track by item.id" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.date != false" ng-bind-html="::item.date" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2019-12-03</font></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div ng-switch="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a ng-switch-when="false" ng-href="/content/climate-change-omitted-fema-report" ng-bind-html="::item.title" class="ng-binding ng-scope" href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/climate-change-omitted-fema-report" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Climate Change Omitted from FEMA Report</font></a></div></td><td ng-if="departments.length && !hideFilter.departments" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.departments_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">DHS, </span><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Federal</span></font></div></td><td ng-if="groups.length && !hideFilter.groups" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.groups_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="group in item.groups | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Government Censorship</font></span></div></td><td ng-if="categories.length && !hideFilter.categories" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.categories_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="cat in item.categories | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate</font></span></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.summary != false" ng-bind-html="::item.summary" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) did not discuss climate change in its 2019 National Preparedness Report. The report, which is published annually, evaluates the adequacy of measures taken to prepare for natural disasters and other hazards. Previous versions of the report, including those published during the Trump administration, discussed resources available to local governments and others to prepare for the impacts of climate change.</font></p></div></td></tr><tr ng-repeat="item in filteredLimited track by item.id" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.date != false" ng-bind-html="::item.date" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2019-11-14</font></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div ng-switch="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a ng-switch-when="false" ng-href="/content/ohio-abortion-bill-would-force-doctors-reimplant-ectopic-pregnancies-or-face-murder-charges" ng-bind-html="::item.title" class="ng-binding ng-scope" href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/ohio-abortion-bill-would-force-doctors-reimplant-ectopic-pregnancies-or-face-murder-charges" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Ohio Abortion Bill Would Force Doctors to Reimplant Ectopic Pregnancies or Face Murder Charges</font></a></div></td><td ng-if="departments.length && !hideFilter.departments" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.departments_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">OH, </span><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">State</span></font></div></td><td ng-if="groups.length && !hideFilter.groups" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.groups_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="group in item.groups | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bias and Misrepresentation</font></span></div></td><td ng-if="categories.length && !hideFilter.categories" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.categories_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="cat in item.categories | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other</font></span></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.summary != false" ng-bind-html="::item.summary" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A new abortion bill in Ohio calls for harsh sentences for performing or having an abortion and would require doctors to reimplant ectopic pregnancies into the uterus despite the fact that this procedure does not exist in medicine.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p></div></td></tr><tr ng-repeat="item in filteredLimited track by item.id" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.date != false" ng-bind-html="::item.date" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2019-10-01</font></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div ng-switch="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a ng-switch-when="false" ng-href="/content/trump-administration-axes-federal-advisory-committee-department-commerce" ng-bind-html="::item.title" class="ng-binding ng-scope" href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/trump-administration-axes-federal-advisory-committee-department-commerce" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Trump Administration Axes Federal Advisory Committee at the Department of Commerce</font></a></div></td><td ng-if="departments.length && !hideFilter.departments" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.departments_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">DOC, </span><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Federal</span></font></div></td><td ng-if="groups.length && !hideFilter.groups" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.groups_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="group in item.groups | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Personnel Changes</font></span></div></td><td ng-if="categories.length && !hideFilter.categories" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.categories_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="cat in item.categories | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other</font></span></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.summary != false" ng-bind-html="::item.summary" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NOAA’s Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee has been discontinued at the direction of the Trump administration. </font></p></div></td></tr><tr ng-repeat="item in filteredLimited track by item.id" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.date != false" ng-bind-html="::item.date" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2019-10-01</font></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div ng-switch="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a ng-switch-when="false" ng-href="/content/trump-administration-axes-federal-advisory-committee-focused-invasive-species" ng-bind-html="::item.title" class="ng-binding ng-scope" href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/trump-administration-axes-federal-advisory-committee-focused-invasive-species" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Trump Administration Axes Federal Advisory Committee Focused on Invasive Species</font></a></div></td><td ng-if="departments.length && !hideFilter.departments" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.departments_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">DOI, </span><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Federal</span></font></div></td><td ng-if="groups.length && !hideFilter.groups" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.groups_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="group in item.groups | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Personnel Changes</font></span></div></td><td ng-if="categories.length && !hideFilter.categories" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.categories_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="cat in item.categories | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other</font></span></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.summary != false" ng-bind-html="::item.summary" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Department of the Interior’s Invasive Species Advisory Committee was discontinued at the direction of the Trump administration.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> </font></p></div></td></tr><tr ng-repeat="item in filteredLimited track by item.id" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.date != false" ng-bind-html="::item.date" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2019-10-01</font></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div ng-switch="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a ng-switch-when="false" ng-href="/content/white-house-strikes-climate-change-language-vehicle-emissions-proposal" ng-bind-html="::item.title" class="ng-binding ng-scope" href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/white-house-strikes-climate-change-language-vehicle-emissions-proposal" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">White House Strikes Climate Change Language from Vehicle Emissions Proposal</font></a></div></td><td ng-if="departments.length && !hideFilter.departments" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.departments_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Federal, </span><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">White House</span></font></div></td><td ng-if="groups.length && !hideFilter.groups" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.groups_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="group in item.groups | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Government Censorship</font></span></div></td><td ng-if="categories.length && !hideFilter.categories" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.categories_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="cat in item.categories | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate</font></span></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.summary != false" ng-bind-html="::item.summary" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The White House deleted references to climate change from a proposal limiting California’s ability to set stricter vehicle emissions standards.</font></p></div></td></tr><tr ng-repeat="item in filteredLimited track by item.id" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.date != false" ng-bind-html="::item.date" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2019-09-25</font></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div ng-switch="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a ng-switch-when="false" ng-href="/content/interior-department-arctic-drilling-study-concludes-there-not-climate-crisis" ng-bind-html="::item.title" class="ng-binding ng-scope" href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/interior-department-arctic-drilling-study-concludes-there-not-climate-crisis" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Interior Department Arctic Drilling Study Concludes there is not a Climate Crisis</font></a></div></td><td ng-if="departments.length && !hideFilter.departments" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.departments_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">DOI, </span><span ng-repeat="dept in item.departments | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Federal</span></font></div></td><td ng-if="groups.length && !hideFilter.groups" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.groups_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="group in item.groups | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bias and Misrepresentation</font></span></div></td><td ng-if="categories.length && !hideFilter.categories" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-scope" ng-if="::item.categories_id != false" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span ng-repeat="cat in item.categories | orderBy" class="ng-binding ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate</font></span></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.summary != false" ng-bind-html="::item.summary" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Bureau of Land Management released the final environmental impact statement for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and concluded that there is not a Climate Crisis</font></p></div></td></tr><tr ng-repeat="item in filteredLimited track by item.id" class="ng-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div class="text ng-binding ng-scope" ng-if="::item.date != false" ng-bind-html="::item.date" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2019-09-03</font></div></td><td style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 8px; line-height: 1.42857; vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221);"><div ng-switch="" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;"><a ng-switch-when="false" ng-href="/content/president-trump-falsely-states-alabama-may-be-under-threat-hurricane-dorian" ng-bind-html="::item.title" class="ng-binding ng-scope" href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/president-trump-falsely-states-alabama-may-be-under-threat-hurricane-dorian" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">President Trump Falsely States that Alabama May be Under Threat from Hurricane Dorian</a>...</font></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">eg tool</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.8em 0px 0.6em; line-height: 1.1; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fewer Scientists Employed in Federal Government During Trump Presidency</font></span></h1><header style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="row" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: -15px; margin-left: -15px;"><div class="col-md-10 col-lg-10 with-article-social-container" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; min-height: 1px; padding-right: 15px; padding-left: 15px; float: left; width: 623.5px;"><div class="field field--name-field-cu-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden field--items" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field--item" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px;"><div id="text-1640" class="paragraph paragraph--type--text paragraph--view-mode--default anchored" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-cu-wysiwyg field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field--item" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On January 23, 2020, the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/science-ranks-grow-thin-in-trump-administration/2020/01/23/5d22b522-3172-11ea-a053-dc6d944ba776_story.html?utm_campaign=the_energy_202&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Newsletter&wpisrc=nl_energy202&wpmm=1" class="external" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a> that over 1,600 scientists left the federal government during the first three years of the Trump administration. That represents 1.5 percent of the total federal scientific workforce. According to the Washington Post report, "[t]he exodus has been fueled broadly by administration policies that have diminished the role of science as well as more specific steps, such as the relocation of agencies away from the nation’s capital."</font></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></header></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</div><div>Science ranks grow thin in Trump administration</div><div>Jeff Jorgenson examines young corn plants in May on a partially flooded field he farms near Shenandoah, Iowa. A USDA scientist was working on a tool to help farmers mitigate the impact of flooding and other effects from climate change when the Trump administration moved his agency to Kansas, prompting him to quit. (Nati Harnik/AP)</div><div>
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</div><div>By </div><div>Annie Gowen, </div><div>Juliet Eilperin, </div><div>Ben Guarino and </div><div>Andrew Ba Tran </div><div>Jan. 23, 2020 at 12:45 p.m. PST</div><div>
</div><div>KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Dozens of government computers sit in a nondescript building here, able to connect to a data model that could help farmers manage the impact of a changing climate on their crops.</div><div>
</div><div>But no one in this federal agency would know how to access the model, or, if they did, what to do with the data.</div><div>
</div><div>That’s because the ambitious federal researcher who created it in Washington quit rather than move when the Agriculture Department relocated his agency to an office park here last fall.</div><div>
</div><div>He is one of hundreds of scientists across the federal government who have been forced out, sidelined or muted since President Trump took office.</div><div>
</div><div>The exodus has been fueled broadly by administration policies that have diminished the role of science as well as more specific steps, such as the relocation of agencies away from the nation’s capital.</div><div>
</div><div>While the administration has come under fire for prioritizing the concerns of industry at the expense of science in government decisions, the cumulative effects are just beginning to appear after three years of Trump in the White House.</div><div>
</div><div>Some farmers said the USDA staff upheaval has made it harder to access information they need.</div><div>
</div><div>Torrential rains last spring dashed the plans of Liz Brownlee, who runs a livestock farm with her husband, to expand her pasture in Crothersville, Ind. Then an unseasonably dry autumn brought 90-degree days that baked the farmers’ seeds.</div><div>
</div><div>“With all this uncertainty from climate change, I need the best data possible” to know when to plant, she said. “I’m worried I’m not going to have it.”</div><div>
</div><div>In the first two years of the Trump administration, more than 1,600 federal scientists left government, according to Office of Personnel Management employment data analyzed by The Washington Post. That represents a 1.5 percent drop, compared with the 8 percent increase during the same period in the Obama administration.</div><div>
</div><div>One-fifth of the high-level appointee positions in science are vacant — normally filled by experts who shape policy and ensure research integrity.</div><div>
</div><div>Of those who departed, the numbers were greatest among social scientists, soil conservationists, hydrologists and experts in the physical sciences — chemistry, geology, astronomy and physics.</div><div>
</div><div>At the Environmental Protection Agency, nearly 700 scientists have left in the past three years, according to The Post analysis. The EPA has hired 350 replacements.</div><div>
</div><div>Linda Birnbaum, who spent four decades working on toxicology and public health issues at the EPA and National Institutes of Health before retiring in October, said the loss of expertise weakens the government’s ability to make sound decisions.</div><div>
</div><div>“It’s going to take a long time for government science to come back. There’s little doubt about that,” said Birnbaum, who serves as an adjunct professor at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She added that NIH has remained well- insulated because it enjoys bipartisan support in Congress.</div><div>
</div><div>“But when I look at colleagues in other agencies, especially any agency that has any regulatory role, they’re decimated,” she said.</div><div>
</div><div>Trump administration officials dismiss that notion, saying much of the criticism comes from activists outside the federal government.</div><div>
</div><div>Interior Secretary David Bernhardt points out that he is the first secretary to enlist a career federal scientist to serve as his scientific adviser.</div><div>
</div><div>“I’ve got an ideas box, I haven’t seen that,” he said in an interview, referring to complaints that science has been de-emphasized. “I do hear that from advocates and external parties. And, you know, anybody that looks at these things objectively tends to find that they’re without merit.”</div><div>
</div><div>Last year, the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity accused Bernhardt of pushing aside the conclusions reached by career scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding how a pesticide affected endangered species. Eight Democratic senators sought an investigation. Interior’s inspector general concluded there was “no evidence” Bernhardt abused his position.</div><div>
</div><div>As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump called climate change a “hoax.” Once in office, he began dismantling much of President Barack Obama’s climate plan. He has installed industry figures in regulatory roles and rolled back scores of rules and policies that he considers harmful to the fossil-fuel industry. Trump’s actions spurred scientists into the streets, joining protesters for a March for Science rally on the Mall in 2017 and again in 2018.</div><div>
</div><div>Many scientists who work for the U.S. government or rely on its funding say the changes brought by the Trump administration are being felt across the country.</div><div>
</div><div>After historic rainfall last spring swept away livestock and grain in the Midwest, crop planting was delayed by weeks. Andrew Crane-Droesch, 38, a researcher at the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service, started work on a data tool that could predict months in advance the impact of, say, heavy rainfall on crop prices or planted fields. He hoped that knowledge could help farmers, commodity traders and government disaster planners prepare.</div><div>
</div><div>But when Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue moved forward with his controversial plan to relocate the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture — two key research agencies — to Kansas City, Crane-Droesch headed for the exit.</div><div>
</div><div>He joined two-thirds of affected employees in his division who either retired or found other jobs rather than move to the greater Kansas City region. At the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which oversees $1.7 billion in scientific funding for researchers, nearly 8 of every 10 employees have left.</div><div>
</div><div>Crane-Droesch, who took a health-research job in Philadelphia, said there’s no one left at the USDA who has the time or the know-how to run the model he created or to finish the project.</div><div>
</div><div>“All that work was for naught, and they nuked the account,” he said. “Even if they hired somebody for my portfolio — which I don’t think they did — it would take that person quite a while to get up to speed, just as it took me several years.”</div><div>
</div><div>The move to Kansas City has also meant dozens of reports and millions in research funding have been delayed or scuttled as the Agriculture Department scrambled to keep up with departures.</div><div>
</div><div>The agency has been forced to hire back 21 retired employees on temporary contracts, to stanch its losses.</div><div>
</div><div>But experts on bee pollination, organic farming, commodity markets and trade are gone, setting back research that has been in process for months or even years.</div><div>
</div><div>“They never tried to refute our work; they tried to bury it by getting rid of the people who produced the work,” Crane-Droesch said.</div><div>
</div><div>To restore the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Economic Research Service to their size under the Obama administration, the USDA would have to hire more than 400 people. One USDA official said the department has “well over 150 active recruitments in process between both agencies.”</div><div>
</div><div>Current and former employees interviewed said they felt the move to Kansas City was intended to diminish research areas such as trade policy, farm income and climate change; Perdue is a climate skeptic who recently described the problem as “weather patterns, frankly.”</div><div>
</div><div>A USDA spokesman defended the move, saying that Perdue believes the agencies can better serve “customers” — farmers, ranchers, academic institutions and agribusiness — by relocating to Kansas City, “a hub for all things agriculture in America’s heartland.”</div><div>
</div><div>The department estimates it will save $300 million over 15 years from employment and rent in Kansas City.</div><div>
</div><div>EPA pursues regulatory rollbacks, despite criticism from its scientific advisers</div><div>
</div><div>Some federal researchers said they left the Trump administration after concluding their work was being undermined.</div><div>
</div><div>Dan Costa, who worked at the EPA for 34 years before stepping down as director of its air, climate and energy research program in January 2018, said the tipping point for his retirement came when an EPA spokesman undercut a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that the agency had funded.</div><div>
</div><div>The study found that long-term exposure to levels of soot and smog lower than current national standards can cause premature death among older Americans. Such a finding suggests that current standards don’t adequately protect public health, which would have implications for industries that pollute. An unidentified EPA spokesman attacked the study in an interview with the Washington Times, an act Costa called “scientifically unethical.”</div><div>
</div><div>Peter Van Doren, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Insitute, said in an interview that scientists need to remember that they don’t set policy.</div><div>
</div><div>“When nerds and politicians disagree, nerds lose,” he said. “Scientists think, ‘We are smart, and we ought to decide.’ But we don’t get to decide.”</div><div>
</div><div>Elsewhere in the government, political appointees have delayed grants for scientific work.</div><div>
</div><div>At Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey, Director James Reilly “felt that he needed to personally look at every grant that went out,” according to Bernhardt’s science adviser William Werkheiser, who served as Reilly’s deputy before joining the secretary’s office. The process stalled grants at the agency’s climate adaptation science centers for more than six months.</div><div>
</div><div>The centers fund university research to help wildlife, lands and people adjust to a changing climate.</div><div>
</div><div>Robin O’Malley, who retired last month as director of one climate adaptation center, said in an interview that the slowdown in hiring and grant approvals has hampered the centers.</div><div>
</div><div>“They haven’t said no to us at any time, they’ve just made it difficult to move forward,” he said. “You’re up a creek.”</div><div>
</div><div>Across the government, the administration is scaling back advisory committees that offer input to policymakers from scientists and other experts. Last year, Trump required agencies to eliminate one-third of their advisory panels, with a few exceptions.</div><div>
</div><div>Will McClintock, a marine scientist who has helped dozens of countries establish marine sanctuaries, used to serve on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Protected Areas federal advisory committee.</div><div>
</div><div>After seeing that people were mailing in hand-drawn maps to nominate reserves, McClintock created a Google Maps-like program called SeaSketch that allows fishermen, divers and conservationists to propose sanctuary zones alongside scientists and government officials.</div><div>
</div><div>“I’m bringing lots and lots of expertise, for free, to our federal government,” said McClintock, a project scientist at the University of California at Santa Barbara who volunteered on the advisory panel. But before NOAA could adopt the software, his federal advisory committee was eliminated.</div><div>
</div><div>Some Republicans have supported the executive order to cut advisory committees. “Based on the characterization made by many of my colleagues and their friends in the media, you would think this order was a death blow to science at all the agencies,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler at a hearing in September. “In reality it just seems like a common sense, nonpartisan way to eliminate wasteful committees.”</div><div>
</div><div>The Office of Management and Budget declined to estimate the cost savings from cutting the committees. "The administration is always looking for ways to end redundant and out of date programs — this is an open and closed case where taxpayer resources are better used elsewhere," the office said in a statement.</div><div>
</div><div>It is unclear whether the USDA relocation will ultimately save taxpayers $300 million over 15 years as promised. For now, employees transferred to Kansas City are working out of an existing USDA office until permanent space is ready.</div><div>
</div><div>Earlier this month, the boxy building about six miles outside the city's central business district had the feeling of the first day of school. New hires waited to sign in, get security badges and learn where to park.</div><div>
</div><div>"We lost a lot of people, and we're trying to rebuild," said Daniel Hellerstein, an economist who researches the economic impact of soil conservation. Hellerstein was one of the retiring employees who was temporarily hired back but remains in Washington. "It's going to be difficult because the slots we need are fairly skilled, and there's a lot of competition out there for qualified people."</div><div>
</div><div>Much of the impact of the federal government's shrinking science capacity will not be felt for years, observers said.</div><div>
</div><div>"If we're gone, is the world going to be a worse place?" he mused. "I like to think so. But it's not going to be immediate."</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pollution-database-trump-toxmap-2641963037.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.ecowatch.com/pollution-database-trump-toxmap-2641963037.html</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>T<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">OXMAP, an interactive online map that used various sources to track toxic pollution across the U.S., disappeared from the internet earlier this month, alarming environmental advocates, according to</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/475880-trump-admin-shuts-down-map-that-allowed-users-to-track-pollution" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Hill</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></b></font></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-1" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pollution-database-trump-toxmap-2641963037.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem1"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The 15-year-old interactive map was beneficial to researchers and environmentalists. The <b>National Library of Medicine (NLM), </b>part of the National Institute of Health, hosted it. Some of the information has moved to other sources, while some has just disappeared completely, as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/toxmap-federal-database-allowing-public-track-us-pollution-shut-down-after-15-years-trump-1479146" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Newsweek</a> reported.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TOXMAP offered detailed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">EPA</a>) data for clearly labeled toxic release sites and offered extensive health and demographic data, like mortality rates, that users could easily overlay on to the maps. The various capabilities and wealth of data earned TOXMAP a devoted following among researchers, students, activists and other people eager to pinpoint sources of pollution, according to <a href="https://undark.org/2019/12/16/toxmap-national-library-of-medicine-retired/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Undark</a>.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">With little explanation, it was <a href="https://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/so19/so19_toxnet_discontinued.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">announced</a> in September that the map would be taken down. Then it was removed last week and the <a href="https://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">former URL</a> showed a message acknowledging its disappearance and ushered visitors to other potential sources of information, as <a href="https://undark.org/2019/12/16/toxmap-national-library-of-medicine-retired/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Undark</a> reported.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-2" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pollution-database-trump-toxmap-2641963037.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem2"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Part of the decision was prompted by the increasing availability of the underlying data from their original sources," said NLM in a statement released to <a href="https://undark.org/2019/12/16/toxmap-national-library-of-medicine-retired/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Undark</a>. "Many sources such as the EPA, among others, offer several products that provide similar geographic information system functionality."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The NLM added in its statement that much of the removed information could be found scattered amongst nine other U.S. and Canadian government websites.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">People who used the resource see the hiding of data and removal of information as part of the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Trump</a> administration's pattern of obfuscation and regulatory rollbacks of <b>environmental policies, as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/toxmap-federal-database-allowing-public-track-us-pollution-shut-down-after-15-years-trump-1479146" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Newsweek</a> reported.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Furthermore, the alternative of combing through nine other websites takes away the consolidation of data and the user-friendly interface of TOXMAP.</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Because this information has gotten so complex, and there's so much of it, it's very difficult for someone who's not really trained in the area to navigate it," said Chris Sellers, an environmental historian at Stony Brook University and a member of the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI), which monitors federal environmental data sources and advocates for greater public access, to </span><a href="https://undark.org/2019/12/16/toxmap-national-library-of-medicine-retired/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Undark</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. "</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This tool actually cut through all the jargon, all the different interfaces that EPA, for instance, puts up before you get to the actual data that you're interested in."</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"TOXMAP's end accords with a larger pattern spanning federal environmental agencies whose intentions have been far from quiet, even loudly trumpeted," read a December article from the<b> Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI),</b> according to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/toxmap-federal-database-allowing-public-track-us-pollution-shut-down-after-15-years-trump-1479146" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Newsweek</a> . "The dismantling of such a usable public platform connecting health and environmental data certainly accords with the EPA's own declared strategies, of seeking to exclude so many environmental health studies from policy-making and to neglect or defund on-going environmental health investigations."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Whether these parallels are intentional or not, our National Library of Medicine has now joined this administration's ideologically-driven anti-science crusade," the article continued, "effectively shrinking the public's access to environmental as well as disease and mortality data. As with so many other fronts in the Trump Administration's interlocking wars against science and environmental regulation, the prevailing hope seems to be that pushing the facts out of sight will diminish Americans' concerns about the environment."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Claudia Persico, an assistant professor at American University specializing in public administration and environmental policy, told <a href="https://undark.org/2019/12/16/toxmap-national-library-of-medicine-retired/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Undark</a> that the site's deprecation was a blow to researchers.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I think it's really sad that they're getting rid of this," she said.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sellers added, "It was stunning to me that the National Library of Medicine is actually retiring this pretty essential tool for our environmental right-to-know. I hope people will understand what's happening out there, that the government is gradually cutting off these very valuable tools that are really essential to our democracy." larming' Report Uses NASA Satellite Data to Reveal World's Toxic ... ›</font></p><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-us-air-pollution-levels-2614554181.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">5 Ways Trump Is 'Gaslighting' Us on U.S. Air Pollution Levels ... ›</font></a></li><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase; visibility: hidden; margin-top: 20px !important; margin-bottom: -5px !important;"><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://waqi.info/" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/10/climate/driving-emissions-map.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></a></font></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/24517/20191226/the-toxmap-database-has-disappeared-and-researchers-say-that-its-a-violation-to-epcra.htm" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></a></font></font></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://insideepa.com/environment-next-news/end-%E2%80%98toxmap%E2%80%99-tool-seen-loss-citizen-environmental-efforts" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></a></font></font></font></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://envirodatagov.org/goodbye-to-toxmap-and-our-environmental-right-to-know/" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></a></font></font></font></li></ul></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dereg nat</font></font></font></font></div><div><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.16em; margin: 1em 0px 0.625em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bad</font></font></font></font></h3><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px;"><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Trump administration has terminated two scientific advisory boards at the Environmental Protection Agency,</b> <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMGugyAQ_JpyNLBWkQOHl7T9DYOwtaQKBpYY6hTZaFDNmZnbGGcI7p0FvMxErGNHqnQfZcKc6cvjsxdAPzeXwnxNX4RVMqyLYyLd4a8jFcA1wM7KO5A9HCfTBiUpzb3r2lMmAlWCfFZBU7VUZTnMdgUcewHBcvW_SHaMu39u8Gr1r7vjeIAffcBKQKZIrJY64vwXvR9l0_dMyfukpwkNAKCdCIRvSSP4fuBfW8nu3jdufrDE0uUyZjv42NK0t6M7Tar2jr73x6uuBqaaz3WoKnY8RgpgXdzy394rm2p2NDfW62IBGmH1gjEKAESFaVXKycQTtMOJflyihc_R_nNXn9" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMGugyAQ_JpyNLBWkQOHl7T9DYOwtaQKBpYY6hTZaFDNmZnbGGcI7p0FvMxErGNHqnQfZcKc6cvjsxdAPzeXwnxNX4RVMqyLYyLd4a8jFcA1wM7KO5A9HCfTBiUpzb3r2lMmAlWCfFZBU7VUZTnMdgUcewHBcvW_SHaMu39u8Gr1r7vjeIAffcBKQKZIrJY64vwXvR9l0_dMyfukpwkNAKCdCIRvSSP4fuBfW8nu3jdufrDE0uUyZjv42NK0t6M7Tar2jr73x6uuBqaaz3WoKnY8RgpgXdzy394rm2p2NDfW62IBGmH1gjEKAESFaVXKycQTtMOJflyihc_R_nNXn9&source=gmail&ust=1572550506424000&usg=AFQjCNHxF8n2hO3OhK51Qj_jYXW-Nc0Tlw">reports Greenwire.</a> Officials say this won’t affect public health, because they’re already getting the same advice in other ways. But one public interest advocate counters, “These two cuts are part of a pattern by this administration to remove science and opportunity for public input from the policymaking process.”</font></font></font></font></p></li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A federal agency “knowingly stalled sending hurricane relief funding to Puerto Rico,” holding up billions of dollars in post-Maria housing funds. Officials at the Department of Housing and Urban Development defended the delay to Congress, <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUEmOwyAQfE24ERm84QOHkWbyDQtD20ZhE4si_34wkYCG6qarq6TIcPh48eBTRiVBXLXidJ66ZemQ4oMibGRIp3WPAFZow3MsgELZjJYia-ah44wdPKJCjaRQbFZyIHBTsd5YnTcgW3bonqCbpZVFKXBSeDemav1RYafOYf06H8e9FVXPuHUxjylt_V1egsOPqlehbLa6ZRjo67AME3jSHH2AdfBbMCtAvt911ILk3ASFxZa1QocCsQaopYef0TCb-c_2h3mQvpWsJCOzrQnM6VP8iTT3P2x8UXrfv31v4-hswd9prKlLOT7Hg1FHkS28k36mj1udxpczVlrtMXpfK3gxGZAfX3LX6ObD_kKwG9dBnKG-AWrmYQuhM6oMilfezquIMJRTJPs2vkP_syW0w" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUEmOwyAQfE24ERm84QOHkWbyDQtD20ZhE4si_34wkYCG6qarq6TIcPh48eBTRiVBXLXidJ66ZemQ4oMibGRIp3WPAFZow3MsgELZjJYia-ah44wdPKJCjaRQbFZyIHBTsd5YnTcgW3bonqCbpZVFKXBSeDemav1RYafOYf06H8e9FVXPuHUxjylt_V1egsOPqlehbLa6ZRjo67AME3jSHH2AdfBbMCtAvt911ILk3ASFxZa1QocCsQaopYef0TCb-c_2h3mQvpWsJCOzrQnM6VP8iTT3P2x8UXrfv31v4-hswd9prKlLOT7Hg1FHkS28k36mj1udxpczVlrtMXpfK3gxGZAfX3LX6ObD_kKwG9dBnKG-AWrmYQuhM6oMilfezquIMJRTJPs2vkP_syW0w&source=gmail&ust=1572550506424000&usg=AFQjCNHUomo1XRE3BU6BYqmwHMM1IMRBEA">The Hill reports</a>, by echoing the words of President Trump, who has called Puerto Rico “one of the most corrupt places on earth.”</font></font></font></font></p></li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rising levels of tiny particle air pollution across the US killed an additional 9,700 people in 2018 </b>than in 2016, say researchers in a newly published study. Their analysis points to three likely reasons why, <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkNGOhCAMRb9meNMA6igPPGyyM79hEOoMWQQCZV3_ftFJgJbb0F6OVgivkA4ZQ0ZSMqTZGsnHOxWCEiN7w6ZhIjbPawLYlHUSUwESy-KsVmiDvx5QNpG3ZGYdet2vGqBbV6GoML1RGri6j3roJ3JOmVUxFrwGGbw7rr7EyTdizLfu68afde373v6Gv1aHrd7WgiVBEyGtoLEKdZyogdEz7y9B8JHRrqbKpiYG58rprclYzNEYUPjODTgDyR1NWNSmmvqPLRJ7eheM8pF3bOS8ZS27j_QxDU9e9_PRfd96ur14m8uSUemf0xRJMirc9A_ravV1crnkimWucSve4jGDV4sD8yGGH8QXATwiSA97doAI6SNWjIwLxkdSJ5lQe3pZ_cKruIuzv85_e4-SGQ" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkNGOhCAMRb9meNMA6igPPGyyM79hEOoMWQQCZV3_ftFJgJbb0F6OVgivkA4ZQ0ZSMqTZGsnHOxWCEiN7w6ZhIjbPawLYlHUSUwESy-KsVmiDvx5QNpG3ZGYdet2vGqBbV6GoML1RGri6j3roJ3JOmVUxFrwGGbw7rr7EyTdizLfu68afde373v6Gv1aHrd7WgiVBEyGtoLEKdZyogdEz7y9B8JHRrqbKpiYG58rprclYzNEYUPjODTgDyR1NWNSmmvqPLRJ7eheM8pF3bOS8ZS27j_QxDU9e9_PRfd96ur14m8uSUemf0xRJMirc9A_ravV1crnkimWucSve4jGDV4sD8yGGH8QXATwiSA97doAI6SNWjIwLxkdSJ5lQe3pZ_cKruIuzv85_e4-SGQ&source=gmail&ust=1572550506424000&usg=AFQjCNElmBgd5_QI4waggoZUe493CQ3Wuw">reports Vox:</a> expanding economic activity, wildfires, and lax enforcement of clean air regulations going back to 2013.</font></font></font></font></p></li></ul><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.16em; margin: 1em 0px 0.625em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">better</font></font></font></font></h3><ul style="margin: 1em 0px;"><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A coalition of environmental groups has sued the Trump administration for repealing the Waters of the United States (or WOTUS) rule, <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxVkEuOwyAQRE8TdliAnRgvWIw0yTUsDG0HhZ_4JPLtBzurkYCWqkV31VOywBbSLmLIBdUMaTZasPFGpokgLQZN-ZUjk-c1AThprCipAop1sUbJYoI_PxDK0VMAkVLzXmqYNFFsVcNt4KS_spH1Sq0cHVtmWbUBr0AEb_dzLrLiWUrMl_7nwh7tLF56-OSu1U4F1xTwb5OCd-ALll5j8JC2_X9DWrylUGPGuQIOb0i4mXURp2DtItULhxV_WuKUcaoWkDmMT5Qc_ujIWEc7ehvJnV8frN3Hvf-9DMRtrMt1yaVNONygJKIsTr1o37rbAeWUG5O5VVe9KfsMXi4W9BdX-fI945c9gjjSWSjNyldsDCmbKBtR26RDm-mFhgRbtSdkf75_qhaVgQ" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxVkEuOwyAQRE8TdliAnRgvWIw0yTUsDG0HhZ_4JPLtBzurkYCWqkV31VOywBbSLmLIBdUMaTZasPFGpokgLQZN-ZUjk-c1AThprCipAop1sUbJYoI_PxDK0VMAkVLzXmqYNFFsVcNt4KS_spH1Sq0cHVtmWbUBr0AEb_dzLrLiWUrMl_7nwh7tLF56-OSu1U4F1xTwb5OCd-ALll5j8JC2_X9DWrylUGPGuQIOb0i4mXURp2DtItULhxV_WuKUcaoWkDmMT5Qc_ujIWEc7ehvJnV8frN3Hvf-9DMRtrMt1yaVNONygJKIsTr1o37rbAeWUG5O5VVe9KfsMXi4W9BdX-fI945c9gjjSWSjNyldsDCmbKBtR26RDm-mFhgRbtSdkf75_qhaVgQ&source=gmail&ust=1572550506424000&usg=AFQjCNH_ApvPRw-M8bR6TY2ESL4uXcsOFQ">reports Bloomberg Environment. </a>The groups charge that “agencies have simply gone through the motions of giving notice and taking comment without providing any legitimate rationale to support the predetermined result,” which was to wipe the landmark Obama-era rule off the books.</font></font></font></font></p></li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Department of Agriculture’s in-house watchdog office has started an investigation of efforts by political appointees to suppress climate science at the agency, <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMuOhCAQ_JrhpgEUHwcOm-zMbxiEHiWDYKBZ498vOgl0QTV0dZdWCEuIp9xDQpITxMkayfuOjiMlRraGDWIgNk3vCLAp6yTGDGTPs7NaoQ3-kDZQFbZtu1sWv2e31wINcydGcZOiEGVm9FCk0tlUtlY8Bpk8O686xInV8Q9PZqfB3-VdRxHvQdn0epQ67AVysORChSlsQCj15mXkJNRlfVpB40hVgt4iMpVTmWvV0iVdnYrQ1Z6VX6B8vIPEtrlbr2iom06Suw1wMgo73nDes5rVrOup89BvHjZr2fz-2jptvA65Tmh0p-rKRLlrnDTH9aU7HKZc9PFm6nglr3FcwKvZgfmaxt-fb5twHMHeU3lABHilyxeMj4y3pOiZEKp6aWBCEt2d8f-jv-vmJRH" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMuOhCAQ_JrhpgEUHwcOm-zMbxiEHiWDYKBZ498vOgl0QTV0dZdWCEuIp9xDQpITxMkayfuOjiMlRraGDWIgNk3vCLAp6yTGDGTPs7NaoQ3-kDZQFbZtu1sWv2e31wINcydGcZOiEGVm9FCk0tlUtlY8Bpk8O686xInV8Q9PZqfB3-VdRxHvQdn0epQ67AVysORChSlsQCj15mXkJNRlfVpB40hVgt4iMpVTmWvV0iVdnYrQ1Z6VX6B8vIPEtrlbr2iom06Suw1wMgo73nDes5rVrOup89BvHjZr2fz-2jptvA65Tmh0p-rKRLlrnDTH9aU7HKZc9PFm6nglr3FcwKvZgfmaxt-fb5twHMHeU3lABHilyxeMj4y3pOiZEKp6aWBCEt2d8f-jv-vmJRH&source=gmail&ust=1572550506424000&usg=AFQjCNFRfvalO8ly7JQ34jmlTT3CjMPpmA">reports Politico</a>, despite accelerating impacts of global warming on farmers and ranchers.</span></font></font></font></font></p></li></ul></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">icn 1019 mick m applauds</font></font></font></font></div><div><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">BLM Shuffles Staff</font></font></font></font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Shifting power to the states is also a longtime goal of some conservative groups. The Trump administration has moved in that direction with the Shared Stewardship forest program, for instance, and beefing up the presence of local government on the Bears Ears National Monument management council. Recent proposals in Congress would also put state and local government in charge of energy management and law enforcement on federal lands.</font></font></font></font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Martin Nie, director of the University of Montana's Bolle Center for People and Forests, said the BLM reorganization is the administration's latest nod to Sagebrush Rebels and states' rights conservatives.</font></font></font></font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We have seen an unprecedented transfer of management authority from the federal government to the states," he said, counting the BLM reorganization as the latest example.</font></font></font></font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Could It Influence Western Voters?</font></font></font></font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Empowering states, reducing the role of the federal government, expanding public lands energy development—while those ideas resonate in western states, what might be even more important to <b>conservatives is the role the BLM reorganization can play in shoring up the conservative vote in 2020.</b></font></font></font></font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Republicans stand to lose Senate seats in Colorado and Arizona if their voters don't turn out. </b>In the U.S. House, the GOP sees winnable Democratic seats in Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada. Montana's sole House seat, held by a Republican now, is considered a tossup. Meanwhile, Nevada and Arizona are both considered swing states in 2020 presidential race.</font></font></font></font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With the reorganization shifting BLM headquarters and staff to their states, it could appear to conservative voters that the Trump administration is listening to their pleas to give states more influence over federal land.</font></font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font><h3 style="line-height: 1.16em; margin: 1em 0px 0.625em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">better</font></font></font></font></h3><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There has been So. Much. Great. climate-change-related coverage across news outlets large and small this week. Congratulations, <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMuOwyAM_JpyjMAhJBw4VOr2NyIK3hSVQMRjo_z90kSybGlG9njG6IJLTIfaYi6kZkyzswpGQaWkxCpu2TRMxOX5NyGu2nlVUkWy1Zd3RhcXw7lA2UTeCu0IvZYg7IjIhEQY-GA57xmORveCfFVmXa3DYFDhH6YjBiRevUvZ8q2_3-DZat_3zsTGurAY79b2ZIh7F9PSSOK-cpJKYEA5B9GxTsCDA9CBjfefJ7-LG6frAl2ur1y0-bRjK0lq02U1H9Y3dvlaOeHmZG5zrcGVY8agXx7tZbJcqZxPl2NDFXDPHkvBdIHNOQPZijQlG9vNoCwmXKo_owln_wf-NnjI" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMuOwyAM_JpyjMAhJBw4VOr2NyIK3hSVQMRjo_z90kSybGlG9njG6IJLTIfaYi6kZkyzswpGQaWkxCpu2TRMxOX5NyGu2nlVUkWy1Zd3RhcXw7lA2UTeCu0IvZYg7IjIhEQY-GA57xmORveCfFVmXa3DYFDhH6YjBiRevUvZ8q2_3-DZat_3zsTGurAY79b2ZIh7F9PSSOK-cpJKYEA5B9GxTsCDA9CBjfefJ7-LG6frAl2ur1y0-bRjK0lq02U1H9Y3dvlaOeHmZG5zrcGVY8agXx7tZbJcqZxPl2NDFXDPHkvBdIHNOQPZijQlG9vNoCwmXKo_owln_wf-NnjI&source=gmail&ust=1569260438347000&usg=AFQjCNHWjXDBPiVZU_yyUI6kWnRHefNYig">Covering Climate Now </a>and all the news teams who’ve jumped on board. (Now, keep it up.)</font></p><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">My biggest praise for a groundbreaking political report goes to <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkN2OgyAQhZ-m3GEAqdULLprs9jUMwmgnKz8BrPHtF20y4eeQ4cz5jC6whHSoGHIhW4Y0olXi0bFhYMQqaXl_7wnmcU4ATuOqStqAxG1a0eiCwV8NjPfkrWYxabCW2VlyAH6fjeFzb-zU9kLLgZPTZdSbRfAGFHwgHcEDWdW7lJhv7fMmXrX2fW_8ZDzsuTHBVSWGFQuaXI_oHC7psq63Oo2LVFuHnuLiQwJLsWQadk_hg_Y0omZFV4NS89Z-AZopuqhNoZ6ze9f2nOCZYGCD4IJJKbqGN534kUKwO388f1_y2d0kc4to8jblos3fORdJKurizB9v6-ty0rnkCmesu9s8lmMEr6cV7Jdb-YK-OJQjgjozrlAKpK9YYXIx1CLVyYb6p1cWEizbekX21_oPn0iXew" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkN2OgyAQhZ-m3GEAqdULLprs9jUMwmgnKz8BrPHtF20y4eeQ4cz5jC6whHSoGHIhW4Y0olXi0bFhYMQqaXl_7wnmcU4ATuOqStqAxG1a0eiCwV8NjPfkrWYxabCW2VlyAH6fjeFzb-zU9kLLgZPTZdSbRfAGFHwgHcEDWdW7lJhv7fMmXrX2fW_8ZDzsuTHBVSWGFQuaXI_oHC7psq63Oo2LVFuHnuLiQwJLsWQadk_hg_Y0omZFV4NS89Z-AZopuqhNoZ6ze9f2nOCZYGCD4IJJKbqGN534kUKwO388f1_y2d0kc4to8jblos3fORdJKurizB9v6-ty0rnkCmesu9s8lmMEr6cV7Jdb-YK-OJQjgjozrlAKpK9YYXIx1CLVyYb6p1cWEizbekX21_oPn0iXew&source=gmail&ust=1569260438347000&usg=AFQjCNHw0lcDEnWQZ-RvxGt_58Qm_EQLLg">NBC News, for uncovering how the Trump administration ignored and buried research</a> by its own Customs and Border Protection linking the large number of Central American migrants coming to the US southern border with the impacts of climate change on their farms.</font></p><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CBP found that climate change-driven crop failures are contributing to such intense poverty and near-starvation on Guatemalans, that fleeing home to embark on a difficult and dangerous overland journey to the Mexico-US line seems like a better choice than staying put.</font></p><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“But inside the Trump White House, that message was largely ignored in both policy decisions and messaging around what should be done to stem the flow of migrants,” NBC News reports. “With evidence of a correlation between acute food insecurity and migration in hand, the Trump administration instead focused on an agreement with the government of Guatemala to stem the flow of immigrants through law enforcement means.”</font></p><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NBC sent a reporter to Guatemala to witness and confirm the climate-change-driven human desperation that the Trump administration denies and ignores:[vid]</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b></b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/144056/its-never-harder-climate-scientist"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://newrepublic.com/article/144056/its-never-harder-climate-scientist</font></a></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>It’s Never Been Harder to Be a Climate Scientist</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Legal attacks, internet harassment, and a Trump-fueled "culture of fear" are making their work more difficult than ever.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By EMILY ATKIN</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">July 27, 2017</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One month before President Donald Trump was sworn into office, the climate scientist Michael Mann wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post about the time someone sent a letter filled with fake anthrax to his office</span>. The August 2010 scare, he recalled, was “just one in a long series of threats I’ve received since the late 1990s, when my research illustrated the unprecedented nature of global warming.” Things had gotten better in recent years, he wrote—no more anonymous mail with potential bio-weaponry, no more personal investigations by congressional committees, and far fewer death threats. But with Trump’s inauguration imminent, he wrote, “my colleagues and I are steeling ourselves for a renewed onslaught of intimidation, from inside and outside government.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Six months into the Trump administration, the onslaught Mann feared has arrived. Scientists and science advocates say climatologists inside and outside the government are facing unprecedented intimidation from the Trump administration, conservative groups, and internet trolls. Jon Foley, a climate scientist and director of the California Academy of Sciences, said he’s more worried about the future of his profession than any time in his 20-year career. “The ebbing and flowing of political currents effects science—it always has—but this is different,” he said. “This is much worse than anything we’ve ever seen before.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Climate scientists working directly for the Trump administration are the most affected. A report published last week by the Union of Concerned Scientists describes a “culture of fear” as government scientists are gagged, sidelined, or fired, and funding cuts loom.</b> “Some are afraid to utter the words ‘climate change,’” the report reads. The fear has pushed some agency scientists to seek advice from outside sources. Lauren Kurtz, executive director at the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, says several federal climate scientists have asked her about their legal options for speaking out. “One researcher just called to say hey, my boss has made it really hard for me to do my job. What can I do?” she said.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[A timeline of “attacks on science” since Trump came into office, compiled by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Center for Science and Democracy]</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kurtz is also dealing with a problem that has existed for years: lawsuits filed by conservative groups against non-government climate scientists seeking their private communications. And just generally, Kurtz said she’s hearing from more private climatologists worried about the future of their grant funding, or the backlash they might receive from empowered internet trolls if they choose to publicly criticize against cuts that would effect their work. “It’s definitely become a more stressful profession,” Kurtz said. “Long-term, there’s room for optimism. But right now—especially when you factor in things like potential funding cuts and dealing with harassment, yes, it has become more difficult to be a climate scientist.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the political, social, and economic ramifications of their findings become more urgent by the day, it only makes sense that attempts to silence and intimidate climate scientists stand to intensify.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate scientists have been harassed since long before Trump’s rise, much of it personal and internet-based: Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe has said that after a media appearance, she receives up to 200 emails and letters a day filled with threats and accusations. “One email I got said something like, ‘I hope your child sees your head in a basket after you’ve been guillotined for all the fraud you climate scientists have been committing,’” Hayhoe told InsideClimate in 2015. Personal attacks exist off the internet, too. Climate scientist Ben Santer famously found a dead rat left on his doorstep, a story he told most recently to talk show host Seth Meyers.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate scientists working inside and outside the government have been subject to more than just internet trolls, though. Conservative organizations, some with ties to fossil fuel interests, have for years filed lawsuits against them seeking e-mail communications and unpublished research under various open records laws. The point, Kurtz says, is “to embarrass them”—indeed, in <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">one ongoing lawsuit against University of Arizona researcher Jonathan Overpeck and climatologist Malcolm Hughes, the coal-funded Energy & Environment Legal Institute admitted it was seeking emails that “embarrass both Professors Hughes and Overpeck and the University.” The conservative group Judicial Watch is suing the U.S. Department of Commerce, seeking the communications of former NOAA scientist Thomas Karl and former director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy John Holdren. Their purpose is to see whether these scientists “mishandled scientific data to advance the political agenda of global warming alarmism.”</span></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Those groups are still at it. The difference, Kurtz said, is not that lawsuits have increased, but that the attorneys who perpetrated them have more political power.</b>E&E Legal Institute General Council David Schnare, for instance, has sued several universities to gain access to climate scientists’ emails. He was named to the Trump<b>transition team for the EPA and then joined the so-called “beachhead</b>” team there, before eventually resigning because of differences with Pruitt. E&E Legal senior fellow Christopher Horner was also a member of Trump’s transition team. </font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Personal attacks persist as well, though it seems to rise and fall with the news. Hayhoe told me the amount of hate mail she’s received “spiked noticeably for two weeks” after Trump announced he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement. (Hayhoe had spoken out against the decision.</span>) “I mentioned it to quite a few people, [the spike] was so marked,” she said. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Mann says he receives less hate mail too, and thinks the dip has to do with the fact that targeted trolling is less effective than it used to be. “The favorite approach of the climate change denial machine used to be to go after individual scientists, to try and make it seem like the consensus all depends on one person,” he said. “But I think now that the consensus has become as strong as it has, it feels like there’s been less aimed at me personally, because it’s just no longer credible to say that it’s all based on the work of Mike Mann.”</span></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Indeed, most scientists say what’s really increased is a quieter form of intimidation: preventing government climate scientists from doing their jobs.</b> The Union of Concerned Scientists’ report accused the Trump administration of “creating a hostile environment for federal agency scientists who serve the public,” citing the anti-climate rhetoric of agency administrators like Scott Pruitt and Rick Perry, proposed decimation of funding, and general interference in scientists’ work. The DOE’s International Climate Office (which has since been eliminated) asked staff in March to avoid the words “climate change,” “emissions reductions,” or “Paris Agreement” in communications. </font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Political appointees at the EPA are reviewing scientists’ work,</b> and political appointees at Interior Department are reviewing science-based grants and contracts. “All action at the agency on climate has effectively stopped,” an EPA air quality scientist told The Guardian in June. And they’re being discouraged from interacting with other climate scientists. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“There was a climate conference in Atlanta last month and EPA employees were told not to go,” the scientist said, “so even simple interactions are coming to an end.”</span></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There’s probably good reason why that last quote is anonymously sourced: Government scientists can’t even speak about the most uncontroversial aspects of climate change without fearing demotion. Joel Clement, former director of the Office of Policy Analysis at the U.S. Interior Department, and a scientist who worked on climate issues, last week said he was demoted to the accounting office after speaking out about the threat of climate change to Alaska’s Native communities. “Silencing civil servants, stifling science, squandering taxpayer money and spurning communities in the face of imminent danger have never made America great,” he wrote in The Washington Post. “Let’s be honest: The Trump administration didn’t think my years of science and policy experience were better suited to accounts receivable. It sidelined me in the hope that I would be quiet or quit.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Speaking out has always been the best way to ensure harassment. “There’s a target on your back if you’re a prominent communicator of climate change,” Mann said. “Sometimes it feels like the Boy Scouts fighting the marines. We face a very well-armed, determined opposition, and they don’t have to operate by the rules that we do.” As the scientific facts about climate change become more alarming, and the administration tries to keep silencing it, more scientists will feel the need to speak the truth—or so Mann hopes. “I think a lot of scientists have been cowed into submission by the assaults, the attacks,” Mann said. “The purpose of this fossil-fuel-funded attack machine is to intimidate scientists so they don’t speak out, and make an example of those who do.... The worse thing any of us can do is give in to that.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Emily Atkin is a staff writer at The New Republic.</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/trump-administrations-attacks-on-science-already-surpass-two-george-bush-terms/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/trump-administrations-attacks-on-science-already-surpass-two-george-bush-terms/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump administration’s attacks on science already surpass two George Bush terms</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by<b> Elliott Negin </b>/ Common Dreams<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>August 22, 2019</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On July 19, President Trump hosted Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins and their families, along with the family of their deceased colleague Neil Armstrong, at a White House event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Tomorrow will represent 50 years from the time we planted a beautiful American flag on the moon,” Trump said. “And that was an achievement, possibly one of the great, considered one of the great achievements ever.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s fractured syntax notwithstanding, the Apollo program was indeed a stunning triumph of federal science, involving more than 34,000 National Aeronautics and Space Administration employees and 375,000 industry and university contractors. It was one of many spectacular achievements by federal and federally funded scientists over the last half-century, such as the creation of the internet, fiber optics and magnetic resonance imaging technology, not to mention the role those scientists played in providing the technical underpinning for health and environmental standards that save lives and protect critical ecosystems and wildlife habitats.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s lauding of the Apollo 11 mission rang a particularly discordant note given the lengths to which his administration has gone to destroy federal science by censoring scientific findings, gagging agency scientists and fostering a hostile working environment. Since taking office, the administration has launched more than 100 attacks on science, according to my organization, the Union of Concerned Scientists—more than the George W. Bush administration amassed over its two four-year terms.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sidelining Science</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Just a day before Trump’s Apollo photo op, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would rejectscientific evidence and the recommendation of its own staff scientists by not banning chlorpyrifos, the widely used agricultural pesticide shown to hamper childhood brain development. It was the agency’s second scientifically indefensible chemical-related decision of the year. In April, it overruled the advice of its own scientists who urged the agency to follow the example of 55 other countries in completely banning asbestos, a known carcinogen.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Today’s EPA offers a stark example of the Trump administration’s crusade to dismantle science-based agencies.</b> Nearly 1,600 employees left the EPA during the first year and a half of the EPA administration, while only 400 were hired, according to data obtained by The Washington Post through a Freedom of Information Act request. Of 1,600 employees who left, at least 260 were scientists, 185 were “environmental protection specialists” and 106 were engineers. The total number of employees at the agency today—14,172—is the lowest in 30 years.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Besides chopping staff, the EPA has dramatically reduced the role of outside science advisers. Last fall, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, disbanded a 20-member scientific advisory committee on particulate matter, failed to convene a similar panel on ozone, and packed a seven-member advisory committee on air quality standards with industry-friendly participants. SAB GRAHAM</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The EPA is not the only agency pushing scientists out the door. The same day the EPA made its chlorpyrifos announcement, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)</b> announced that nearly two-thirds of 395 Washington, D.C.-based employees in its Economic Research Service, which provides analyses on a range of issues, and National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which oversees $1.7 billion in scientific funding, will quit rather than relocate to Kansas City.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The department’s dubious rationale for moving the Research Service and National Institute is placing researchers closer to farmers and cutting costs, but its ulterior motive is to hollow out their staffs, hindering their ability to carry out their missions. Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff, acknowledged as much during a speech he gave at an August 2 Republican fundraiser in South Carolina.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“You’ve heard about ‘drain the swamp.’ What you probably haven’t heard is what we are actually doing,” he said. “I don’t know if you saw the news the other day, but the USDA just tried to move, or did move, two offices out of Washington, D.C…. Guess what happened? More than half the people quit…. What a wonderful way to sort of streamline government, and do what we haven’t been able to do for a long time.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Capitol Hill Science Defenders</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some members of Congress are fighting back. Late last month, for example, the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress—a temporary committee with an equal number of Democrats and Republicans—unanimously approved a recommendation to resurrect the Office of Technology Assessment, a congressional watchdog agency that then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich killed in the mid-1990s.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The select committee’s recommendation comes on the heels of a draft House spending bill for the 2020 fiscal year that includes $6 million to jumpstart the agency, which provided Congress with analyses on a range of topics, from acid rain to climate change to renewable energy, from 1972 to 1995.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, House Democrats and Republicans alike voiced their support for protecting federal science during a recent Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing on scientific integrity. Two dozen federal agencies have adopted scientific integrity policies since 2010, but they are inconsistent and difficult to enforce, so some members of Congress want to codify protections in a law.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Allowing political power or special interests to manipulate or suppress federal science hurts, and hurts all of us,” said New York Rep. Paul Tonko at the July 17 hearing. “It leads to dirtier air, unsafe water, toxic products on our shelves, and chemicals in our homes and environment. And it has driven federal inaction in response to the growing climate crisis.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Earlier this year, Tonko introduced the Scientific Integrity Act, which would guarantee federal scientists the right to share their findings with the public, ensure the accuracy of government science-related communications, and protect scientific research from political interference.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Federal science has taken an unprecedented beating during the Trump administration and remains a long way from its glory days half a century ago when it landed men on the moon. Tonko recognizes that protecting scientific integrity is a critical first step to rebuilding American scientific enterprise and that it deserves bipartisan support.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Scientific integrity is a longstanding concern that transcends any one party or political administration,” Tonko said. “The abuses directed by this president and his top officials have brought a new urgency to the issue, but the fact remains whether a Democrat or Republican sits in the [House] speaker’s chair or the Oval Office, we need strong scientific integrity policies.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This article first appeared on Truthout and was produced in partnership with Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute.</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/the-trump-administration-has-launched-more-than-100-attacks-on-science-in-unprecedented-assault/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/the-trump-administration-has-launched-more-than-100-attacks-on-science-in-unprecedented-assault/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Trump administration has launched more than 100 attacks on science in unprecedented assault</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[px President Donald Trump holds up a jacket he was given by a guest, Tuesday, March 21, 2017, after signing the S-422 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Transition Authorization Act in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Paul D. Williams)]</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Elliott Negin / Independent Media Institute<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>August 19, 2019</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On July 19, President Trump hosted Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins and their families, along with the family of their deceased colleague Neil Armstrong, at a White House event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Tomorrow will represent 50 years from the time we planted a beautiful American flag on the moon,” Trump said. “And that was an achievement, possibly one of the great, considered one of the great achievements ever.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s fractured syntax notwithstanding, the Apollo program was indeed a stunning triumph of federal science, involving more than 34,000 National Aeronautics and Space Administration employees and 375,000 industry and university contractors. It was one of many spectacular achievements by federal and federally funded scientists over the last half-century, such as the creation of the internet, fiber optics and magnetic resonance imaging technology, not to mention the role those scientists played in providing the technical underpinning for health and environmental standards that save lives and protect critical ecosystems and wildlife habitats.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s lauding of the Apollo 11 mission rang a particularly discordant note given the lengths to which his administration has gone to destroy federal science by censoring scientific findings, gagging agency scientists and fostering a hostile working environment. Since taking office, the administration has launched more than 100 attacks on science, according to my organization, the Union of Concerned Scientists—more than the George W. Bush administration amassed over its two four-year terms.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sidelining Science</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Just a day before Trump’s Apollo photo op, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would reject scientific evidence and the recommendation of its own staff scientists by not banning chlorpyrifos, the widely used agricultural pesticide shown to hamper childhood brain development. It was the agency’s second scientifically indefensible chemical-related decision of the year. In April, it overruled the advice of its own scientists who urged the agency to follow the example of 55 other countries in completely banning asbestos, a known carcinogen.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Today’s EPA offers a stark example of the Trump administration’s crusade to dismantle science-based agencies. Nearly 1,600 employees left the EPA during the first year and a half of the EPA administration, while only 400 were hired, according to data obtained by The Washington Post through a Freedom of Information Act request. Of 1,600 employees who left, at least 260 were scientists, 185 were “environmental protection specialists” and 106 were engineers. The total number of employees at the agency today—14,172—is the lowest in 30 years.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Besides chopping staff, the EPA has dramatically reduced the role of outside science advisers. Last fall, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, disbanded a 20-member scientific advisory committee on particulate matter, failed to convene a similar panel on ozone, and packed a seven-member advisory committee on air quality standards with industry-friendly participants.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The EPA is not the only agency pushing scientists out the door. The same day the EPA made its chlorpyrifos announcement, the U.S. Department of Agricultur<b>e (USDA)</b>announced that nearly two-thirds of 395 Washington, D.C.-based employees in its Economic Research Service, which provides analyses on a range of issues, and National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which oversees $1.7 billion in scientific funding, will quit rather than relocate to Kansas City.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The department’s dubious rationale for moving the Research Service and National Institute is placing researchers closer to farmers and cutting costs, but its ulterior motive is to hollow out their staffs, hindering their ability to carry out their missions. Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff, acknowledged as much during a speech he gave at an August 2 Republican fundraiser in South Carolina.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“You’ve heard about ‘drain the swamp.’ What you probably haven’t heard is what we are actually doing,” he said. “I don’t know if you saw the news the other day, but the USDA just tried to move, or did move, two offices out of Washington, D.C…. Guess what happened? More than half the people quit…. What a wonderful way to sort of streamline government, and do what we haven’t been able to do for a long time.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Capitol Hill Science Defenders</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some members of Congress are fighting back. Late last month, for example, the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress—a temporary committee with an equal number of Democrats and Republicans—unanimously approved a recommendation to resurrect the Office of Technology Assessment, a congressional watchdog agency that then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich killed in the mid-1990s.</span></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The select committee’s recommendation comes on the heels of a draft House spending bill for the 2020 fiscal year that includes $6 million to jumpstart the agency, which provided Congress with analyses on a range of topics, from acid rain to climate change to renewable energy, from 1972 to 1995.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, House Democrats and Republicans alike voiced their support for protecting federal science during a recent Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing on scientific integrity. Two dozen federal agencies have adopted scientific integrity policies since 2010, but they are inconsistent and difficult to enforce, so some members of Congress want to codify protections in a law.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Allowing political power or special interests to manipulate or suppress federal science hurts, and hurts all of us,” said <b>New York Rep. Paul Tonko</b> at the July 17 hearing. “It leads to dirtier air, unsafe water, toxic products on our shelves, and chemicals in our homes and environment. And it has driven federal inaction in response to the growing climate crisis.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Earlier this year, Tonko introduced the Scientific Integrity Act, which would guarantee federal scientists the right to share their findings with the public, ensure the accuracy of government science-related communications, and protect scientific research from political interference.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Federal science has taken an unprecedented beating during the Trump administration and remains a long way from its glory days half a century ago when it landed men on the moon. Tonko recognizes that protecting scientific integrity is a critical first step to rebuilding American scientific enterprise and that it deserves bipartisan support.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Scientific integrity is a longstanding concern that transcends any one party or political administration,” Tonko said. “The abuses directed by this president and his top officials have brought a new urgency to the issue, but the fact remains whether a Democrat or Republican sits in the [House] speaker’s chair or the Oval Office, we need strong scientific integrity policies.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elliott Negin is a senior writer at the Union of Concerned Scientists.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This article first appeared on Truthout and was produced in partnership with Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute.</font></font></font></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">819 icn</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span helvetica="helvetica" neue="neue" arial="arial" verdana="verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=1d45d2b799&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Top CDC Health and Climate Scientist Files Whistleblower Complaint</a></span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span helvetica="helvetica" neue="neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">BY: MARIANNE LAVELLE & GEORGINA GUSTIN
Here's what happened to a top scientist in the nation's premiere health agency. Other scientists, and climate science itself, have been sidelined in agencies across the government. <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=fc6a52c66a&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Read More</a></span></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ew 819</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://ecowatch.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=211b7c7291&e=c2e8fdabfa" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Top Scientist Quits USDA, Says Trump Admin Tried to Bury Study Linking Climate and Nutrition</font></a></span></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Donations like yours enable us to provide free legal support to scientists like Maria Caffrey, a CSLDF client </span><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://csldf.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=635c98e780ac7191328d30eeb&id=4374312e70&e=15e3916d62" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">who filed a whistleblower complaint against the Trump administration</a><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"> on July 22.<b> Caffrey was forced out of her job at the National Park Service after refusing to delete references to human-caused climate change from a report she authored about how sea level rise impacts coastal parks.</b></span><br helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" /><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"> </span><br helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" /><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Sadly, </span><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://csldf.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=635c98e780ac7191328d30eeb&id=14dd15f12c&e=15e3916d62" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">attempts to muzzle scientists</a><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"> are increasingly common under the Trump administration. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As Lauren Kurtz, our director, recently told</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><em helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">The Guardian</em><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">, this kind of censorship is “part of a larger trend of disputing scientific realities for political reasons” and it extends beyond climate to pesticide safety, reproductive health, and other issues.</span></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://yyy.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/26/war-on-science-trump-administration-muzzles-climate-experts-critics-say</font></span></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Maria Caffrey,</font></span></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></span></font></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
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</div><div><b>War on science: Trump administration muzzles climate experts, critics say</b></div><div>Whistleblowers and groups tracking agency decisions say administration is ignoring science and censoring expertise</div><div>
</div><div>Emily Holden in Washington</div><div>
</div><div>Fri 26 Jul 2019 12.49 BST</div><div>
</div><div>The Trump administration is disregarding science and expertise across a wide range of government work, as documented by whistleblowers and groups tracking agency decisions.</div><div>
</div><div>Trump officials are censoring warnings about the climate crisis, moving critical agencies out of Washington and enacting far-reaching changes in what facts regulators can consider when they choose between industry and the public good.</div><div>
</div><div>[ I'm a scientist. Under Trump I lost my job for refusing to hide climate crisis facts</div><div>Maria Caffrey</div><div> Read more]</div><div>
</div><div>The White House and its agencies have kept their own experts from explaining how pollution from power plants and cars is increasing global temperatures, threatening both lives and economies.</div><div>
</div><div><b>One former climate scientist for the National Park Service, Maria Caffrey,</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">filed a whistleblower complaint this week and testified to Congress that she was blocked from publishing data about how coastal parks could flood as the seas rise.</span></div><div>
</div><div>“Politics has no place in science,” Caffrey said in an oped for the Guardian. “I am an example of the less discussed methods the administration is using to destroy scientific research. I wasn’t fired and immediately told to leave; instead they sought retribution by discretely using governmental bureaucracy to apply pressure and gradually cut funding.”</div><div>
</div><div><b>Caffrey’s allegations follow a trend. A state department intelligence aide resigned after the White House refused to let him submit written testimony to lawmakers about “possibly catastrophic” harm from the climate crisis.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Interior department climate staffer Joel Clement was reassigned from his position, and he told lawmakers this month that there is a “culture of fear, censorship and suppression”, within the administration.</div><div>
</div><div>The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences director, Linda Birnbaum, who spoke about the need for the public and Congress to work together on stronger regulations on pesticides was accused by Republicans of violating anti-lobbying laws. She announced earlier this month that she plans to retire.</div><div>
</div><div>An analysis of thousands of government websites shows terms related to climate change have also dropped 26% between 2016 and 2018, according to the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative.</div><div>
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</div><div>The latest major Trump resignations and firings</div><div> Read more</div><div>The Occupational Safety and Health Administration nixed references to climate change on a page explaining how workers and managers can handle heat-related health risks.</div><div>
</div><div>The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recategorized some of its work from “climate science” to “ecosystems” and removed about 40 pages that focused on climate change. The transportation department took down most of a climate change “clearinghouse” of information.</div><div>
</div><div>The administration has argued that it makes sense to change its websites because it has different priorities than the Obama administration. Eric Nost, a co-author of the analysis, said that’s not fair.</div><div>
</div><div>“You can have different priorities related to climate and how you address it … but what we’re seeing is a lot of obfuscation of really fundamental resources and information related to the issue itself with little notice that things are changing,” Nost said.</div><div>
</div><div>Lauren Kurtz – who is tracking evidence of censorship for a database by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and Climate Science Legal Defense Fund – said it extends beyond the climate crisis, to pesticide safety and reproductive health.</div><div>
</div><div>Kurtz said the 105 public incidences of censorship the groups found are “part of a larger trend of disputing scientific realities for political reasons”.</div><div>
</div><div>Plans to move agencies out of Washington</div><div>Many other less obvious Trump changes are expected to minimize the importance of expertise and cripple regulators seeking to protect people and the environment, observers say.</div><div>
</div><div>The administration plans to move multiple agency offices out of the Washington region and into the middle of the country. Employees at the Bureau of Land Management who are willing to leave could be sent to Colorado, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona – states closer to the drilling the bureau oversees but far from the government hub in Washington.</div><div>
</div><div>Employees at two sub-agencies of the agriculture department that provide key data and fund emerging research will be moved to Kansas City, Missouri.</div><div>
</div><div>Laura Dodson, union steward for the Economic Research Service, said many of the staffers will not move and there is a small pool of people who are qualified to replace them.</div><div>
</div><div>“If we were to hire, say, 20% of all the agriculture economics PhDs on the market each year, it would still take us probably five to 10 years to get up to full staffing,” she said. She added that the agency would be competing against other federal agencies, land grant universities, nonprofits and corporations. And some positions are “extremely specialized”, with only a handful of qualified candidates in the country, she said.</div><div>
</div><div>So far, Dodson said her agency plans to cancel research projects on: rental housing in rural America, health insurance of farm households, glyphosate resistance of corn and soybeans, rural small business financial capital and healthier American diets.</div><div>
</div><div>The conservation and environment branch of the agency could see its numbers dwindle from 15 full-time PhDs to three, Dodson added.</div><div>
</div><div>An agency climate scientist will not be moving to the new office, she said. He recently published findings that taxpayers could be on the hook for significantly more spending on subsidizing crop insurance for farms as the climate crisis intensifies.</div><div>
</div><div>An employee with the National Institutes of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), who is choosing to retire early rather than move to Kansas City, said the move will hamstring the agency from identifying critical problems in agriculture and directing money to them.</div><div>
</div><div>“This is not what we planned when we joined NIFA,” the source said. “We still believe in our mission, we care for the people we work with but most of us have no stomach for USDA anymore.”</div><div>
</div><div>‘Continuous erosion of science’</div><div>At the EPA, administrator Andrew Wheeler – a former industry lobbyist – is enacting sweeping changes to which scientists the agency will consult and what research it will consider.</div><div>
</div><div>Under Trump, the agency dissolved an expert panel that provided advice on tiny particles of air pollution linked with earlier deaths and especially harmful for children, pregnant women and the elderly.</div><div>
</div><div>The EPA fired many of its science advisers, replacing them with researchers from Republican states and industry, rather than universities.</div><div>
</div><div>An independent government watchdog recently found the agency’s secret process for overhauling the committees ignored standard procedures.</div><div>
</div><div>Wheeler is also moving to prevent the EPA from considering key public health studies that don’t reveal their data, which is difficult for medical researchers for privacy reasons.</div><div>
</div><div>And the EPA is refusing to consider certain health benefits of rules to cut pollution when it weighs overall costs of proposals.</div><div>
</div><div>Wheeler is also changing how the agency releases public records through the Freedom of Information Act, giving political appointees more oversight of the process. Two environmental groups are suing over the change. Many have turned to the courts to force the EPA to hand over documents and internal records. The Environmental Defense Fund yesterday sued the agency for records on former administrator Scott Pruitt’s plans to debate the legitimacy of climate science.</div><div>
</div><div>“It’s the continuous erosion of science,” said Chris Zarba, the former director of EPA’s science advisory board staff. “I think it’s obvious that this, all of these changes, are all pointing in the same direction and that direction is to give special interests greater say. Science is getting in the way of what special interests want.”</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>trump faLLOUT: fail doom tip pt</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-deforestation-unrecoverable-tipping-point-2639358982.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-deforestation-unrecoverable-tipping-point-2639358982.html</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Amazon rainforest in Brazil is being clear cut so rapidly — a rate of three football fields per minute — that it is approaching a "tipping point" from which it will not recover, </b>according to <span style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">the Guardian</span>.lnx]</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As trees are lost, researchers said there is a <b>risk that large areas could transition from rainforest to savannah as they lose the ability to make their own rainfall from evaporation and from plants giving off water </b>vapor, according to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/brazil-bolsonaro-illegal-deforestation-amazon-rainforest-tipping-point-1451270" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Newsweek</a>.</font></p><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-id="1" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem1"><p /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A transition on that scale could have significant implications for global warming since the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rainforests" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">rainforest</a> absorbs vast amounts of atmospheric carbon. Recent <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6448/76?hwshib2=authn%253A1562396078%253A20190704%253Ac3ad5971-c185-4942-9acd-92aa24c51c06%253A0%253A0%253A0%253AS1lvoYPtq07c7tMzRommqA%253D%253D" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">research</a> has shown the potential for massive tree plantings to remove excess carbon from the atmosphere.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It's very important to keep repeating these concerns. There are a number of tipping points which are not far away," said Philip Fearnside, a professor at Brazil's National Institute of Amazonian Research, as <span style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">the Guardian</span> reported. "We can't see exactly where they are, but we know they are very close. It means we have to do things right away. Unfortunately that is not what is happening. There are people denying we even have a problem."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The alarming rate of </span><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">deforestation</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> and its acceleration confirms suspicions that new president </span><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/jair-bolsonaro" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Jair Bolsonaro</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> has allowed illegal land invasion, logging and burning.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> Bolsonaro has called his <a href="http://terrabrasilis.dpi.inpe.br/app/dashboard/alerts/legal/amazon/aggregated/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">own government's satellite data</a> lies. </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The president's comments followed preliminary satellite data that showed more than 400 square miles of the rainforest had been cleared in the first half of July — an increase of 68 percent from the entire month of July last year, according to the </span><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49052360" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">BBC</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">.</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Bolsonaro, the far right politician who has said he is fulfilling a mission from God,</b> dismissed concerns expressed by European Union members and called it hypocritical since so many European forests have been wiped out.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"You have to understand that the Amazon is Brazil's, not yours," Bolsonaro said, as <span style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;"><u>the Guardian</u></span> reported. "If all this devastation you accuse us of doing was done in the past the Amazon would have stopped existing, it would be a big desert."</font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-id="2" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem2"><p /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The DETER-B satellite system that the Brazilian government started to use in 2015 to track deforestation has shown that the record setting July deforestation is on pace to clear enough forest to fit New York City twice by the end of the month.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The DETER satellite data is considered preliminary. Detailed figures are released at the end of the year when data from other satellites and observatories is also collected, according to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/brazil-bolsonaro-illegal-deforestation-amazon-rainforest-tipping-point-1451270" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Newsweek</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Unfortunately, it is absurd, but it should not catch anyone by surprise. President Jair Bolsonaro and minister Ricardo Salles are dismantling our socio-environmental policies," said Carlos Rittl, the executive secretary of the <a href="http://www.observatoriodoclima.eco.br/en/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Climate Observatory</a>, an NGO formed by a coalition of environmental groups, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/25/amazonian-rainforest-near-unrecoverable-tipping-point" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">the Guardian</a> reported.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">After years of conservation, Brazil's environmental track record has nose-dived in the first seven months of Bolsonaro's administration</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He has given environmental oversight to the agriculture minister, who is the leader of a farming lobby. His foreign minister called climate science a part of a global Marxist plot. The government has invited businesses to register land counter-claims in areas that are protected nature reserves, indigenous territories and areas dedicated to sustainable production by native forest people, according to <span style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">the Guardian</span>.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></div><div class="post-pager js-listicle-pager" data-async_load_parameters="platform=desktop&display_ads=1&settings=%7B%22enter_url%22%3A+false%2C+%22no_post_section%22%3A+false%2C+%22ads_breaks%22%3A+null%2C+%22prevent_last_break_repetition%22%3A+false%2C+%22use_numeration%22%3A+false%2C+%22ads_order%22%3A+%5B%5D%2C+%22pagination_order%22%3A+%5B%5D%2C+%22list_breaks%22%3A+null%2C+%22reorder_voting%22%3A+false%2C+%22cooldown_in_seconds%22%3A+null%2C+%22source%22%3A+%22post_listicle_settings%22%2C+%22next_post_url%22%3A+null%2C+%22up_down_voting%22%3A+false%2C+%22show_columns_on_mobile%22%3A+false%2C+%22numeration_sort%22%3A+-1%2C+%22use_pagination%22%3A+false%2C+%22body_text_above%22%3A+false%2C+%22use_ads%22%3A+false%2C+%22items_as_posts%22%3A+false%2C+%22multiple_answers%22%3A+false%2C+%22no_redirect%22%3A+false%2C+%22is_guest_voting_allowed%22%3A+true%2C+%22layout_type%22%3A+1%7D" data-listicle-style="" style="display: table; width: 780px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="around-the-web"><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/jair-bolsonaro-american-natural-history-museum-2634762200.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Will No Longer Be Honored at ... ›</font></a></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/brazil-bolsonaro-pesticides-2636194015.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Brazil's Bolsonaro Green-Lights 150+ Pesticides This Year - EcoWatch ›</font></a></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/palm-oil-deforestation-goals-2638919168.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Palm Oil Importers Won't Meet Zero Deforestation Goals by 2020 ... ›</font></a></li></ul><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</font></div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/25/amazonian-rainforest-near-unrecoverable-tipping-point" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 0px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Amazon deforestation accelerating towards unrecoverable 'tipping ... ›</font></a></li></ul></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>aha: dereg (damages protection of forest, thus buffer and resilience) and corruption is lack of info on effects so we can avert disaster --> AGW:</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref </font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://yyy.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/25/amazonian-rainforest-near-unrecoverable-tipping-point</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">guk no lnx</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Amazon deforestation accelerating towards unrecoverable 'tipping point'</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Data confirms fears that Jair Bolsonaro’s policy encourages illegal logging in Brazil</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jonathan Watts in Altamira</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> @jonathanwatts</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thu 25 Jul 2019 17.40 BST Last modified on Thu 25 Jul 2019 21.37 BST</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Amazon rainforest turned into farmland. An area the size of Greater London has been lost this month. Photograph: Nacho Doce/Reuters</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon has surged above three football fields a minute, according to the latest government data, pushing the world’s biggest rainforest closer to a tipping point beyond which it cannot recover.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The sharp rise – following year-on-year increases in May and June – confirms fears that president Jair Bolsonaro has given a green light to illegal land invasion, logging and burning.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Clearance so far in July has hit 1,345 sq km, a third higher than the previous monthly record under the current monitoring system by the Deter B satellite system, which started in 2015.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">With five days remaining, this is on course to be the first month for several years in which Brazil loses an area of forest bigger than Greater London.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The steady erosion of tree cover weakens the role of the rainforest in stabilising the global climate. Scientists warn that the forest is in growing danger of degrading into a savannah, after which its capacity to absorb carbon will be severely diminished, with consequences for the rest of the planet.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“It’s very important to keep repeating these concerns. There are a number of tipping points which are not far away,” said Philip Fearnside, a professor at Brazil’s National Institute of Amazonian Research. “We can’t see exactly where they are, but we know they are very close. It means we have to do things right away. Unfortunately that is not what is happening. There are people denying we even have a problem.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>It may also complicate ratification of Brazil’s biggest ever trade deal with the European Union if EU legislators decide the South American nation is not keeping its side of the bargain, which includes a commitment to slow deforestation in line with the Paris climate agreement.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The official numbers from the National Institute for Space Research are a growing embarrassment to Bolsonaro, who has tried to fob them off as lies and criticised the head of the institute.<b> Earlier this week, the president insisted the numbers should be screened by the ministry of science and technology and shown to him before being made public so that he did not get “caught with his pants down”</b>.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">This has raised fears that the data could be vetted in future rather than automatically updated online each day as is currently the case.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In his first seven months in power, Bolsonaro, who was elected with strong support from agribusiness and mining interests, has moved rapidly to erode government agencies responsible for forest protection.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>He has weakened the environment agency and effectively put it under the supervision of the agricultural ministry, which is headed by the leader of the farming lobby</b>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> His foreign minister has dismissed climate science as part of a</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> global Marxist plot.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> The president and other ministers have criticised the forest monitoring agency, Ibama, for imposing fines on illegal land grabbers and loggers. The government has also moved to weaken protections for nature reserves, indigenous territories and zones of sustainable production by forest peoples and invited businesspeople to register land counter-claims within those areas.</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This has emboldened those who want to invade the forest, clear it and claim it for commercial purposes, mostly in the speculative expectation it will rise in value, but also partly for <b>cattle pastures, soya fields and mines.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Earlier this month, it was reported that <b>thousands of gold miners illegally invaded Yanomami indigenous territory near the border with Venezuela. Elsewhere, illegal loggers have mounted at least two attacks in response to Ibama enforcement operations, </b>according to the Folha newspaper. On 4 July, they reportedly burned an Ibama truck in Espigão d’Oeste, Rondônia state and last week they were said to have burned bridges in Placas, Pará state.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rather than defend his officials, the environment minister Ricardo Salles appeared to side with the loggers when he gave a speech to a group of them in Rondônia soon afterwards, in which he reportedly told them: “The timber industry deserves to be respected … What happens today in Brazil, unfortunately, is the result of years and years and years of a public policy of producing laws, rules, regulations that are not always related to the real world. What we are doing now is precisely bringing the legal part of the real world that happens in every country from north to south.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During a recent G20 meeting, Bolsonaro told the German chancellor Angela Merkel that she had no right to criticise because Brazil’s conservation record was superior to that of Europe’s. This is a dubious claim, according to Climate Observatory, which cites World Bank data that shows Germany has given protected status to a bigger share of its land than Brazil.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Brazil is also going backwards fast.</b> After an 80% reduction in the rate of deforestation between 2006 and 2012, successive governments have relaxed protections. Clearance has been creeping up. Last year, deforestation rose 13% to the highest level in a decade. This year is on course to be far worse and the trend is back towards the dark days of the early 2000s.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Unfortunately, it is absurd, but it should not catch anyone by surprise. President Jair Bolsonaro and minister Ricardo Salles are dismantling our socio-environmental policies,” said Carlos Rittl, the executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, an NGO formed by a coalition of environmental groups.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He said Salles had eradicated the department responsible for policies to combat deforestation, that no leaders have been appointed in eight of the nine Ibama regional offices, and that operations to combat environmental crimes declined 70% between January and April 2019 compared with the same period last year.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Deter satellite data is considered preliminary, but it is usually a guide to the longer-term trends. More detailed annual figures are usually released towards the end of the year, after the National Institute for Space Research has calculated data from the more powerful Prodes satellite system.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trees are considered essential to climate stability. Earlier this month, a study indicated that planting a trillion trees could remove two-thirds of all the emissions that have been pumped into the atmosphere by human activities. <b>But scientists say maintaining existing forests, particularly in the tropics, is far more important.</b></font></div></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div></div></div></div></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/01/26/competitive-enterprise-institute-climate-denial-target-nbc-cities-liability-suits" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/01/26/competitive-enterprise-institute-climate-denial-target-nbc-cities-liability-suits</font></a></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">main</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/12/12/ucla-law-professor-ann-carlson-cara-horowitz-cei/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/12/12/ucla-law-professor-ann-carlson-cara-horowitz-cei/</font></a></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marco Poggio</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A conservative think tank with deep ties to the fossil fuel industry has sued UCLA to obtain email correspondence between two UCLA climate law professors and pro-environment individuals involved in climate change litigation.</b></font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The </span><a href="http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2018/20181108_docket-18-ST-CP-02832_petition-for-writ-of-mandate.pdf?utm_source=Climate+Case+Chart&utm_campaign=4bda54ff18-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_11_30_02_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a721b41b2d-4bda54ff18-244003157&mc_cid=4bda54ff18&mc_eid=6a923e02cb" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">lawsuit</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> was filed last month in California Superior Court by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a libertarian group that lobbies against limits on greenhouse gas emissions and claims that CO2 is good for the environment. CEI argued the university hasn’t complied with two public record requests made in February and May under the </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">California Public Records Act.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">According to the lawsuit,</span> <a href="https://columbia.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9906c7202590aac6a8bdbb7b9&id=c42f401f8e&e=6a923e02cb" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Competitive Enterprise Institute v. Regents of the University of California</span><i style="box-sizing: inherit;">, </i></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">the emails show <b>environmental law professors Cara Horowitz and Ann E. Carlson discussed future meetings with others, including staffers from several attorney general offices, to discuss new legal actions against major carbon producers.</b></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The lawsuit mimics the ones filed to obtain email correspondence by several climate scientists, including prominent climatologist Michael Mann of Penn State, which was ended by the Virginia Supreme Court in 2012. Another continues to embroil University of Arizona scientists Jonathan Overpeck and Malcolm Hughes, who were </span><a href="https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Court-Forces-University-Arizona-Release-Climate-Scientists-Traditionally-Confidential-Emails" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">recently ordered to release</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> 13 years of emails demanded by another fossil fuel ally.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This appears to be yet another effort by hired guns funded by polluting interests to badger, intimidate, and silence scientists whose findings prove inconvenient to those who continue to profit from our dependence on fossil fuels,” <b>Mann</b> said of the suit against UCLA.  </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among the emails Horowitz and Carlson have been asked to release are those exchanged with litigators in direct contact with offices of pro-environment attorneys general around the country. That includes former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who in 2015 began investigating Exxon for possible climate change-related fraud.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carlson told Climate Liability News that UCLA is working on complying with CEI’s record request, sorting through hundreds of emails.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I don’t feel intimidated. I don’t have anything to hide,” Carlson said, “I don’t have a problem, so far, with what I’ve been required to turn over.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I do worry that these tactics, more broadly, are designed to discourage public discourse about important topics, like climate change and who should pay for climate damages.”</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Specifically, CEI has asked for correspondence between the two UCLA scholars and<b> Shaun Goho, a Harvard lecturer</b> and environmental lawyer with a record of environmental litigation in state and federal court.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Goho said the lawsuit is just an harassment tactic meant to divert the energy and resources of people fighting climate change away from their work.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“I don’t see how academics speaking with government officials about matters of public concern is a conspiracy. It doesn’t seem to make sense to me,” Goho said.</b></font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This lawsuit doesn’t stand alone. It’s really part of a broader campaign by fossil fuels companies and their allies to harass people who are taking action trying to try to address climate change in various ways, whether it’s climate scientists, lawyers or others who are researching legal issues related to climate change and the relationship between climate change and the fossil fuel industry.”</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">CEI has </span><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16112016/myron-ebell-climate-denier-epa-donald-trump" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">deep ties</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> to the fossil fuel industry. Exxon was its biggest funder until 2006, when public criticism pushed the company to distance itself from CEI’s climate denial campaigns.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">CEI has also sought emails containing the names of other pro-environment lawyers and climate scientists, including </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>Peter Frumhoff, the director of science and policy at the Union of Concer</b></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>ned Scientists, </b>and Sharon Eubanks, one of the attorneys involved in the federal tobacco litigation against Philip Morris.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Additionally, CEI demanded emails regarding two separate events—one held at Harvard and one at UCLA—attended by Carlson and Horowitz and employees of various state attorney general offices, private lawyers,<b> academics and environmental activists</b>, </span>who were set to discuss causes of action against major carbon producers.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Public records show that Professors Horowitz and Carlson are using their positions at your public university to coordinate with certain activists groups in organizing and <b>pursuing law enforcement and civil investigations and litigation against private opponents of a particular political agenda. </b>We seek correspondence and other records illuminating this use of a public university faculty position and resources,” the request’s text reads.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Frumhoff declined to comment for this story.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Central to the lawsuit are the UCLA and Harvard meetings, in which Carlson, Horowitz and other parties discussed legal actions against polluters.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The “secret meetings” as they were described in some of the emails, were attended by<b> Frumhoff and Matthew Pawa,</b> a lawyer with Hagens Berman, which is involved in several climate liability suits filed by communities against the fossil fuel industry. Those meetings also included staffers from attorney general offices around the country, including those of New York and California.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A CEI representative declined to comment, citing pending litigation, but referred to the organization’s website for a statement concerning the lawsuit.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">“</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">This ‘secret meeting’ agenda shows UCLA faculty briefed the attorneys general and prospective donors on potential legal actions they could pursue. Attorneys general are now pursuing the types of investigations urged by UCLA faculty,” Chris Horner, a senior fellow at CEI who signed the petition, wrote in the statement.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This<b> donor-funded scheme of using law enforcement to pursue a failed political agenda, raises significant constitutional and other legal issues, </b>as well as ethics concerns. With the revelation that this involves the <b>use of public institutions in this mercenary campaign</b>, the public has a <b>right to know </b>what their employees are doing<b>in their name,</b> and <b>on their dime,</b>” Horner’s statement said the statement continues.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In its lawsuit, CEI claimed the subject matter contained in the emails is of  <b>“great public interest” </b>and that the university has violated the California Constitution because delays in handing over the records practically meant a refusal to comply with the request.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The lawsuit presents new challenges to law practitioners in the field of environmental litigation, paving the way for an aggressive use of public record access law that some fear would stymie the process of accountability of carbon producers.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I don’t know exactly where this is all leading. I do think it’s part of a broader campaign to try to divert attention away from oil industry’s own activities and own efforts to try to dissuade the public about the legitimacy and validity of climate science, and I worry about that,” Carlson said.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The use of public record access laws as a tool to hit back critics in the academic world is a fairly recent practice </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/us/politics/freedom-of-information-requests.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Felizabeth-williamson&action=click&contentCollection=undefined&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">embraced by trade groups</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> of several industries, not just oil and gas, to target opponents.</span></b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>“Requests can be burdensome on government agencies,</b>” said David Snyder, an expert </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">in California public record access law who directs </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">the </span><a href="https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/about/our-staff/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">First Amendment Coalition</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">, a nonprofit nonpartisan advocacy group that promotes free speech and public access to government information.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The law effectively puts academics in the same position as public officials that might have strong interests in not having their communications disclosed to the public.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It seems like an odd fit, I acknowledge, for a college professor to sit in the same category as officials at city hall or at the governor’s office,” Snyder said. “Nonetheless, UCLA is a public agency, and employees of that public agency are subject to the public records act.”</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">A </span><a href="https://www.csldf.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/CSLDF-Research-Protections-in-State-Open-Records-Laws.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">study</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> compiled by the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit providing legal assistance to researchers, ranked each of the 50 states based on the level of protection from open records laws they grant to scientists working at publicly-funded institutions.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Only three states, Delaware, Maine, and Pennsylvania, exclude some forms of scientific and academic research from their open records laws. Laws in four other states, including Arkansas, Montana, New Mexico and North Carolina, contain no protection for researchers whatsoever. The remaining states guarantee different types of statutory exemption, deliberative process exemption and balancing tests that offer different degrees of protection.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The breadth and strength of state open records laws and the federal equivalent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) have made them powerful tools, but have also made them vulnerable to misuse and abuse by groups who try to harass researchers and stifle scientific research they dislike,” the study reads.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The right to exemption from having to turn over documents is often hard to balance with the right to access public records, which is critical to ensure transparency in institutions, Snyder said.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s tricky,” Snyder said. “Under the public records act, by design, government agencies are not allowed to single out the requesters based on the reasons for which they want the records.”</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22px; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They can’t say, ‘we’re not gonna give you the records because we know that you espouse these views, because you want to use the records for this purpose,’ that’s expressly forbidden,” Snyder said. “You don’t want the government picking sides.”</font></span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">not so much suppressed as ignored</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">trump epa fail</font></p><p class="print-title"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/a-total-disgrace-outrage-as-trump-epa-says-it-wont-ban-pesticide-linked-to-brain-damage-in-children"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/a-total-disgrace-outrage-as-trump-epa-says-it-wont-ban-pesticide-linked-to-brain-damage-in-children</font></a></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>' A total disgrace’: Outrage as Trump EPA says it won’t ban pesticide linked to brain damage in children</b></font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Jake Johnson / Common Dreams<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>July 19, 2019</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In a move environmentalists denounced as yet another case of the Trump administration putting industry profits over public health, the Environmental Protection Agency announced on Thursday that it will not ban chlorpyrifos, a pesticide linked to brain damage in children.</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“By allowing chlorpyrifos to stay in our fruits and vegetables, Trump’s EPA is breaking the law and neglecting the overwhelming scientific evidence that this pesticide harms children’s brains,” Patti Goldman, attorney with Earthjustice said in a statement. “It is a tragedy that this administration sides with corporations instead of children’s health.”</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">EPA chief Andrew Wheeler’s decision to reject a petition by environmental groups calling for a ban on the neurotoxic chemical ignores the assessments of his agency’s own scientists, said Tiffany Finck-Haynes, pesticides and pollinators program manager for Friends of the Earth.</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The EPA’s refusal to ban chlorpyrifos ignores decades of science showing that this pesticide has irrevocable effects on human health and the environment,” said Finck-Haynes. “The EPA is endangering the lives of children to protect pesticide industry profits.”</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Friends of the Earth</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@foe_us</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Today Trump's @EPA announced that it will not #BanChlorpyrifos — a brain-damaging pesticide that EPA's own scientists have deemed unsafe at any level.</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The EPA is endangering the lives of children to protect pesticide industry profits."https://foe.org/news/trumps-epa-continues-delay-federal-ban-brain-damaging-pesticide-chlorpyrifos-leaving-states-take-action/ …</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s EPA continues to delay federal ban on the brain-damaging pesticide chlorpyrifos, leaving...</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Today, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it will not ban the neurotoxic, brain-damaging pesticide chlorpyrifos<b>. Last summer, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals...</b></font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">foe.org</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Chlorpyrifos has been banned for household use since 2000, but the pesticide is still used by farmers on “more than 50 fruit, nut, cereal, and vegetable crops,” according to the New York Times.</b></font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“In 2016,” the Times reported, “more than 640,000 acres were treated with chlorpyrifos in California alone.”</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Obama administration in 2015 proposed banning use of the pesticide on food crops, but former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt authorized its continued use in 2017.</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“This is a total disgrace,” Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) tweeted in response to the EPA’s decision on Thursday.</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Finck-Haynes of<b> Friends of the Earth </b>said that as the federal government continues to work on behalf of chemical interests, states must take immediate action to protect the public and the environment.</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“While the federal government refuses to act, we urge states to step in, ban chlorpyrifos, and demonstrate that they will safeguard public health and the environment,” said Finck-Haynes. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“We call on [New York] Governor [Andrew] Cuomo to sign the chlorpyrifos ban bill sitting on his desk and protect New Yorkers from this toxic pesticide.”</span></font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In a statement on Thursday, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) highlighted the Trump administration’s ties to Dow Chemical, the largest producer of chlorpyrifos in the United States.</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The relationship between President Trump and Dow Chemical… has been called into question,” the group said. “Among other things, the chemical manufacturing giant <b>reportedly donated $1 million for Trump’s inauguration, and its CEO previously played a chief advisory role to the president, heading up his now defunct American Manufacturing Council.”</b></font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Erik Olson, senior director of health and food at <b>NRDC, </b>said the effort to achieve a ban on chlorpyrifos will continue.</font></p><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Until EPA gets this stuff out of our fields and off our food,” said Olson, “this fight is not over.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dereg nation</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.16em; margin: 1em 0px 0.625em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">better: a new House bill would guarantee reporter access to federal scientists</font></h2><ul style="margin: 1em 0px;"><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Restrictions on government scientists talking to reporters are not a new thing.</font></p></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To change that, some <b>House Democrats have introduced a bill called the Scientific Integrity Act.</b></font></p></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It would “allow reporters to directly reach out to agency researchers for insight on agency science and technical information. If scientists are not available, agencies would need to make a knowledgeable public affairs official available,” <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUNGOhCAM_Jrl0YCI4gMPe7nd3zAI1SWrYKCc8e8PNWnaZpp2OmM0whziobaQkOQEcXBW1V1L-54SqxrLpJDEpWGKAKt2i8KYgWx5XJzR6IK_FiiT5KOmsZO2mwTljI-tEEYbM3EqhZhMPTFKTpZBZ-vAG1DwB_EIHsiiPohbevDno36X2Pe9AvCwp8oDFiBhiA5S6RhtaSdayRlxJ21POyZrLiRvKlY1L_r8oX3d0-fr3f3yR0PXua5SHhNq861MWElUm8bVfNk5nU9JF1wUDaWu2Ts8BvB6XMDeYvF253oejw3U-dkCiBBvsDgg-7phpBDZUE56ZSHCnJfLIX_lf0PDebk" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUNGOhCAM_Jrl0YCI4gMPe7nd3zAI1SWrYKCc8e8PNWnaZpp2OmM0whziobaQkOQEcXBW1V1L-54SqxrLpJDEpWGKAKt2i8KYgWx5XJzR6IK_FiiT5KOmsZO2mwTljI-tEEYbM3EqhZhMPTFKTpZBZ-vAG1DwB_EIHsiiPohbevDno36X2Pe9AvCwp8oDFiBhiA5S6RhtaSdayRlxJ21POyZrLiRvKlY1L_r8oX3d0-fr3f3yR0PXua5SHhNq861MWElUm8bVfNk5nU9JF1wUDaWu2Ts8BvB6XMDeYvF253oejw3U-dkCiBBvsDgg-7phpBDZUE56ZSHCnJfLIX_lf0PDebk&source=gmail&ust=1563648370970000&usg=AFQjCNHxaIlV5pGhvyhYNu1Zd9Z25Z_KoQ">reports E&E News.</a></font></p></li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Over 190 House members, all Democrats, have signed on to the legislation at this writing.</font></p></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"At the local level in western Colorado, I never used to have any issues accessing public land experts at any level locally, or even at the state level” during the George W. Bush era, Bloomberg Environment reporter Bobby Magill tells E&E. "That started to ratchet down during the Obama administration," </font></p></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Full disclosure: Bobby Magill and I are fellow board members of the <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUN2ugyAMfhq5NIA64IILl7O9hkHoHGcKBsoxvv1RlzRt8jXt92MNwhTTrteYkZQMafBOc3GjSlHidOuY7CTxeXglgMX4WWMqQNYyzt4a9DFcB5RJ8taNeb2cvHWgXCeEMGa0YlTMcNU1wGhLTpbBFOchWNDwB2mPAcis34hrrpq-4s-jtm2rM_zWMU3En88VFUzyppNNW7O6fdD-ThVXtH88xU9TtXSZeJ3LmNHYT23jQpJeDS72w87tdAq_4EP3cMylBI_7AMGMM7ivJfxmcEnEfQUdYMszIEL6godPqXjLyEHk4vEyaAcJpjJfOYSr_wM3W3I7" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUN2ugyAMfhq5NIA64IILl7O9hkHoHGcKBsoxvv1RlzRt8jXt92MNwhTTrteYkZQMafBOc3GjSlHidOuY7CTxeXglgMX4WWMqQNYyzt4a9DFcB5RJ8taNeb2cvHWgXCeEMGa0YlTMcNU1wGhLTpbBFOchWNDwB2mPAcis34hrrpq-4s-jtm2rM_zWMU3En88VFUzyppNNW7O6fdD-ThVXtH88xU9TtXSZeJ3LmNHYT23jQpJeDS72w87tdAq_4EP3cMylBI_7AMGMM7ivJfxmcEnEfQUdYMszIEL6godPqXjLyEHk4vEyaAcJpjJfOYSr_wM3W3I7&source=gmail&ust=1563648370970000&usg=AFQjCNH-hFWjZ_RpUkIf3KtBMNsSyPHxVg">Society for Environmental Journalism</a>.)</font></p></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(The Bush administration did try to muzzle James Hansen, then a top NASA climate scientist, after he spoke publicly on the need to drastically reduce climate-heating carbon pollution. <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUNGugyAM_ZrxpgF0GzzwsOVuv2EQqpIBGqjX699fdKTpaUp6enqMRhjntKtlzkjWDKlzVvH7jUpJiVWtZeIqiMvdkACCdl5hWoEsa--d0ejmeA5QJsik6J1ZOTDTs0EIO5Qnrr22HGhhHMCSY0unV-sgGlDwC2mfIxCvJsQlX5rHhb9LbNtWxx1dgFybOZQOp_RWgLKjliVlc3KUCnTCqaDxLpRrKvhbIGGV9Z6rqLOuMDmwFc5Vdv6YqSYX6gmDJ-4QLotqwZuraNqa1e2LPp5Uckkfr_f9p7m0NIy8zmufUZvPIYcktWgM5sOO3_Ew5WwXT7qCYY0O9w6i7j3Yr1349fc8H_cFVIQte0CE9G0WD4XkLSNlkZ0LZVQWEoyrPz2OZ_4HH-uR_w" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUNGugyAM_ZrxpgF0GzzwsOVuv2EQqpIBGqjX699fdKTpaUp6enqMRhjntKtlzkjWDKlzVvH7jUpJiVWtZeIqiMvdkACCdl5hWoEsa--d0ejmeA5QJsik6J1ZOTDTs0EIO5Qnrr22HGhhHMCSY0unV-sgGlDwC2mfIxCvJsQlX5rHhb9LbNtWxx1dgFybOZQOp_RWgLKjliVlc3KUCnTCqaDxLpRrKvhbIGGV9Z6rqLOuMDmwFc5Vdv6YqSYX6gmDJ-4QLotqwZuraNqa1e2LPp5Uckkfr_f9p7m0NIy8zmufUZvPIYcktWgM5sOO3_Ew5WwXT7qCYY0O9w6i7j3Yr1349fc8H_cFVIQte0CE9G0WD4XkLSNlkZ0LZVQWEoyrPz2OZ_4HH-uR_w&source=gmail&ust=1563648370971000&usg=AFQjCNFDFrKZqz86MdEsHipuFXfKznwxwQ">Hanson took his story to The New York Times in 2006.</a>)</font></p></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under Trump, “the restrictions have taken on added significance…as outside experts have challenged the research and methodology federal regulators have used to justify undoing Obama-era regulations,” E&E notes.</font></p></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In one example, “last year, the Los Angeles Times reported that researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey would now have to get permission from Interior before speaking with the press under a new protocol.”</font></p></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJw1UNGOgyAQ_JryVgOKIg889HLtbxjUrZIiGFjq-feHNk3ITjKTZXZm0AiTD7tafUSSIoTOjKoUDZWSklHxkbV1S0zsngFg0cYqDAnImnprBo3Gu3OBspbMSohn07P6SRtBOVDORaM50zXrmSyFHsjh0uk0GnADKHhD2L0DYtWMuMZLdbuUj_y2bSsG76YAMRaTf2eqN9ZmYKzB-frVMjH7fPT1qwoqMyD8ITHHUZIK1pZV3Va8YAW_09sPlaWkt_tD_FYXTpepLGLqI-rhlS0XEtSqcRle7FCnI_BJ57xdxiU5g3sHTvcWxk8V-OnujIb7CsrBFi0gQviQuZ9WlpyRbDT6_KVTIwSYkj37c-f8B8qFg9I" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJw1UNGOgyAQ_JryVgOKIg889HLtbxjUrZIiGFjq-feHNk3ITjKTZXZm0AiTD7tafUSSIoTOjKoUDZWSklHxkbV1S0zsngFg0cYqDAnImnprBo3Gu3OBspbMSohn07P6SRtBOVDORaM50zXrmSyFHsjh0uk0GnADKHhD2L0DYtWMuMZLdbuUj_y2bSsG76YAMRaTf2eqN9ZmYKzB-frVMjH7fPT1qwoqMyD8ITHHUZIK1pZV3Va8YAW_09sPlaWkt_tD_FYXTpepLGLqI-rhlS0XEtSqcRle7FCnI_BJ57xdxiU5g3sHTvcWxk8V-OnujIb7CsrBFi0gQviQuZ9WlpyRbDT6_KVTIwSYkj37c-f8B8qFg9I&source=gmail&ust=1563648370971000&usg=AFQjCNGybfZxtMLzwB0yMI5-77pdwWYN8g"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Read H.R. 1706, the Scientific Integrity Act, see who’s sponsoring it, and follow its progress at congress.gov.</font></a></p></li></ul></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><article data-post-id="post-1149998" class="post post-1149998 type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-climate category-news tag-climate tag-department-of-agriculture tag-politics" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 2rem !important;"><div class="postwrapper--outer" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="postwrapper--inner" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><header class="postheader" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 class="posttitle" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; font-weight: 300; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/usda-agriculture-trump-climate-relocation-censorship-tension-cec5dbb23496/" rel="bookmark" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">USDA under fire amid tension over relocation and climate work</font></a></h2><div class="postmeta" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem; line-height: 1.3; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="postbyline" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem;"><a class="url fn n" href="https://thinkprogress.org/author/e-a-crunden/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; white-space: nowrap;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">E.A. CRUNDEN</font></a></span></span></div></header></div></div></article><article data-post-id="post-1149844" class="post post-1149844 type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-climate category-news tag-bureau-of-land-management tag-climate tag-department-of-agriculture tag-interior tag-politics" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 2rem !important;"><div class="postwrapper--outer" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="postwrapper--inner" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><header class="postheader" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 class="posttitle" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; font-weight: 300; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/agriculture-usda-blm-move-dc-climate-trump-protests-science-e8e534ec12fc/" rel="bookmark" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Controversial agency relocation slammed as attack on science by lawmakers, employees</font></a></h2><div class="postmeta" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem; line-height: 1.3; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="postbyline" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem;"><a class="url fn n" href="https://thinkprogress.org/author/e-a-crunden/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; white-space: nowrap;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">E.A. CRUNDEN</font></a></span></span></div><div class="postmeta" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem; line-height: 1.3; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="postbyline" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div class="postmeta" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem; line-height: 1.3; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="postbyline" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/agriculture-usda-blm-move-dc-climate-trump-protests-science-e8e534ec12fc/">https://thinkprogress.org/agriculture-usda-blm-move-dc-climate-trump-protests-science-e8e534ec12fc/</a></p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">719</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><b>Employees and Democratic lawmakers are pushing back on the Trump administration’s plans to relocate hundreds of positions within two agencies outside of Washington, D.C. — a move some see as an effort to clamp down on science.</b></p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">While the planned moves of both the <b>Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) </b>and parts of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) differ in their scope and rationale, resistance to both plans has shaped up similarly.</font></p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">Critics are expressing concern over the motivations behind the efforts, which would lead to a mass-exodus of agency experts unwilling to relocate. This would spur a science brain drain in line with President Donald Trump’s crackdown on reports and research from within his own government.</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">“These decisions… are meant to displace seasoned scientists and regulators who have honorably served Republican and Democratic Administrations alike,” said Sen. <b>Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) </b>in a statement to ThinkProgress responding to both the BLM and USDA relocation plans. Van Hollen sits on the Interior and Environment Appropriations subcommittee.</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">Responsible for administering public lands, BLM has become a battleground under the Trump administration as the White House has rolled back the boundaries of national monuments and advocated for fossil fuel drilling on U.S. acreage.</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">Now, the bureau is sparking controversy again. Administration officials confirmed this week that the overwhelming majority of BLM positions in D.C. are set for relocation. Around 84% of BLM staffers will be asked to relocate by the end of next year to areas outside of the nation’s capital, mostly to western states.</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">That announcement comes a month after Secretary Sonny Perdue mandated that over 500 USDA employees move en masse to Kansas City — located in both Missouri and Kansas — by Sept. 30, and gave them a deadline of July 15 to respond.<a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: inline !important;" /></p><div class="related-contentbody" style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; width: 513px; display: inline !important;"><h3 class="related-contenttitle" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 2rem; margin: -7px 0px 0.5em; display: inline !important;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: inline !important;">[Lack of demand hasn’t stopped Trump from opening tons of land </a></h3></div><div class="related-contentwrapper" style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 2rem;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><div class="related-contentbody" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 513px;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; 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text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-interior-oil-gas-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;">to oil and gas drilling</a></h3></div></div><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">In the case of BLM, the Interior Department (DOI) plans to concentrate many of the positions in Grand Junction, Colorado, in addition to a range of western states stretching from Arizona to Alaska.<b> Joe Balash, DOI assistant secretary for land and minerals, called the decision “demonstrably cost-effective”</b> in a July 16 letter to Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), ranking member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Interior and Environment.</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Trump administration argues that the move would both cut expenses and shift workers closer to the public lands they focus on, an argument supported by many Republicans including Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT), who sits on the Natural Resources Committee.</font></p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But Democrats immediately raised objections. Udall said he had “serious reservations” about the move, as did his subcommittee counterpart in the House, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN). Democrats in both chambers of Congress indicated this week that they feel the plan is largely an effort to push out the D.C.-based senior staff who do not want to relocate.</font></p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Many of those employees are experts in their field, including scientists. “It’s a way for them to get rid of a lot of professional staff here in Washington,” <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060749573" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">said</a> Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) in a statement.</font></p><div class="related-contentwrapper" style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 2rem;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/former-interior-scientist-calls-out-culture-of-fear-censorship-and-suppression-under-trump-2b8813e95b18/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><div class="related-contentbody" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 513px;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/former-interior-scientist-calls-out-culture-of-fear-censorship-and-suppression-under-trump-2b8813e95b18/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/former-interior-scientist-calls-out-culture-of-fear-censorship-and-suppression-under-trump-2b8813e95b18/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; 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text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;">Former Interior scientist calls out ‘culture of fear, censorship, and suppression’ under Trump</a></h3></div></div><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">Many BLM employees are already located in other parts of the country and support for moving the bureau has been somewhat bipartisan over the years. But the latest push for relocation by the Trump administration coincides with a heated clash between USDA and its employees.</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">Given until this past Monday to make their decision, scores of USDA workers have opted out of moving. Of the employees with the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), more than half declined to relocate, <a href="https://www.politico.com/morningagriculture/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">according to Politico</a>.</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">ERS workers in particular argued that the move would disrupt their work and efforts to publish important scientific reports. NIFA, meanwhile, is responsible for grant funding that touches climate, economic, and agricultural work that uses D.C. as a home base.</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">Many USDA employees have also argued that the move is politically motivated. ERS has <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/2019/07/03/integrity-nonpartisan-data-farmers-policymakers-risk-usda-move/1639874001/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">recently released reports</a> critical of Trump’s escalating trade war with China and its impact on farmers.</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">Experts also worry the move is a warning shot with implications for climate science. An investigation by Politico last month found that USDA <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/23/agriculture-department-climate-change-1376413" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">has repeatedly sought to bury</a>studies showing the danger of climate change. That report noted that some scientists see the ERS move as a foreshadowing of wider repercussions for research that doesn’t align with the administration’s broader “energy dominance” agenda.</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">USDA workers have fought through their union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), to dispute the move, but the department has rejected those efforts. Moreover, there is concern that other departments could face similar moves, like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey, both of which are under DOI’s jurisdiction.</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">But Democrats asserted that they are looking into measures to combat the relocations, emphasizing that the move could be costly to taxpayers in addition to dramatically shifting the wealth of knowledge offered by current government staffers.</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">Lawmakers indicated they might seek to halt the relocation by blocking its funding in the upcoming appropriations bill that covers both the DOI and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A group of senators, including Van Hollen, have meanwhile introduced legislation to keep ERS and NIFA in the D.C. metro area, a move that was made before the BLM move was announced.</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;">“This Administration is acting to undermine the subject-matter experts at many of our federal agencies,” said Van Hollen, who added that his office would “continue to use every tool available to push back against these actions.”</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">This article has been updated to note that only USDA would be impacted by the Senate legislation due to timing.</span></p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">
</p><p style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;"> </p></span></div><div class="postmeta" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem; line-height: 1.3; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="postbyline" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></span></div></header></div></div></article><article data-post-id="post-1149893" class="post post-1149893 type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-climate category-news tag-climate tag-environmental-protection-agency tag-interior-department tag-politics tag-science" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px !important;"><div class="postwrapper--outer" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="postwrapper--inner" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><header class="postheader" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 class="posttitle" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; font-weight: 300; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/former-interior-scientist-calls-out-culture-of-fear-censorship-and-suppression-under-trump-2b8813e95b18/" rel="bookmark" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Former Interior scientist calls out ‘culture of fear, censorship, and suppression’ under Trump</font></a></h2><div class="postmeta" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem; line-height: 1.3; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="postbyline" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem;"><a class="url fn n" href="https://thinkprogress.org/author/kyla-mandel/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; white-space: nowrap;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KYLA MANDEL</font></a></span></span></div><div class="postmeta" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem; line-height: 1.3; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="postbyline" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div class="postmeta" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem; line-height: 1.3; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="postbyline" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman"><article data-post-id="post-1149844" class="post post-1149844 type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-climate category-news tag-bureau-of-land-management tag-climate tag-department-of-agriculture tag-interior tag-politics" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 2rem !important;"><div class="postwrapper--outer" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="postwrapper--inner" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><header class="postheader" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="postmeta" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem; line-height: 1.3; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="postbyline" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem;">-----</span></span></div></header></div></div></article><article data-post-id="post-1149893" class="post post-1149893 type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-climate category-news tag-climate tag-environmental-protection-agency tag-interior-department tag-politics tag-science" style="letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px !important;"><div class="postwrapper--outer" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="postwrapper--inner" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><header class="postheader" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 class="posttitle" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/former-interior-scientist-calls-out-culture-of-fear-censorship-and-suppression-under-trump-2b8813e95b18/" rel="bookmark" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word;">Former Interior scientist calls out ‘culture of fear, censorship, and suppression’ under Trump</a></h2><div class="postmeta" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem; line-height: 1.3; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="postbyline" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem;"><a class="url fn n" href="https://thinkprogress.org/author/kyla-mandel/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; white-space: nowrap;">KYLA MANDEL</a></span></span></div><div class="postmeta" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem; line-height: 1.3; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="postbyline" style="box-sizing: inherit;">
</span></div><div class="postmeta" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.15625rem; line-height: 1.3; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="postbyline" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">There is a “culture of fear, censorship, and suppression” within the Trump administration that is impeding government scientists from doing their best work, former Interior Department policy director and scientist turned whistleblower Joel Clement warned on Wednesday.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">Speaking to lawmakers on the House Science Committee, scientific experts spoke about the need for stronger rules to support the integrity of their research and ensure that political agendas don’t dictate or interfere with the data.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">“There is not Democratic science, there is not Republican science, there is just science,” said Michael Halpern, deputy director for the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">Halpern pointed to instances under current and previous administrations, including under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, of scientific assessments being either watered down or language softened. He pointed to past research on lead in school lunchboxes and on the impact of fracking on drinking water.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">But the scientists said that under President Donald Trump, political interference had reached a new level.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">As Clement highlighted, a <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-cancels-offshore-study-dfa978234a5c/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">study</a> into the rules needed to protect the health and safety of offshore oil rig workers was canceled right before a set of measures to protect the workers was rolled-back. Similarly, a <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/347374-trump-administration-halts-research-on-mountaintop-removal-coal" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">study</a> into the health impacts of surface coal mining was canceled right before making moves to support the coal industry.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">Other studies have been delayed, such as one on the health impacts of PFAS chemicals in drinking water for fear of a <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/14/emails-white-house-interfered-with-science-study-536950" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">“public relations nightmare,”</a> while agencies have seen some scientists self-censor their work out of fear, such as removing the words “climate change” from reports.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">“The American people lose when we end up with manipulated, suppressed, or distorted information,” Halpern said. After all, as multiple experts testified, it’s taxpayer money that funds government scientists — the public paid for that research and deserves to see it.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">The result is “dirtier air, dirtier water,” added Clement, who resigned from his post at the Interior in July 2017 after being <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/joel-clement-announcement-cffd775f833/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">reassigned</a> to “an unrelated job” by former Secretary Ryan Zinke. Clement saw the move as an attempt to push him out for speaking out about the impacts of climate change on Alaskan native communities.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">The hearing on Wednesday follows the release of a bill by committee member Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY), called the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1709/actions" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Scientific Integrity Act</a>, earlier this year. The bill, which has the support of nearly 200 House members, is intended to insulate “public scientific research and reports from the distorting influence of political and special interests” according to Tonko.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">While Tonko reminded everyone at the hearing that he began working on the bill in 2016 under the Obama administration, he added, “The abuses directed by this President [Trump] and his top officials have brought a new urgency to the issue.”</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">While more than 20 federal agencies have some type of scientific integrity policy, not all of these policies are successfully or fully implemented. As an April report by the <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-19-265" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Government Accountability Office</a> found, of the nine agencies reviewed, seven have “specific, documented procedures” for identifying and addressing alleged violations. The report also made 10 recommendations to agencies for addressing the need to better educate staff on the issue, provide greater oversight, and develop procedures to identify and address potential violations.</p><div class="related-contentwrapper" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-scandals-bernhardt-investigation-bears-ears-ethics-violations-b095ba71cea8/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><div class="related-contentbody" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 513px;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-scandals-bernhardt-investigation-bears-ears-ethics-violations-b095ba71cea8/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-scandals-bernhardt-investigation-bears-ears-ethics-violations-b095ba71cea8/" style="box-sizing: inherit; 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text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-scandals-bernhardt-investigation-bears-ears-ethics-violations-b095ba71cea8/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-scandals-bernhardt-investigation-bears-ears-ethics-violations-b095ba71cea8/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-scandals-bernhardt-investigation-bears-ears-ethics-violations-b095ba71cea8/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-scandals-bernhardt-investigation-bears-ears-ethics-violations-b095ba71cea8/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-scandals-bernhardt-investigation-bears-ears-ethics-violations-b095ba71cea8/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-scandals-bernhardt-investigation-bears-ears-ethics-violations-b095ba71cea8/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-scandals-bernhardt-investigation-bears-ears-ethics-violations-b095ba71cea8/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-scandals-bernhardt-investigation-bears-ears-ethics-violations-b095ba71cea8/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-scandals-bernhardt-investigation-bears-ears-ethics-violations-b095ba71cea8/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;">Scandals mount under David Bernhardt just two weeks after being confirmed to lead Interior</a></h3><p class="related-contentdek" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; line-height: 1.2;">Ethics probes are still in full swing.</p></div></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">Last year, the EPA announced it would begin an investigation to see whether its scientific integrity policy was being properly implemented. This came after <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/survey-us-government-scientists-finds-range-attitudes-toward-trump-policies" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">a survey</a> was released by the Union of Concerned Scientists, which showed that government scientists across 16 agencies and departments had concerns with the degree of political influence over their work.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">Specifically, the <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/08/science-under-trump-report.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">annual survey for 2018</a> showed that a third of the nearly 449 EPA respondents worried about the “influence” of political appointees or White House officials over “science-based” decisions. Less than 30% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “My agency adheres to its scientific integrity policy.”</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">In addition, roughly a third of EPA respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they had either been asked directly to omit or independently decided to avoid the use of the term “climate change” in their work.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">There is technically nothing stopping an agency from dismantling its scientific integrity policy, said Halpern. That’s why a bill such as the one proposed by Tonko would go a long way to buttress, or add “statutory heft,” to agency policies as Clement described.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Clement called the Scientific Integrity Act a good first step, but noted that in order to be truly effective, broader ethics and integrity standards were needed across agencies.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">Indeed, many of the individuals overseeing agencies come from the industry they are now responsible for regulating. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Interior (DOI) have faced numerous ethics scandals regarding potential conflicts of interest and alleged industry influence.</p><div class="related-contentwrapper" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/epa-internal-watchdog-will-audit-the-agencys-scientific-integrity-policy-13ae61be4507/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><div class="related-contentbody" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 513px;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/epa-internal-watchdog-will-audit-the-agencys-scientific-integrity-policy-13ae61be4507/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/epa-internal-watchdog-will-audit-the-agencys-scientific-integrity-policy-13ae61be4507/" style="box-sizing: inherit; 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display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/epa-internal-watchdog-will-audit-the-agencys-scientific-integrity-policy-13ae61be4507/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/epa-internal-watchdog-will-audit-the-agencys-scientific-integrity-policy-13ae61be4507/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/epa-internal-watchdog-will-audit-the-agencys-scientific-integrity-policy-13ae61be4507/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/epa-internal-watchdog-will-audit-the-agencys-scientific-integrity-policy-13ae61be4507/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;">EPA internal watchdog will audit the agency’s Scientific Integrity Policy</a></h3><p class="related-contentdek" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; line-height: 1.2;">Less than a third of EPA staff surveyed said they felt the agency adheres to its scientific integrity policy.</p></div></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;"><b>In March, for instance, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/us/politics/endangered-species-david-bernhardt.html" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">revealed</a> documents showing DOI Secretary David Bernhardt intervened to block a study showing pesticides might threaten the existence of 1,200 endangered species; Bernhardt has a history of lobbying against the Endangered Species Act.</b></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">But due to the “hostile leadership situation,” there are many scientists who are simply keeping their heads down and staying quiet about issues surrounding scientific integrity under the current administration.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.2rem; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;">“I’d love if every policymaker thought of science as the North Star,” said Clement, “but I hope it’s part of the constellation.”</p></span></div></header></div></div></article></font></font><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none;"><font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div></span></div></header></div></div></article></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/trump-official-resigns-in-protest-after-the-white-house-blocked-him-from-revealing-evidence-of-climate-change-report/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/trump-official-resigns-in-protest-after-the-white-house-blocked-him-from-revealing-evidence-of-climate-change-report/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump administration official resigns ‘in protest’ after the White House blocked his testimony on evidence of climate change: report</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b> House Intelligence Committee</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">written by Cody Fenwick<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>July 10, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rod Schoonover has resigned as a State Department intelligence official “in protest” over the White House’s decision to block him from presenting evidence and data on the impacts of climate change in Congressional testimony,</b> the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The report cited anonymous State Department officials as sources on the development. Previous reporting had revealed that the White House had blocked the written testimony.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Washington Post reported:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to several senior administration officials, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about internal deliberations, Trump administration officials sought to cut several pages of the document on the grounds that its description of climate science did not mesh with the administration’s official stance. Critics of the testimony included William Happer, a National Security Council senior director who has touted the benefits of carbon dioxide and sought to establish a federal task force to challenge the scientific consensus that human activity is driving the planet’s rising temperatures.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Schoonover still testified before the House Intelligence Committee on June 5, 2019, on the topic of the national security implications of climate change, but he wasn’t allowed to provide evidence and data supporting his conclusions in his written testimony, the Journal reported. His written remarks were reportedly cut in half to exclude this information.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“As an intelligence officer, my job is to provide clear, objective, independent analysis top policymakers to advance U.S. national security,” Schoonover said at the hearing. “The Earth’s climate is unequivocally undergoing a long-term warming trend, as established by decades of scientific measurements from multiple independent lines of evidence.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He added: “We see few plausible future scenarios where significant harm does not arise from the compounded effects of climate change. People’s choices in the present and future, however, dictate the magnitude of many factors.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Journal reported that Schoonover’s last day at the department will be Friday after having worked there for almost a decade.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The event highlights an ongoing struggle in the Trump administration, which arises from the fundamental failures of the Republican Party more broadly. The federal government has developed layers of experts and career officials who work to provide the analysis and information to elected and appointed officials in order for them to best carry out their duties to the public. But these career officials, while they certainly have political opinions, largely do their work with dedication toward pursuing the objective truth to aid decisionmakers. When a party like the GOP becomes so disconnected from reality that it denies the scientific consensus on climate change, it will likely clash with the government’s experts.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alternatively, as occurred under President George W. Bush, the intelligence community may be co-opted into building the case for even a deeply misguided policy aim such as the Iraq War. Notably, the Journal pointed out that<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Schoonover’s agency, the Intelligence and Research Bureau, “was nearly alone among spy agencies in questioning whether Iraq had active weapons of mass destruction programs” when Bush pushed for war in 2003</span>.</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/7/1/1868871/-Climate-Change-USDA-Scientists-to-be-fired-in-2-weeks-DANGER"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/7/1/1868871/-Climate-Change-USDA-Scientists-to-be-fired-in-2-weeks-DANGER</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">also trms 2x</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...<span open="Open" sans="Sans" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Why  is he wanting to fire Scientists who study climate change?  ( According to Rachel and other reports. </span><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/government-scientist-blocked-from-talking-about-climate-and-wildfires/" target="blank" open="Open" sans="Sans" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" color="color" rgb="rgb" important="important">www.scientificamerican.com/…</a></font></div><p open="Open" sans="Sans" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then we have the Food and Drug inspectors who have a problem thanks to the orange dung.</font></p><p open="Open" sans="Sans" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> USDA inspects food, and meds. </font></p><p open="Open" sans="Sans" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/01/these-usda-employees-face-stark-choice-move-kansas-city-or-be-fired/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.829211fa46ea" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">www.washingtonpost.com/...</a> </font></p><blockquote open="Open" sans="Sans" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 60px; margin: 20px 0px; border: none; width: 660px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); z-index: -1;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Agriculture Department is offering employees a rare choice: accept a forced transfer to a post 1,000 miles away or be fired.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump administration’s plan to move two agencies from the District to the Kansas City area includes a document with two blank boxes on it, sent to employees on June 13. Check one, it instructs: Accept the transfer by July 15 or “be separated by adverse action procedures.”</font></p></blockquote><p class="is-empty-p" open="Open" sans="Sans" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 22px;" /><blockquote open="Open" sans="Sans" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 60px; margin: 20px 0px; border: none; width: 660px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); z-index: -1;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">William Jolly, a research ecologist with the agency's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula, Mont., was supposed to give a 30-minute presentation titled "Climate-Induced Variations in Global Severe Fire Weather Conditions" at the International Fire Congress in Orlando, Fla., next month. The event is hosted by the Association for Fire Ecology (AFE).</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The travel denial follows reports last week that U.S. EPA blocked three scientists from making presentations at a conference in Rhode Island featuring climate change. Critics accused the Trump administration of stifling the dissemination of taxpayer-funded science.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></blockquote><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">maybe he's ok with suppressing sci, just does not want gop to be BUSTED for it?</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> 619 dereg nation</font></p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-left: 4px solid rgb(139, 196, 74); padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; margin: 1em 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 1.6em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/some-republican-lawmakers-break-with-party-on-climate-change-11560337010" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">The Wall Street Journal reports that</a> <b>“a small but growing number of Republican lawmakers are urging action on climate change, driven by shifting sentiment among GOP voters and the effects of global warming, from stronger hurricanes to more-destructive wildfires.”</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 1.6em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the Journal, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">longtime Republican pollster Frank Luntz (author of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2003/mar/04/usnews.climatechange" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">now-infamous memo on how to confuse and divide voters </a>about climate change) has warned Republicans that their obstruction and anti-science rhetoric are driving away voters, particularly younger conservatives.</span></font></p></blockquote><h2 sf="SF" compact="Compact" display="Display" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" apple="Apple" color="color" emoji="Emoji" symbol="Symbol" margin="margin" em="em" px="px" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">great: flood survivors want answers for unnatural disasters</font></h2><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px;"><li style="margin: 7.5px 0px 7.5px 15px;"><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.6em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After her hometown flooded for the fourth time in three years, killing some of her neighbors,<b> Missourian</b> Susan Liley got mad.</font></p></li><li style="margin: 7.5px 0px 7.5px 15px;"><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.6em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Liley and other De Soto residents founded the Citizen’s Committee for Flood Relief in 2015 with two initial goals, <a href="https://ensia.com/features/flood-survivors-victims-organize-for-change/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">as Ensia, the solutions-focused digital magazine, reports: </a>“figure out some kind of early warning system” and “understand the root causes of repeated flooding and address them”...</font></p></li></ul><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/06/10/rod-schoonover-trump-attempted-suppress-state-dept-analyst-testimony-climate-crisis"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/06/10/rod-schoonover-trump-attempted-suppress-state-dept-analyst-testimony-climate-crisis</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Trump administration issued one of its most blatant attacks on climate science this past week when it tried to stop a State Department employee from testifying on the climate crisis, reports showed on Saturday.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/06/08/white-house-blocked-intelligence-aides-written-testimony-saying-human-caused-climate-change-could-be-possibly-catastrophic/?utm_term=.cb0eeebdc5d9" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a>, intelligence analyst Rod Schoonover's testimony was submitted to the White House for approval ahead of his planned appearance before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. His remarks focused on the <b>national security risks posed by the climate crisis.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Trump administration refused to approve the testimony for entry into the congressional record, noting that the data Schoonover planned to present—drawing from top government scientists' research and peer-reviewed scientific reports—did not align with the executive branch's views.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[pix]
</font><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>National Security Council advisers wrote a number of comments on Schoonover's draft, saying the testimony was “not objective.”</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The testimony “includes lots of climate alarm propaganda that is not science at all,” wrote <b>William Happer, </b>a senior member of the National Security Council who has sought to create a federal task force to challenge the consensus reached by <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">97 percent </a>of peer-reviewed climate scientists who say humans are contributing to the climate crisis.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I am embarrassed to have this go out on behalf of the executive branch of the federal government,” Happer added, noting a particular objection to Schoonover's use of the term “tipping point” in reference to possible devastating, irreversible effects of the climate crisis.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“'Tipping points' is a propaganda slogan for the scientifically illiterate,” Happer wrote.</font></p><hr style="box-sizing: content-box; height: 0px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-image: initial; margin: 1.5em 0px;" /><p class="rtecenter" style="margin: 1em 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related: Get the background from DeSmog on climate science denier <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/william-happer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">William Happer</a>, and read: <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/02/20/physicist-william-happer-unmoored-climate-science-denier-heading-white-house-climate-probe" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Physicist William Happer, the 'Unmoored' Climate Science Denier Heading a White House Climate Probe</a></font></span></p><hr style="box-sizing: content-box; height: 0px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-image: initial; margin: 1.5em 0px;" /><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Schoonover was ultimately permitted to testify before the committee, but his testimony was not submitted into the record because, th<b>e Office of Legislative Affairs</b> said, it did not “jibe” with the Trump administration's views on the climate.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald Trump and many of his appointees<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46351940" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> deny </a>that human activity like the extraction of fossil fuels are contributing to the warming of the globe, which scientists warn is already causing extreme weather events like hurricanes and wildfires, rising sea levels, and melting glaciers. As Schoonover mentioned in his testimony, the last five years have been the warmest on record according to <span class="caps">NASA</span>.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although Schoonover was able to testify, climate action advocates decried the White House's attempt to stifle the information he eventually shared with the committee.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Any attempt to suppress information on the security risks of climate change threatens to leave the American public vulnerable and unsafe,” Francesco Femia, chief executive of the Council on Strategic Risks and co-founder of the Center for Climate and Security, told the <b>Post.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> =</font></p></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see also he warns not to listen to press, yahoo</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=85f77dc2ad&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none;">EPA Science Advisers Push Back on Wheeler, Saying He's Minimizing Their Role</a>
BY: MARIANNE LAVELLE
Under Trump, the EPA administrator — a former coal lobbyist — is also pushing a plan to reduce the use of science in policy making. <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=dfe9d794ae&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Read More</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05062019/epa-wheeler-science-advisory-board-meeting-limiting-scientific-studies-trump-methane-rule"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05062019/epa-wheeler-science-advisory-board-meeting-limiting-scientific-studies-trump-methane-rule</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler vowed on Wednesday to make greater use of the agency's official board of science advisers. But soon after he spoke, some of those advisers and other outside experts protested that the agency was instead limiting their role.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wheeler took the unusual step of addressing the first meeting in a year of the Science Advisory Board (SAB), a group of advisers established by law who should be holding six to eight meetings annually, according to its charter. The reason he was there, Wheeler said, was to show his commitment to a better process.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I'm glad to be here to lay out a new direction for how EPA interacts with and uses the SAB," he said. "I will be the first to admit we have not utilized you the way that we should. We can and we will do better."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/31052018/epa-science-advisory-board-review-pruitt-climate-change-clean-power-plan-auto-standards-secret-science-policy" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Science Advisory Board</a> has become a center of controversy as President <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/donald-trump" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Donald Trump</a>'s administration has sought to remake the federal agencies. Researchers who receive EPA grant money have been barred from serving on the board, while several industry consultants and contrarian scientists have been brought aboard. Although some holdovers remain from previous administrations, Trump-era appointees now make up a large portion of the 44-member body. Some of them are known for their outlying views beyond the prevailing scientific consensus, or for representing the interests of regulated businesses.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Noting the lengthy vetting process for appointees, Wheeler said, "Why should we have talented public servants go through all of that only to use you sparingly? Today we are beginning the transition to a new process. It's no secret that the process was broken, and was not beneficial to the EPA, the board, or the public we all serve."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But some members of the board parried with Wheeler and other EPA officials at the meeting over exactly what part of the process is broken—the advisory process, or how the Trump administration is proceeding with a deregulatory agenda that gives less weight to some of the science that has guided the agency for years.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-e6dd6446-7fff-70db-217e-10397602c482" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One SAB member who is a holdover from before Trump, Steven Hamburg, chief scientist of the Environmental Defense Fund, asked Wheeler why the Science Advisory Board had not had an opportunity to weigh in on some of the latest science in the agency's repeal of the Obama administration's regulations on control of methane emissions from oil and gas operations. The SAB raised concerns over that proposal when it met a year ago, and it had an opportunity to confer with another group of outside EPA experts, the Clean Air Science Advisory Committee, but Hamburg said their focus was more on technology than science. EDF, an environmental group, has been involved in a number of large scientific studies on the extent of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, released by the oil and gas industry.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wheeler said that in the future, he hoped to involve the Science Advisory Board earlier in the process—soon after proposals are made public, but he couldn't change what happened in the past.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The one you cite—I'm sorry, it's too late in the regulatory process," Wheeler said. "I can't go back and reopen some of the regulations we've already done." The agency finished taking public comment on its <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=EPA-HQ-OAR-2017-0483" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">methane proposal </a>last December, but has not yet finalized a rule.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-49ad7408-7fff-8715-10a2-1e3cf9935c7d" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One public commenter, John Bachmann, a 33-year veteran of the EPA who is now retired, said that under the 1978 law that governs the EPA's use of its science advisory board, the agency is actually required to provide its regulatory proposals and the underlying science to the Science Advisory Board before a proposal is made public. Bachmann now works with the Environmental Protection Network, a group of former agency scientists and other staffers who have been critical of the EPA's moves under the Trump administration.</font></span></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wheeler's Controversial 'Secret Science' Plan</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But much of the debate at the first day of a two-day meeting centered on a controversial policy proposal that Wheeler said he was committed to finalizing this year even though it had provoked an outcry that left him "a little shocked."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The proposal, called "Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science," would limit the kinds of science the agency can use in its decision-making. The agency received <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15082018/epa-secret-science-rule-opposition-health-environmental-data-public-comments" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">some 600,000 comments</a> on the proposal, including from leading scientific journals, professional organizations and universities. Because many human health studies rely on information gathered under confidentiality agreements, and the raw data has not been made public, the proposal could <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22032018/epa-air-pollution-soot-rules-scott-pruitt-secret-science-policy-health-regulations" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">prevent the agency </a>from using some of the seminal studies underpinning air pollution regulations, for example.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Barbara Morrissey, of Washington State's Department of Health, sitting on the board on an ex officio basis as chair of another advisory group, the Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee, told Wheeler she was concerned about how EPA could meet its legal requirement of using the best available science, if that science can't be replicated in the manner the EPA envisions.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wheeler said there would be "a safeguard" in the system, giving the EPA Administrator the discretion to include an important study even if it can't be replicated. "I do fundamentally believe that the more information we put out, the more sound our decisions will be and the more easily understood and accepted by the public," Wheeler said.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But one public commenter, Veena Singla, associate director of the reproductive and environmental health program at the University of California, San Francisco, said her concerns about the proposal were not assuaged.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Having a political appointee deciding what science is in or out of policymaking is not a safeguard, but rather a fundamentally biased process," Singla said.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before the meeting, the EPA had given the Science Advisory Board a charge to weigh in on two narrow aspects of that rule—how the agency should deal with confidential business information, and how to shield personally identifiable information in the large health studies that in the past have been the basis for much of the agency's decision-making.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SAB 'Should Be Giving an Independent Look'</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Allison Cullen, associate dean of the school of public policy and governance at the University of Washington, was one of several board members who objected to the fact that the scope of comments that the EPA sought from the SAB was being limited—in contrast, she said, the public had been asked to comment on the proposed regulation broadly.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The SAB is an independent body that should be giving an independent look at this, not necessarily responding to what the public comments are," Cullen said.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hamburg said that the time frame that the SAB had been given to weigh in on the measure was also too compressed for the board to weigh in effectively. "There's a lack of transparency about this 'transparency' proposal," said Hamburg. "It's inconsistent with what the administrator says about wanting to fix a broken system."</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Appointees Side with Wheeler</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But several of the board members who were appointed by Wheeler and by his predecessor, former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, praised the agency for its effort.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New SAB member Robert Phalen, an air pollution researcher at the Irvine campus of the University of California, has long been critical of the air pollution studies that the EPA has relied on, which use raw data not available to the public. "A short cut—if a study cannot be replicated for privacy concerns, probably the alternative is to simply drop that from consideration and rely on the vast amount of other studies. That's just a raw suggestion from an SAB member."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stanley Young, a statistician who did work for the pharmaceutical industry and others before being appointed to the SAB by Pruitt, said that there should be no privacy concerns in epidemiology studies that track mortality. "Once a person is dead, they are not considered a person," he said. He said he hoped that the agency was prepared for "epidemiological foot dragging and stonewalling" about release of its data.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The SAB will be holding a teleconference with the EPA later this summer to further discuss the transparency rule.</font></p></div></div></div></div><div class="tagged-with" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 1em;"><label style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; line-height: 1.2;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PUBLISHED UNDER:</font></label><div class="field field-name-field-topics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/regulation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">REGULATION</font></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/andrew-wheeler" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">ANDREW WHEELER</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div> <div class="field-item odd" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/epa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">EPA</a></div> <div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">DONALD TRUMP</a></div></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/27/us/politics/trump-climate-science.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/27/us/politics/trump-climate-science.html</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">some lnx below</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump Administration Hardens Its Attack on Climate Science</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div>May 27, 2019</div><div>
</div><div>WASHINGTON — President Trump has rolled back environmental regulations, pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord, brushed aside dire predictions about the effects of climate change, and turned the term “global warming” into a punch line rather than a prognosis.</div><div>
</div><div>Now, after two years spent unraveling the policies of his predecessors, Mr. Trump and his political appointees are launching a new assault.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In the next few months, the White House will complete the rollback of the most significant federal effort to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, initiated during the Obama administration. It will expand its efforts to impose Mr. Trump’s hard-line views on other nations, building on his retreat from the Paris accord and his recent refusal to sign a communiqué to protect the rapidly melting Arctic region unless it was stripped of any references to climate change.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>And, in what could be Mr. Trump’s most consequential action yet, his administration will seek to undermine the very science on which climate change policy rests.</b></div><div>
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</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Mr. Trump is less an ideologue than an armchair naysayer about climate change, according to people who know him. He came into office viewing agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency as bastions of what he calls the “deep state,” and his contempt for their past work on the issue is an animating factor in trying to force them to abandon key aspects of the methodology they use to try to understand the causes and consequences of a dangerously warming planet.</b></span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As a result, parts of the federal government will no longer fulfill what scientists say is one of the most urgent jobs of climate science studies: reporting on the future effects of a rapidly warming planet and presenting a picture of what the earth could look like by the end of the century if the global economy continues to emit heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution from burning fossil fuels.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The attack on science is underway throughout the government. In the most recent example, the White House-appointed director of the United States Geological Survey,<b>James Reilly, a former astronaut and petroleum geologist, has ordered that scientific assessments produced by that office use only computer-generated climate models that project the impact of climate change through 2040, rather than through the end of the century, as had been done previously.</b></span></div><div>
</div><div>Image</div><div><b>President Trump has pushed to resurrect the idea of holding public debates on the validity of climate science.</b>CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times]</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Scientists say that would give a misleading picture because the biggest effects of current emissions will be felt after 2040. Models show that the planet will most likely warm at about the same rate through about 2050. From that point until the end of the century, however, the rate of warming differs significantly with an increase or decrease in carbon emissions.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>The administration’s prime target has been the National Climate Assessment, produced by an interagency task force roughly every four years since 2000</b>. Government scientists used computer-generated models in their most recent report to project that if fossil fuel emissions continue unchecked, the earth’s atmosphere could warm by as much as eight degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. That would lead to drastically higher sea levels, more devastating storms and droughts, crop failures, food losses and severe health consequences.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Work on the next report, which is expected to be released in 2021 or 2022, has already begun. But from now on, officials said, such worst-case scenario projections will not automatically be included in the National Climate Assessment or in some other scientific reports produced by the government.</span></div><div>
</div><div>“What we have here is a pretty blatant attempt to politicize the science — to push the science in a direction that’s consistent with their politics,” said Philip B. Duffy, the president of the Woods Hole Research Center, who served on a National Academy of Sciences panel that reviewed the government’s most recent National Climate Assessment. “It reminds me of the Soviet Union.”</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In an email, James Hewitt, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency, defended the proposed changes.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The previous use of inaccurate modeling that focuses on worst-case emissions scenarios, that does not reflect real-world conditions, needs to be thoroughly re-examined and tested if such information is going to serve as the scientific foundation of nationwide decision-making now and in the future,” Mr. Hewitt said.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">However, the goal of political appointees in the Trump administration is not just to change the climate assessment’s methodology, which has broad scientific consensus, but also to question its conclusions by creating a new climate review panel. That effort is led by a 79-year-old physicist who had a respected career at Princeton but has become better known in recent years for attacking the science of man-made climate change and for defending the virtues of carbon dioxide — sometimes to an awkward degree.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Image</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Beaufort Sea in the Arctic, a region that is warming rapidly. The United States recently declined to sign a communiqué on protecting the Arctic unless it omitted references to climate change.CreditAndrew Testa for The New York Times]</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler,” the physicist, <b>William Happer,</b> who serves on the National Security Council as the president’s deputy assistant for emerging technologies, said in 2014 in an interview with CNBC.</span></div><div><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</b></div><div><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Mr. Happer’s proposed panel is backed by John R. Bolton, the president’s national security adviser, who brought Mr. Happer into the N.S.C. after an earlier effort to recruit him during the transition.</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Mr. Happer and Mr. Bolton are both beneficiaries of Robert and Rebekah Mercer, </b>the far-right billionaire and his daughter who have funded efforts to debunk climate science. The Mercers gave money to a super PAC affiliated with Mr. Bolton before he entered government and to an advocacy group headed by Mr. Happer.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Climate scientists are dismissive of Mr. Happer; his former colleagues at Princeton are chagrined. And several White House officials — including Larry Kudlow, the president’s chief economic adviser — have urged Mr. Trump not to adopt Mr. Happer’s proposal, on the grounds that it would be perceived as a White House attack on science.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Even Stephen K. Bannon, the former White House strategist who views Mr. Happer as “the climate hustler’s worst nightmare — a world-class physicist from the nation’s leading institution of advanced learning, who does not suffer fools gladly,” is apprehensive about what Mr. Happer is trying to do.</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The very idea will start a holy war on cable before 2020,” he said. “Better to win now and introduce the study in the second inaugural address.”</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But at a White House meeting on May 1, at which the skeptical advisers made their case, Mr. Trump appeared unpersuaded, people familiar with the meeting said. Mr. Happer, they said, is optimistic that the panel will go forward.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Image</div><div>William Happer, who serves on the National Security Council, is pushing to create a climate review panel that would question scientific consensus.CreditPool photo by Albin Lohr-Jones]</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The concept is not new. Mr. Trump has pushed to resurrect the idea of a series of military-style exercises, known as “red team, blue team” debates, on the validity of climate science first promoted by Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. administrator who was forced to resign last year amid multiple scandals.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At the time, the idea was shot down by John F. Kelly, then the White House chief of staff. But since Mr. Kelly’s departure, Mr. Trump has talked about using Mr. Happer’s proposed panel as a forum for it.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">For Mr. Trump, climate change is often the subject of mockery. “Wouldn’t be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned Global Warming right now!” he posted on Twitter in January when a snowstorm was freezing much of the country.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">His views are influenced mainly by friends and donors like Carl Icahn, the New York investor who owns oil refineries, and the oil-and-gas billionaire Harold Hamm — both of whom pushed Mr. Trump to deregulate the energy industry.</span></div><div>
</div><div>ImageThe Daily Poster</div><div>Listen to ‘The Daily’: The White House Plan to Change Climate Science]</div><div>
</div><div>After two years spent unraveling the policies of his predecessors, President Trump and his appointees are going after influential government reports.</div><div>
</div><div>TRANSCRIPT</div><div>
</div><div>0:00/0:00</div><div>Listen to ‘The Daily’: The White House Plan to Change Climate Science</div><div>Hosted by Michael Barbaro; produced by Rachel Quester and Luke Vander Ploeg, with help from Adizah Eghan; and edited by Paige Cowett and Marc Georges</div><div>
</div><div>After two years spent unraveling the policies of his predecessors, President Trump and his appointees are going after influential government reports.</div><div>
</div><div>[Music]</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>From The New York Times, I’m Michael Barbaro. This is “The Daily.” Today, from the start, the Trump administration has tried to dismantle regulations aimed at curbing climate change. Now, in its latest attack, the administration is trying to dismantle climate science. It’s Wednesday, May 29. Coral, tell me about what happened in November of last year.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>In November of 2018, the federal government put out what’s known as the National Climate Assessment. This is a huge, sweeping comprehensive assessment of the impact of climate change on the U.S. It’s over 1,000 pages long. It’s prepared by 13 federal agencies. It takes about four years to prepare. It’s a huge deal every time one of these comes out, because it is absolutely considered the most up to date, comprehensive, authoritative understanding of the impact of climate change on the U.S. And it’s a big deal when it comes out in the U.S. It’s a big deal around the world, because it’s also considered one of the most authoritative climate science documents in the world.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>So this is kind of like the Bible of U.S. climate science?</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>Yes, exactly.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport covers environmental policy for The Times.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>And so what the Trump administration decided to do with this is essentially to bury it. They are mandated by law to put it out. There’s a law that says the agencies have to put it out every four years. But they decided to put it online at about 2:00 or 3:00 PM on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.</div><div>
</div><div>[Music]</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>So at a moment when just about everybody is either literally on vacation or on some vacation of the mind?</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>Yes. The people who were not on vacation were climate journalists.</div><div>
</div><div>Archived Recording 1</div><div>
</div><div>When most Americans are tucking into turkey leftovers and waiting in line for Black Friday sales, the government has released a huge report on the impact of climate change.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div><b>The strategy of trying to bury it didn’t work at all.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Archived Recording 2</div><div>
</div><div>The report wasn’t expected to be made public until next month, leading some to wonder if Friday’s release was an attempt to bury the story.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>Mainly because it had such kind of stunning and deeply researched conclusions.</div><div>
</div><div>Archived Recording 3</div><div>
</div><div>A dire new forecast, more frequent and more devastating weather crises on the horizon.</div><div>
</div><div>Archived Recording 4</div><div>
</div><div>For the southeast, stronger hurricanes and more frequent flooding. The Midwest, agricultural catastrophe, extreme heat destroying crops. And in the west, increased fire danger.</div><div>
</div><div>Archived Recording 5</div><div>
</div><div>That predicts hotter temperatures will kill more people. Crop yields will decline dramatically. And ocean acidification will cause millions of dollars in losses to the seafood industry. According to those findings, rising sea levels will threaten public infrastructure and real estate along U.S. coasts.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>And the impacts of that could be devastating specifically to the United States economy.</div><div>
</div><div>Archived Recording 6</div><div>
</div><div>The report states if greenhouse gases continue to rise, the country will see labor-related losses of $150 billion a year by 2090. Damage to coastal property due to the rise in sea levels and storm surges could reach nearly $120 billion a year.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>And the report actually found that these impacts could knock as much as 10 percent off the U.S. G.D.P. by the end of the century, which is a huge economic hit. And I think that was the kind of thing that really sort of stunned the administration. Essentially, the conclusions of this report totally undermine the policy agenda, the regulatory agenda of this administration. This administration’s policy agenda, very specifically, is about, literally, emitting more greenhouse gas emissions.</div><div>
</div><div>Archived Recording (Donald Trump)</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We’re eliminating unnecessary regulations so we can create more jobs and wealth right here in America. I’ve ended the Obama administration’s war on coal. And we’re putting our wonderful coal miners back to work, producing beautiful clean coa</span>l.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Under President Trump, we have seen the rollback of a couple of key greenhouse gas emissions regulations that were put in place in the Obama administration. One is a major E.P.A. regulation on greenhouse gas pollution from vehicles.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Archived Recording 1</div><div>
</div><div>Regulations put in place by the Obama administration call for new vehicles to ge<b>t 36 miles per gallon by 2025.</b> The Trump administration says that’s too high.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>There’s another major E.P.A. regulation from the Obama administration that would have drastically reduced greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants, leading to shutdown of power plants, freezing construction of future power plants. The Trump administration is rolling that back.</div><div>
</div><div>Archived Recording 2</div><div>
</div><div>President’s move ends a moratorium on coal mining on federal land and eases restrictions on coal-fired power plants.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div><b>And the interior department is rolling back protections on public lands and federal waters in order to not just allow but aggressively promote the exploration and extraction of more fossil fuels,</b> more oil, more gas, more coal, with the specific intent of driving the consumption and the burning of more fossil fuels, producing more greenhouse gases. I mean, this is a very explicit policy agenda. And this report says the results of this policy agenda are going to devastate the U.S. economy. I mean, these two sets of facts are in total conflict.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>So not only does this report make the case that these policies will worsen carbon emissions and therefore be bad for the environment, but this report is suggesting that these policies that are meant to strengthen the U.S. economy will, because of the environmental damage that they will inflict, actually hurt it.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>Precisely.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>So what happens after this, for the Trump administration, pretty embarrassing report comes out?</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>Well, at first, the White House and the president slammed it.</div><div>
</div><div>Archived Recording (Donald Trump)</div><div>
</div><div>I don’t believe it.</div><div>
</div><div>Archived Recording 1</div><div>
</div><div>You don’t believe it?</div><div>
</div><div>Archived Recording (Donald Trump)</div><div>
</div><div>No, no. I don’t believe it.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>And then kind of tried to move on from it. And that was kind of what happened with the public face at the White House. In the background, it’s important to remember that this is kind of a moment where there was a transition happening among top Trump environmental officials. Previously, we had seen top officials like Scott Pruitt, who was the first head of the E.P.A. under Trump who had spent his tenure pretty much constantly fighting off accusations of scandal and corruption. Or Ryan Zinke, the former Secretary of the Interior, same thing, was forced to resign after multiple allegations of scandal as well. These guys had been these big, high-profile, very politically flashy officials. They had left. And their replacements were these two senior officials who were much less flashy, much less scandal-plagued, much less in the headlines, not public figures, but really, really smart at the inside Washington game. </div><div>
</div><div>The new head of the E.P.A. is Andrew Wheeler, who is a former coal lobbyist who has also worked as a senior official on the Hill, also worked in the E.P.A. in the George W. Bush administration. David Bernhardt is the new Secretary of the Interior. He used to be an oil lobbyist. Used to work at the Interior Department under the George W. Bush administration. These are guys who aren’t trying to pursue political careers in a big way. They do know how to pull the levers and get policy done. These guys and some of the other top officials look at this report and say, there’s a bigger problem here. This is not just embarrassing. This is not just a couple of bad headlines for us. And this is why.</div><div>
</div><div> Lawyers looking to fight these Trump regulatory rollbacks can use this document in court, in the Supreme Court, essentially saying, look, if your own administration says adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere hurts the U.S. economy, how can you make the legal justification to put more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The law says you can’t do these regulatory changes if they’re going to substantially hurt the economy. There’s a very clear legal argument to be made. And so these guys are kind of realizing this is a big problem for us, the fact that this thing is out there and exists, and we’re trying to do this policy agenda. This is more than just embarrassing.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div><b>So in other words, they’re seeing this report as a potential legal blueprint for their opponents to challenge their policies in court.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>Opponents of these policies have already said explicitly that once these regulatory rollbacks are done and they go to court, they absolutely intend to use this report to challenge them all the way up to the Supreme Court.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div><b>Hmm. So they will take this giant climate report, the one that the Trump administration doesn’t like but know by law it has to put out. And they will introduce this as evidence that these regulatory rollbacks should be invalidated?</b></div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>Exactly.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>So what do these officials in the Trump administration do once they realize that this legal exposure exists?</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Well, they can’t do anything about the current report. That’s out there. That’s done.</span></div><div>
</div><div>[Music]</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div><b>But they start thinking, all right, well, work on the next report, which is coming out in four years, has just started. And they can change the outcome, they think, of the next scientific report.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>Well, how exactly does that work? Because you can’t exactly change climate science.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>Right. And they’re not saying we’re going to fundamentally change the methods by which we do climate science, because, keep in mind, it’s not just the National Climate Assessment. That’s the major report that’s put out by the federal government. But the federal government does climate science reports across the agencies. So they are having a discussion that asks the question, how much information can we leave out. How much does the public really need to know?</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>We’ll be right back. So Coral, what does the Trump administration decide to do to limit what makes it into these official government reports on climate science?</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>There’s a couple of different ways that this is happening. In one agency, the U.S. Geological Survey, all they do is scientific reports.</b> They’re inside the Interior Department. There is a new policy in place already happening that all of that climate science and all their reports have to include some element of how climate change impacts public lands and waters and the different things that they do. There’s a new policy that climate projections can’t go past the year 2040.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>What’s significant about that?</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>If you look at a climate science model, a projection, what’s going to be the impact of the warming planet. If you look at those, the worst impacts, the biggest difference all happen past 2050. After 2050, that’s when you start to see the really dramatic bad impacts of a lot more greenhouse gases. So this policy of saying, our climate science is not going to include any projections after 2040 creates, essentially, scientists say, a falsely optimistic, falsely positive idea. It doesn’t show you the bad stuff that happens if we keep polluting.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>So the worst this, the worst impacts of the emissions policies that are currently being pursued by the Trump administration would make themselves apparent in projections after 2040. And what this proposal would do is just keep those projections before 2040 and therefore keep the worst, most dire predictions out of these reports?</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>Precisely. And this isn’t a proposal. This is already happening at the U.S. Geological Survey, which is a scientific agency inside the Interior Department.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>O.K., so what else is the administration doing to limit the public’s exposure to this information in these reports?</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div><b>So there’s another major proposal, and this is more of a proposal. This hasn’t happened yet. Specifically focused on the National Climate Assessment.</b> In these big climate science reports, there’s usually a range of options based on how much greenhouse pollution goes into the atmosphere. There’s a worst case scenario, things get really hot, things get really bad. And then there’s a best case scenario, we keep the worst of it under control, we just warm up a little bit, things aren’t so bad. And then there’s usually a couple of middle scenarios. <b>So the proposal is essentially: don’t include the worst case scenario.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>Just lop it off?</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>Lop it off.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>With the goal, once again, of shielding people from the worst case scenarios of what these policies might do?</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>Precisely. And what’s really remarkable about this proposal is that the scenario that they’re proposing to lop off is the most likely scenario, given that this administration is putting in place policies that will specifically lead to the business as usual, higher greenhouse gas emissions outcome.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div><b>So the administration is figuring out a way to make the science obscure the long-term realities of climate change?</b></div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Yes. I’ve been reporting on climate policy for over 10 years. And a story that we’ve written a lot is, despite the fact that President Trump has mocked climate science, withdrew from the Paris Accord, wants to roll back these regulations, we’ve actually written a lot of stories that say, you know what, they haven’t messed with the science. And we wrote that story when they put out the National Climate Assessment last fall. They tried to bury it. They made fun of it. But they didn’t mess with the science. And so this is something really new.</span> </div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And I talked with a scientist who had worked on the National Climate Assessment who said, what is really concerning here is that the numbers put out by the U.S. government should be absolutely reliable, whether they’re about the economy, whether they’re<b> scientific reports. They should be so reliable as to almost be boring. And what this scientists said to me is, in totalitarian regimes, in the Soviet Union, when governments put out reports and numbers, people kind of laugh at them, because they know they’re just sort of cooked up to support a political agenda. And he said, I see the very, very beginnings of that here in a way that we have not seen before.</b></span></div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>So Coral, how openly is the Trump administration pursuing this strategy? Because trying to hide science doesn’t seem like something that any government agency would do very publicly.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>And yet, Michael, surprisingly, they’re pretty open about it. Trump administration officials have publicly criticized these climate models. They’ve called the worst case scenarios highly unreliable and inaccurate. So they are sort of standing up for what they’re doing and saying, no, this will lead to more accurate, more careful, more thoughtful climate science reports, even though these are statements highly at odds with a vast consensus by the actual climate science community. But interestingly, they’re pretty open about it. They don’t seem to be running away from it.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>Coral, what are the implications of the changes that you’ve just laid out, to shift the way we present science and, I suppose, even collect it?</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>So the first is that, if these reports start to come out this way, with big blocks of information that have been cut out, the reports will present a falsely optimistic picture of what the future will look like, despite the increase of planet warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. That’s the first step. The second step though, is that they will be so at odds with the rest of climate science being produced in academia and around the world that we will start to see U.S. science discredited.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>But what about the whole reason this strategy exists, which is an attempt by the Trump administration to limit the legal exposure that you describe, to make it harder for people to challenge their policies by putting out less climate science data?</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>Michael, that absolutely is the strategy. I’m not sure how well it will work. And the reason is if they put out reports that present a picture that is misleading, that is falsely optimistic, and it is totally at odds with the vast majority of other climate science being produced around the country and the world and that is not considered valid, I’m not sure how good of a legal weapon these new reports will be. It is very much the thinking that this will be their defense. But I don’t know how far you get when you’re messing with science.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">I feel like beyond the legal implications, this presents a number of interesting questions. For example, if the U.S. government stops reporting certain pieces of climate science, does that mean that it stops collecting it? Does that mean that it gets harder and harder to create objective comparisons over time, because what was in the report four years ago isn’t in the next one? And does it just create greater skepticism of climate science if the government is no longer considered the great authority on this?</span></div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>I think, yes, it will create greater skepticism of climate science. The U.S. government is one of the greatest research bodies in the world. And so if the U.S. government is not doing this research, it’s not that it won’t get done. It will continue to be done by universities. It will be continued to be done by other governments around the world. But this is some of the best and most authoritative research. Reports like the National Climate Assessment are used and evaluated by scientific agencies and governments all around the world. If the U.S. government is not creating these scenarios, is not collecting climate data, then, yes, there will start to be much bigger holes in our understanding. It will just mean we won’t have this data.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>I wonder then, is it possible, Coral, that the point of this is just kind of dead simple, that the Trump administration is trying to make this problem of climate change seem not so bad so that it can push its policy agenda through without much opposition from the public.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>I think that’s right, Michael. I mean, yes, the idea is these are big reports that get a lot of attention and heighten this intense sense of urgency. And when the last Climate Assessment report came out last fall, it absolutely fueled climate activism. And I think the thinking is, well, when we put out the next one, let’s have it not do that.</div><div>
</div><div>[Music]</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>I mean, in some ways, it is very simple. If there’s not as much of a problem, then what we’re doing is fine.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>Even if it fundamentally changes our ability to understand the actual science of climate change?</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>I think that this is not an issue that senior officials in the Trump administration are losing any sleep over. And in fact, that’s exactly what the Secretary of the Interior department David Bernhardt said when he was recently asked in congressional testimony about his agency’s role in dealing with climate change. He told members of Congress, I’m not really losing any sleep over it.</div><div>
</div><div>Archived Recording 1</div><div>
</div><div>I was reading the newspaper this week. And it hit the headlines two days ago that carbon dioxide levels hit 415 parts per million, which is the highest in human history, the highest in 800,000 years. And that was, of course, when there were no humans, the last time it hit that kind of level. And so my question for you is, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most concerned, what’s your number for how concerned you are about us hitting 415 parts per million of carbon dioxide?</div><div>
</div><div>Archived Recording (David Bernhardt)</div><div>
</div><div>I haven’t lost any sleep over it.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>Coral, thank you very much.</div><div>
</div><div>Coral Davenport</div><div>
</div><div>Michael, thank you so much.</div><div>
</div><div>[Music]</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Barbaro</div><div>
</div><div>Here’s what else you need to know today. On Tuesday, in a closely watched case, the Supreme Court chose not to rule on the constitutionality of an Indiana law that restricts abortion. The law, which prohibited abortions based on sex, race and disabilities like Down syndrome, was passed when Vice President Mike Pence was Indiana’s governor and was later struck down by lower courts. The case would have given the Supreme Court its first chance since the confirmation of justice Brett Kavanaugh to determine the legality of state laws limiting abortion. That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka made a well-publicized effort to talk him out of leaving the Paris accord in 2017. But after being vanquished by officials including Mr. Bannon, Mr. Pruitt, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the former White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II, there is little evidence she has resisted his approach since then.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The president’s advisers amplify his disregard. At the meeting of the eight-nation Arctic Council this month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismayed fellow diplomats by describing the rapidly warming region as a land of “opportunity and abundance” because of its untapped reserves of oil, gas, uranium, gold, fish and rare-earth minerals. The melting sea ice, he said, was opening up new shipping routes.DISASTER CAP'LISM?!</span></div><div>
</div><div>“That is one of the most crude messages one could deliver,” said R. Nicholas Burns, who served as the NATO ambassador under George W. Bush.</div><div>
</div><div>Image</div><div>Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismayed fellow diplomats by describing the Arctic as a land of “opportunity and abundance” as a consequence of global warming.CreditMandel Ngan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images]</div><div>
</div><div><b>At the National Security Council, under Mr. Bolton, officials said they had been instructed to strip references to global warming from speeches and other formal statements. But such political edicts pale in significance to the changes in the methodology of scientific reports.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Mr. Reilly, the head of the Geological Survey, who does not have a background in climate change science, characterized the changes as an attempt to prepare more careful, accurate reports. “We’re looking for answers with our partners and to get statistical significance from what we understand,” he said.</div><div>
</div><div>Yet scientists said that by eliminating the projected effects of increased carbon dioxide pollution after 2040, the Geological Survey reports would present an incomplete and falsely optimistic picture of the impact of continuing to burn unlimited amounts of coal, oil and gasoline.</div><div>
</div><div>“The scenarios in these reports that show different outcomes are like going to the doctor, who tells you, ‘If you don’t change your bad eating habits, and you don’t start to exercise, you’ll need a quadruple bypass, but if you do change your lifestyle, you’ll have a different outcome,’” said Katharine Hayhoe, the director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University and an author of the National Climate Assessment.</div><div>
</div><div>Not all government science agencies are planning such changes. A spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, asked if its scientists would limit the use of climate models, wrote in an email, “No changes are being considered at this time.”</div><div>
</div><div>The push to alter the results of at least some climate science reports, several officials said, came after November’s release of the second volume of the National Climate Assessment.</div><div>
</div><div>While the Trump administration did not try to rewrite the scientific conclusions of the report, officials sought to play it down — releasing it the day after Thanksgiving — and discredit it, with a White House statement calling it “largely based on the most extreme scenario.”</div><div>
</div><div>Image</div><div>This summer, the E.P.A. is expected to finalize the legal rollback of two of President Barack Obama’s most consequential policies: regulations to curb planet-warming pollution from vehicles and power plants.CreditGeorge Etheredge for The New York Times]</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Still, the report could create legal problems for Mr. Trump’s agenda of abolishing regulations. This summer, the E.P.A. is expected to finalize the legal rollback of two of President Barack Obama’s most consequential policies: federal regulations to curb planet-warming pollution from vehicle tailpipes and power plant smokestacks.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Opponents say that when they challenge the moves in court, they intend to point to the climate assessment, asking how the government can justify the reversals when its own agencies have concluded that the pollution will be so harmful.</div><div>
</div><div>That is why officials are now discussing how to influence the conclusions of the next National Climate Assessment.</div><div>
</div><div>“They’ve started talking about how they can produce a report that doesn’t lead to some silly alarmist predictions about the future,” said Myron Ebell, who heads the energy program at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an industry-funded research organization, and who led the administration’s transition at the E.P.A.</div><div>
</div><div>A key change, he said, would be to emphasize historic temperatures rather than models of future atmospheric temperatures, and to eliminate the “worst-case scenarios” of the effect of increased carbon dioxide pollution — sometimes referred to as “business as usual” scenarios because they imply no efforts to curb emissions.</div><div>
</div><div>Scientists said that eliminating the worst-case scenario would give a falsely optimistic picture. “Nobody in the world does climate science like that,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton. “It would be like designing cars without seatbelts or airbags.”</div><div>
</div><div>Outside the United States, climate scientists had long given up on the White House being anything but on outlier in policy. But they worry about the loss of the government as a source for reliable climate research.</div><div>
</div><div>“It is very unfortunate and potentially even quite damaging that the Trump administration behaves this way,” said Johan Rockström, the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. “There is this arrogance and disrespect for scientific advancement — this very demoralizing lack of respect for your own experts and agencies.”</div><div>
</div><div>A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: In Climate Fight, Trump Will Put Science on Trial</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" display="display" flex="flex" flex-direction="flex-direction" row="row" height="height" px="px" width="width" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-18icg9x evys1bk0" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Trump has rolled back environmental regulations, <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/climate/trump-paris-climate-agreement.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord</a>, brushed aside dire predictions about the effects of climate change, and turned the term “global warming” into a punch line rather than a prognosis.</font></p><p class="css-18icg9x evys1bk0" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, after two years spent unraveling the policies of his predecessors, Mr. Trump and his political appointees are launching a new assault.</font></p><p class="css-18icg9x evys1bk0" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the next few months, the White House will complete the rollback of the most significant federal effort to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, initiated during the Obama administration. It will expand its efforts to impose Mr. Trump’s hard-line views on other nations, building on his retreat from the Paris accord and <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/climate/us-arctic-climate-change.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">his recent refusal to sign a communiqué</a> to protect the rapidly melting Arctic region unless it was stripped of any references to climate change.</font></p><p class="css-18icg9x evys1bk0" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, in what could be Mr. Trump’s most consequential action yet, his administration will seek to undermine the very science on which climate change policy rests.</font></p></div><aside class="css-17l9gfh" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; width: 210px; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center;" /></div><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" display="display" flex="flex" flex-direction="flex-direction" row="row" height="height" px="px" width="width" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-18icg9x evys1bk0" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><em class="css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">[Want climate news in your inbox? </em><a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/climate-change?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><em class="css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Sign up here for Climate Fwd:</em></a><em class="css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">, our email newsletter.]</em></font></p><p class="css-18icg9x evys1bk0" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Trump is less an ideologue than an armchair naysayer about climate change, according to people who know him. He came into office viewing agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency as bastions of what he calls the “deep state,” and his contempt for their past work on the issue is an animating factor in trying to force them to abandon key aspects of the methodology they use to try to understand the causes and consequences of a dangerously warming planet.</font></p><p class="css-18icg9x evys1bk0" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a result, parts of the federal government will no longer fulfill what scientists say is one of the most urgent jobs of climate science studies: reporting on the future effects of a rapidly warming planet and presenting a picture of what the earth could look like by the end of the century if the global economy continues to emit heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution from burning fossil fuels.</font></p><div class="css-1o6jhnk" data-testid="inline-message" aria-live="polite" style="margin: 25px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 600px; text-align: center;"><div class="css-10klw3m optimizelyOK vi_inline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: 0px;"><p class="css-18icg9x evys1bk0" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The attack on science is underway throughout the government. In the most recent example, the White House-appointed director of the <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.usgs.gov/" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">United States Geological Survey</a>, James Reilly, a former astronaut and petroleum geologist, has ordered that scientific assessments produced by that office use only computer-generated climate models that project the impact of climate change through 2040, rather than through the end of the century, as had been done previously.</font></p><p class="css-18icg9x evys1bk0" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p></div></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AN no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b> Inside the Trump administration’s war on science itself </b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">written by Matthew Rozsa / Salon May 28, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald Trump administration has escalated its crusade against policies combatting climate change by attacking the science behind global warming.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the cornerstones of the administration’s new climate change policy is ordering parts of the government to stop studying the effects of global warming on the future of the planet, and in particular, the state of the planet by the end of the century if humanity does not control its carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, according to The New York Times.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trump appointed former astronaut and petroleum geologist James Reilly to lead the U.S. Geological Survey, who in turn instructed his office to only use computer-generated climate models projecting the impact of climate change through 2040, thus abandoning the traditional practice of using models that stretch to the end of the century. And that is not the only major policy change Trump plans to implement regarding climate science.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As the Times reported, “In the next few months, the White House will complete the rollback of the most significant federal effort to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, initiated during the Obama administration. It will expand its efforts to impose Mr. Trump’s hard-line views on other nations, building on his retreat from the Paris accord and his recent refusal to sign a communiqué to protect the rapidly melting Arctic region unless it was stripped of any references to climate change.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The administration’s move was foreshadowed by Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord; his systematic decimation of the federal agencies responsible for protecting the environment, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through funding cuts and staff reductions; and his administration’s instruction to the EPA to significantly reduce its 2018 estimate that more than 1,400 people would die prematurely every year due to a proposed new rule on coal emissions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Regarding that last policy Michael E. Mann, a distinguished professor of atmospheric science at Penn State University, told Salon by email last week that “this is a logical next step in the effort by Trump and the polluting interests that dictate his environmental policies to dismantle the environmental protections of the past half century put in place by past both Republican and Democratic presidents</span>.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He added, “Let me be blunt: Trump is choosing to kill people in order to increase the profits of the polluting interests to which he is beholden. I cannot think of a more craven act than this, and we’re talking about a president who is known for craven acts. There is a reason I warned back in October 2016 that Trump is a threat to the planet.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Department of Global Ecology echoed those thoughts, telling Salon by email that “it is one thing for the Trump administration to decide that more people should be killed from particulate air pollution, because their lives are worth less than the money to be made from loosened regulations. It is another thing entirely to enter an Orwellian world, in which we pretend that the loosening of regulations will not result in more people dying. Trump complains about fake news, but then to justify his policies, his minions create fake science and then use it to create real policy.”</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><ul helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><li style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What if reporters covered the climate crisis like Edward R. Murrow covered the start of World War II?" That was <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=9016d558aab1b0b953ac38db0ea463495c63f45176d77c5d42be5003dc712026d3592626f66665fd4c0c6c1c5e5106fb8a66d65eb87fe16f" title="the question">the question</a> from Bill Moyers as Columbia Journalism Review and The Nation <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=9016d558aab1b0b98173ff52fecaf78378414e624a1d20df513bf6443a01729940991cf678477f942d88c267ade38beb5cf372b870df0649" title="launched a new program">launched a new program</a> to increase coverage of climate change.</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The<b> Trump administration moved to silence the head of the CDC's climate and health program -- but <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=9016d558aab1b0b9d17a0a3cabbdea29711caf7d37db5dca1bd2692a9dab999ccbff2fe529dcc5b729aaa806a038a76830c527059c43d983" title="he is fighting back">he is fighting back</a>.</b></font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse took to the Senate floor and <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=9016d558aab1b0b9a8abfeadb62668532d5e4e4eb9c88efdc9180c37c7fd2fdc84183f90bf1f0cd0e6fe19048eb0ea4be6d21f7b14236ae7" title="called for better media coverage">called for better media coverage</a> of the climate crisis: "I have noticed this trend so I’ve begun keeping an eye on the Sunday shows’ coverage this year. Each month I look at how many substantive segments on climate change each show runs. It’s not good. In April, for instance, there were only two substantive segments on climate change across all five shows. They have basically become Sunday morning political gossip columns."</font></li></ul></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-administration-tried-to-remove-all-mention-of-climate-change-from-arctic-policy-statement-wapo"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-administration-tried-to-remove-all-mention-of-climate-change-from-arctic-policy-statement-wapo</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
Trump administration pushed to remove all references to climate change in an international statement on Arctic policy, despite the fact that the Arctic is warming at about twice the rate of the rest of the world, <em>The Washington Post</em> reports Thursday. Initially, the <em>Post</em> reports, Trump tried to stonewall the negotiations on the non-binding declaration by pledging not to sign a document that mentioned climate change. Three sources from the eight Arctic Council member states said, however, that the administration’s stance has softened in recent days. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Finland for the official two-day session next week. One official told the <em>Post</em> that he expects the final declaration will take a “substantive” and “robust” stance on climate change in the Arctic—but he’s not yet sure if the actual phrase “climate change” will make it in.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div id="siteSub"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div id="siteSub"><div class="elleafmedia elleafmedia--sourced-paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><p class="zn-bodyparagraph speakable" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><cite class="el-editorial-source" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700;">(CNN)</cite>The <b>Trump administration may have shut down the government advisory committee on climate change started by President Barack Obama, but its members considered the work so important that they did not stop working.</b></font></p></div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph speakable" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The<b> <a href="https://sncaadvisorycommittee.noaa.gov/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment</a></b> was created in 2015 by the Obama administration to help local leaders and policymakers figure out how to apply lessons from the <a href="https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">National Climate Assessment</a>. The latest version of that <b>report, released in November, determined that climate change is already hurting the United States and that it could cost the economy <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/23/health/climate-change-report-bn/index.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">hundreds of billions </a>of dollars and will kill thousands of Americans.</b></font></div><div class="elembedded elembedded--standard" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; width: 780px; z-index: 0; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><div class="elstoryelement--standard elarticle--embed" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; margin-right: 30px; clear: both; cursor: default; margin-bottom: 30px; width: 300px; margin-top: 10px;"><div class="elarticle--teaseimage" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div class="mediacaption elstoryelementtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.375; margin: 30px 0px 0px; position: relative;"><span class="elstoryelementheader" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.5;"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/29/opinions/climate-change-report-trump-administration-alaska-demientieff/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Trump is making the warming of Alaska even worse</font></a></span></div></div></div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph speakable" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trump allowed the charter of the<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> </span>advisory committee to expire in August 2017 after his administration showed concern about the political makeup of the 15-member panel.</font></div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"It only has one member from industry," wrote<b> George Kelly, then deputy chief of staff </b>at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"> in a June 2017 email, the </span><a href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/trump-official-suggests-climate-panel-lacks-industry-members/2968/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">Washington Post uncovered</a><span style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);">. Kelly said officials needed to decide whether to let the committee "expire as soon as possible," as the "process to gain more balance would take a couple of years to accomplish."</span></font></div><ul class="cn cn-list-hierarchical-xs cn--idx-6 cn-zoneAdContainer" data-layout="list-hierarchical-xs" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style: none; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><div class="elembedded elembedded--standard" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; width: 780px; z-index: 0;"><div class="elstoryelement--standard elarticle--embed" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; margin-right: 30px; clear: both; cursor: default; margin-bottom: 30px; width: 300px; margin-top: 10px;"><div class="elarticle--teaseimage" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div class="mediacaption elstoryelementtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.375; margin: 30px 0px 0px; position: relative;"><span class="elstoryelementheader" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.5;"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/05/health/climate-change-cop24-who-study/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Tackling climate change could save millions of lives, report says</font></a></span></div></div></div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>At the invitation of New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo, most of the members of the committee reconvened and became the Science to Climate Action Network, also known as SCAN.</b></font></div><div class="zn-bodyread-all" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Thursday, it released its <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/WCAS-D-18-0134.1" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">report</a> and recommendations to help policymakers and community leaders better tackle the daunting problems brought by climate change.</font></div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">With the support of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the state of New York and the American Meteorological Society, the panel warns that the country continues to be in harm's way because of its failure to act. For instance,<b> local leaders don't have enough data on climate change to make informed decisions, something that the <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/680/673823.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">Government Accountability Office</a> has noted in its investigations.</b></font></div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Calling climate change a "global catastrophe," Cuomo said that he supports the committee's efforts to help local leaders because the problem needs urgent attention.</font></div><div class="elembedded elembedded--standard" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; width: 780px; z-index: 0;"><div class="elstoryelement--standard elarticle--embed" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; margin-right: 30px; clear: both; cursor: default; margin-bottom: 30px; width: 300px; margin-top: 10px;"><div class="elarticle--teaseimage" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[pix]</font></div><div class="mediacaption elstoryelementtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.375; margin: 30px 0px 0px; position: relative;"><span class="elstoryelementheader" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.5;"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/14/politics/dot-climate-change-webpages-removed-global-warming/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Access denied: 2 climate change pages removed from DOT's website</font></a></span></div></div></div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"While the federal government continues to deny climate change and ignore the dire need to strengthen the resilience of our communities, New York and the U.S. Climate Alliance are taking action," he said in a <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/cd31b2_a88665bdb76d4ead9305d1e189aaaa7d.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">statement published</a> with the report. "This report will provide important recommendations to communities across the country as we work to address climate change."</font></div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Committee Chairman Richard Moss, a visiting senior research scientist at the Earth Institute, said he hopes the work will make local action possible.</font></div><div class="elembedded elembedded--standard" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; width: 780px; z-index: 0;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The committee is working with university groups and regional research networks and will continue to <a href="https://eos.org/project-updates/bridging-the-gap-with-the-science-for-climate-action-network" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">advise local leaders</a>. It will continue to help leaders determine which climate data sets are reliable. It will give technical advice, advising on practical matters like what engineering designs will be more resilient in the face of climate change, and it will help leaders think through the costs and benefits of climate change plans.</font></div><ul class="cn cn-list-hierarchical-xs cn--idx-18 cn-zoneAdContainer" data-layout="list-hierarchical-xs" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the face of problems like flooding, a problem that has already cost the country billions, it will bring together a collaborative group of experts and leaders to help communities figure out what works and what doesn't and will help them craft local solutions.</font></div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The point is to take what we know, make it usable for the communities and increase their confidence in weighing the tradeoffs and opportunities that come with different strategies for adaptation and mitigation," Moss said. "We're trying to produce something that adds value for those on the front lines of preparing their communities for climate change."</font></div></ul></div></ul></div><div id="siteSub"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/434157-dem-lawmakers-introduce-bill-to-protect-science-research-from">https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/434157-dem-lawmakers-introduce-bill-to-protect-science-research-from</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 20px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Sen. <span class="rollover-people" data-behavior="rolloverpeople" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><a class="rollover-people-link" data-nid="346124" href="https://thehill.com/people/brian-schatz" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block; position: relative;">Brian Schatz</a></span> (D-Hawaii) and Rep. <span class="rollover-people" data-behavior="rolloverpeople" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><a class="rollover-people-link" data-nid="189474" href="https://thehill.com/people/paul-tonko" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block; position: relative;">Paul Tonko</a></span> (D-N.Y.) introduced legislation on Thursday to prevent political interference with public science research amid what they called "<span class="rollover-people" data-behavior="rolloverpeople" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><a class="rollover-people-link" data-nid="261287" href="https://thehill.com/people/donald-trump" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block; position: relative;">President Trump</a></span>'s multi-agency assault."</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The lawmakers said in a press release that political interference has been a "longstanding concern that has taken on newfound urgency" in the current administration. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Provisions in the "<a href="https://www.schatz.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Scientific%20Integrity%20Act.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; position: relative; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(42, 83, 193);">Science Integrity Act</a>" intend to make it so that political considerations do not factor into scientific conclusions, to prohibit the suppression of scientific findings and to allow scientists to answer media inquiries about their work without prior agency approval.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Independent, rigorous scientific research is one of the most powerful tools we have for advancing the public interest and keeping the American people safe,” Tonko said in the statement. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“President Trump’s multi-agency assault on environmental standards has hinged on efforts to distort, bury and even rewrite credible public scientific findings, including his absurd denial of the growing climate crisis and efforts to cover up evidence that the American people are being exposed to dangerous toxins," he added. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schatz in the statement said that we are facing "unprecedented times" for science.  </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"While it’s not the first time it has been under attack, this time feels worse," he said. "That’s why we need to answer the call of our times and stand up for science.”</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/hurricane-harvey-trump-epa-response-2630918498.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/hurricane-harvey-trump-epa-response-2630918498.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Andrea Germanos</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Trump</a>'s U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">EPA</a>) and Texas state officials rejected an offer from NASA scientists in 2017 to use their state-of-the-art flying laboratory to evaluate air quality in Houston after Hurricane Harvey, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-nasa-jet-epa-hurricane-harvey-20190305-story.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">new reporting by the Los Angeles Times reveals</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"This is disturbing," <a href="https://twitter.com/JudgeHidalgo/status/1103127288856698880" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">said</a> Lina Hidalgo, judge for Texas's Harris County.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Harvey brought <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/08/29/class-its-own-no-storm-us-history-has-unleashed-more-rain-hurricane-harvey" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">historic rainfall,</a> <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/08/28/drones-offer-devastating-footage-damage-harvey-has-wrought" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">catastrophic flooding</a> and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/03/22/full-impact-still-hidden-public-report-details-environmental-assault-unleashed" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">triggered</a> potentially dangerous environmental and public health impacts: Houston's many refineries and petrochemical released pollutants into the air and waters, and area residents began to <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/09/12/after-harvey-texas-left-toxic-soup-sewage-spilled-fuel-pesticides-and-more" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">complain</a> of <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/06/%20/news/2017/08/29/harvey-triggers-unbearable-pollution-refineries-spew-cancer-causing-chemicals" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">worrisome</a> smells and toxic sights near the facilities, as well as symptoms including headaches. The EPA asserted that the air quality posed no threat.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NASA, it turned out, was in a good position to gather data on air quality in the area with <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/aircraft/DC-8/overview.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">its DC-8</a>. The jet, whose ability to ability to gather data dwarfs that of the EPA's <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">air pollution</a> plane or the hand-held devices used by Texas state officials, was already set up for testing because of a scheduled six-hour test flight to Lamont, Oklahoma on Sept. 14.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The response to NASA's offer? Thanks but no thanks.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Susanne Rust and Louis Sahagun reported for the Times:</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 25px; border-left: 5px solid rgb(82, 149, 70); padding: 0px 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Sept. 9, David Gray, the EPA's deputy regional administrator in Texas and leader of the agency's emergency response, wrote to NASA and Texas officials that he was "hesitant" to have the jet "collect additional information that overlaps our existing efforts" until he learned more about the mission. He noted that media and nongovernmental organizations were releasing data that was "conflicting" with the state and EPA's.</font></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The NASA scientists offered assurances that their fact-finding would not get in the way, but noted that the data would eventually be seen by the public. Texas and the EPA were unmoved.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The state-level response came from director of toxicology Michael Honeycutt, who now heads EPA's Science Advisory Board and is known for <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/elliott-negin/pruitt-scientists-key-advisory-panel" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">expressing</a> views well out of the reach of mainstream <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">science</a>, such as the idea that lowering ozone would be bad for public health.</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 25px; border-left: 5px solid rgb(82, 149, 70); padding: 0px 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Sept. 11, Honeycutt wrote in an email to NASA and EPA officials that state data showed no sign for concern, and "we don't think your data would be useful for source identification while industry continues to restart their operations."
Gray agreed with Honeycutt: "EPA concurs with your assessment and we will not plan to ask NASA to conduct this mission."</font></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Associated Press reporter Frank Bajak <a href="https://twitter.com/fbajak/status/1102955314645790720" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">noted</a> that the new investigation adds weight to his own news agency's previous reporting showing that "Texas environmental regulators had little interest in exposing most post-Harvey industrial contamination."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reacting to the reporting on Twitter, Dr. Chelsea Thompson, a research scientist in atmospheric chemistry, wrote, "It's worth noting that, over a year later now, all of us involved are still stunned by how this played out."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/how-house-democrats-can-finally-stymie-trumps-relentless-assault-on-science/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/how-house-democrats-can-finally-stymie-trumps-relentless-assault-on-science/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Douglas Costle, who helped create the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and then ran it during Jimmy Carter’s administration, </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/obituaries/douglas-costle-dead.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">died recently at the age of 79</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">. If the Trump administration has its way, the agency as we know it will die along with him.</span></font></p><div class="p1_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Clean air is not an aesthetic luxury,” Costle </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/obituaries/douglas-costle-dead.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">said</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> when he took the job as EPA administrator. “It is a public health necessity.”</span></font></p><div class="p2_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="teadsNative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">President Trump said pretty much the same thing in an interview just after winning the election. “Clean air is vitally important. Clean water, crystal clean water is vitally important,” he </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/us/politics/trump-new-york-times-interview-transcript.html?action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&module=Trending&version=Full&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article&r=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">told</a> <i style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The New York Times</i><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">. He stuck to that mantra during a CNN interview last November. “I want clean air,” he </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/26/politics/donald-trump-climate-change/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">said</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">. “I want clean water. Very important.”</span></font></p><div class="p3_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The difference is, Costle didn’t just talk the talk. At his very first news conference as EPA administrator, he </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/obituaries/douglas-costle-dead.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">announced</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> the recall of 135,000 Cadillacs because the cars’ emissions violated the Clean Air Act. Under his watch, the agency </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/obituaries/douglas-costle-dead.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">banned</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> aerosol spray fluorocarbons to protect the Earth’s ozone layer. In the first two months of his tenure, he </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/obituaries/douglas-costle-dead.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">hired</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> 600 new scientists and analysts to bolster the agency’s staff.</span></font></p><div class="p4_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Trump is Costle’s antithesis. His administration plans to </span><a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/400036-trump-submits-rule-to-weaken-iconic-obama-car-efficiency-standards" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">roll back</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> car emissions standards. It </span><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/28/trump-is-killing-obamas-clean-power-plan-the-hard-part-comes-next.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">killed</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> power plant carbon emission rules. It has also </span><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-11/shrinking-epa-workforce-has-already-reached-reagan-era-levels" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">shrunk</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> the EPA workforce to levels not seen in 35 years. That’s just three of too many examples. According to a recent </span><a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/center-science-and-democracy/state-of-science-trump-era#.XFIPWM1OmCp" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">report</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> by my organization, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the number of Trump administration attacks on science-based public health and environmental safeguards in its first two years in office is unprecedented.</span></b></font></p><div class="p5_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon, however. With an engaged public and the House of Representatives’ oversight powers now controlled by Democrats, there may be just enough leverage to turn things around—or at least tie the administration’s hands before it can do any more damage.</font></span></p><div class="p6_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Dismal Record</font></b></p><div class="p7_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">First the bad news: our 60-page </span><a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/center-science-and-democracy/state-of-science-trump-era#.XFMpE81OmCp" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">report</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> documents 80 Trump administration attacks on science. A sample list includes:</span></font></p><div class="p8_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 50px; list-style: none;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hollowing out federal science agencies, filling fewer than half of key science appointee positions, and ensuring that political appointees and career staff ignore scientific advice;</font></span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Doctoring and killing scientific studies that contradicted industry-friendly policies;</font></span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Disbanding key EPA scientific advisory committees, cutting back on how often the remaining committees can meet, and banning scientists who have EPA grants from serving on them; and</font></span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stacking advisory committees with lobbyists from polluting industries.</font></span></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In fact, the Trump administration has packed the entire executive branch with lobbyists. When Trump promised to “drain the swamp” during his campaign, he wasn’t talking about ridding the government of cronyism and corruption; he was talking about getting rid of civil servants. As of today, the Interior Department is being run by a </span><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-name-acting-interior-secretary-lead-department-n966766" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">former oil industry lobbyist</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, the Defense Department is being run by a </span><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/a-former-boeing-executive-is-now-running-the-pentagon/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">former aerospace industry executive</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, the Department of Health and Human Services is being run by a </span><a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/13/alex-azar-hhs-secretary-trump-244837" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">former pharmaceutical industry lobbyist</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> and the EPA is being run by a </span><a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-andrew-wheeler-20180705-story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">former coal industry lobbyist</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">.</span></font></p><div class="p9_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The extent of this corporate coup extends well beyond department heads. A March 2018 ProPublica report </span><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/what-we-found-in-trump-administration-drained-swamp-hundreds-of-ex-lobbyists-and-washington-dc-insiders" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">found</a> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">that at least<b> 187 political appointees had been lobbyists, and many of them are now overseeing the industries they used to represent</b>. It also found that more than 250 people associated with Trump’s presidential campaign and at least 125 staff members from nonprofit libertarian groups are now deep inside federal agencies, working to repeal decades of consumer, workplace, health and environmental protections.</span></font></p><div class="p10_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Thus far, Trump appointees have been all too successful. According to a recent </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/climate/trump-environment-rules-reversed.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">analysis</a> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">by </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The New York Times</i><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, the <b>administration had weakened or killed 47 environmental rules by the end of last year and were in the process of rolling back another 31.</b> That doesn’t bode well for public health. A May 2018 </span><a href="https://newsatjama.jama.com/2018/05/10/jama-forum-a-breath-of-bad-air-trump-environmental-agenda-may-lead-to-80%E2%80%85000-extra-deaths-per-decade/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">analysis</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> by a Harvard economist and statistician conservatively estimated that the administration’s environmental rollbacks could lead to 80,000 extra premature deaths per decade and respiratory problems for more than 1 million Americans.</span></font></p><div class="p11_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">At the same time the administration is weakening and killing environmental safeguards, it has taken the EPA cop off the beat. Civil penalties for polluters have dropped to their lowest average level since 1994, according to an </span><a href="https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/epas-ex-top-cop-joins-criticism-of-agencys-record-on-polluters" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">analysis</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> by a former EPA enforcement official. For the 20 years before Trump was elected, EPA civil fines averaged $500 million a year. Last fiscal year’s total was only $72 million—an 85 percent drop.</span></font></p><div class="p12_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Trump administration also has </span><a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/11/25/666373189/trump-push-for-energy-dominance-boosts-drilling-on-public-land" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">opened up more public land</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> to development at bargain basement rates. The amount of land on the chopping block has jumped 500 percent since 2016, and the Bureau of Land Management has streamlined and shortened the leasing application process.</span></font></p><div class="p13_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Then there’s the administration’s scientifically indefensible position on climate change. According to our recent </span><a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/center-science-and-democracy/state-of-science-trump-era#.XFMpE81OmCp" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">report</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, the administration “has repeatedly ignored, dismissed, or suppressed the science of climate change, limiting the ability of federal scientists to speak about, report on, or even study it.” Remarkably, the administration refrained from censoring the latest edition of the </span><a href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">National Climate Assessment</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, but it released it on the Friday after Thanksgiving to limit its impact. Trump, meanwhile, rejected the report out of hand. “I’ve seen it. I’ve read some of it. It’s fine,” he </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/26/politics/donald-trump-climate-change/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">told</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> a CNN reporter. But when the reporter then mentioned that the study concluded that “the economic impact [of climate change] will be devastating,” Trump responded, “I don’t believe it.”</span></font></p><div class="p14_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No Place Left to Go But Up</font></b></p><div class="p15_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So, what is there to be hopeful about?</font></span></p><div class="p16_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Our report offers examples in which coalitions of scientists, public interest groups and sometimes even companies have won some hard-fought victories, including blocking Trump nominees with major conflicts of interest and securing federal protection for endangered species.</font></span></p><div class="p17_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Likewise, some of Trump’s ethically challenged appointees, notably, disgraced former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/07/climate/scott-pruitt-epa-rollbacks.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">rushed to roll back regulations</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> and produced poorly crafted rulemakings that cannot withstand legal challenges. At least </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/07/climate/scott-pruitt-epa-rollbacks.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">six</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> of Pruitt’s attempts to weaken or delay Obama-era rules, including ones covering pesticides, lead paint and renewable fuels, were struck down by the courts.</span></font></p><div class="p18_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">But the biggest flicker of hope is due to the results of last November’s election. In the new Congress, </span><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-open-letter-to-u-s-scientist-legislators/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">a dozen members</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> of the House and Senate have science, technology or medical backgrounds, more than ever before. According to a recent </span><a href="https://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/green/news/2019/01/28/172944/climate-deniers-116th-congress/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">analysis</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the number of </span><a href="https://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/green/news/2019/01/28/172944/climate-deniers-116th-congress/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">climate science deniers in Congress</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> dropped 17 percent, from 180 to 150, because 47 deniers retired, resigned or lost their 2018 re-election bids. Last but certainly not least, the Democrats took back the House, giving them control over the agenda, the power of the purse and the ability to issue subpoenas.</span></font></p><div class="p19_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">One of the most consequential changes happened at the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, whose chairman for the last six years, Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, retired at the end of the last session. During his tenure, <b>Smith—who has made </b></span><a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060110337" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><b>millions of dollars</b></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b> from oil and gas leases on his Texas property—</b>rejected mainstream climate science, harassed federal climate scientists and tried to sabotage the EPA’s ability to carry out its mission.</span></font></p><div class="p20_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The incoming chair of the committee, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, also hails from Texas, but that’s where the similarities between her and Smith end. In a </span><a href="https://science.house.gov/news/press-releases/ranking-member-johnson-statement-election-results-and-seeking-chairmanship" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">statement</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> she issued after the November election, Johnson promised to “restore the credibility of the Science Committee as a place where science is respected,” “address the challenge of climate change,” and defend “the scientific enterprise from political and ideological attacks.”</span></font></p><div class="p21_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Our report recommends a number of steps members of Congress on both sides of the aisle can take to blunt the Trump administration’s assault on science, including strengthening science-based rules and passing legislation that defends federal scientists, and lead author Jacob Carter says Johnson’s agenda is “promising.”</font></span></p><div class="p22_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“For the first time in two years, we can see some meaningful checks and balances in Washington,” said Carter, who worked at the EPA during the Obama administration. “That is how it is supposed to work. Congress should press the administration to stop undermining science and do its job of protecting the public. And the science community can play a meaningful role if scientists step up and get engaged as constituents. There’s a lot of damage to undo, but we have a roadmap to get there.”</font></span></p><div class="p23_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">This article was produced by </span><a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/earth-food-life/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Earth | Food | Life</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, a project of the Independent Media Institute, and originally published by </span><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/is-the-tide-turning-on-president-trumps-war-on-science/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Truthout</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">.</span></font></span></p><div class="p24_25" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Elliott Negin is a senior writer at the </span><a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Union of Concerned Scientists</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">.</span></font></span></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font 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face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx vid </font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div>ref 11/18 shamed to do rt thing?</div><div>
</div><div>https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a25304542/meet-the-press-climate-change-chuck-todd-danielle-pletka/</div><div>
</div><div>Rarely do you get news of an ongoing catastrophe and, within a couple of days, a perfect example of why we've done nothing about that exact problem. But Chuck Todd and Meet The Press were happy to oblige this Thanksgiving weekend. On Friday, the Trump administration attempted to bury a harrowing U.S. government climate-change report by releasing it on Black Friday, a notorious dumping ground for bad news. Normally, though, the bad news is just for the current administration—not the whole world.</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Sunday, Todd hosted Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute on his teevee show. Her performance—and it was a performance—was a shining example of how the ruling class has successfully hemmed and hawed for decades, with the full support of the feckless Beltway media, slowing any kind of action and safeguarding big-business profits while experts in the field have known full well that human civilization as we know it is in clear and escalating peril</span></div><div>
</div><div>[vid]</div><div>
</div><div>...Right-wing panelist on Meet the Press on climate change: <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"I'm not a scientist ... We need to also recognize we had two of the coldest years, biggest drop in global temperatures that we have had since the 1980s, the biggest in the last 100 years. We don't talk about that."</span></div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>As Pletka so happily volunteered, she is not a scientist. So why was she invited on one of the nation's Premier Political Talk Shows to spread disinformation about a scientific issue? That two years since 1980 have been cold does not have any bearing on the scientific consensus that climate change is real and man-made. This member of the conservative intelligentsia—the American Enterprise Institute, for which Pletka works, is a right-wing "think tank"—is actually just making the more polite version of President Good Brain's argument on Wednesday:</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Donald J. Trump</div><div>?</div><div>@realDonaldTrump</div><div>Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS - Whatever happened to Global Warming?</div><div>
</div><div>114K</div><div>4:23 PM - Nov 21, 2018</div><div>
</div><div>This is not the first time Trump has disproved global warming on the basis he is cold today. (Elsewhere, he has simply called it a Chinese hoax.) Nobody put this crap to bed better than Stephen Colbert did all those years ago. Weather is not climate. The weather is affected by changing climate patterns, but warming global temperatures over the decades—an indisputable trend, even among denialist hacks like Pletka—does not mean every day of every year will be warmer than the previous. What it does very likely mean is more powerful storms that drop trillions of gallons of water on American cities, and bigger, more ferocious wildfires that turn the American West to ash.</div><div>
</div><div>Of course, Pletka probably knows this. She gave Our Beautiful Boy Chuck Todd that tried-and-true conservative line that's rapidly going stale: that surely something is happening with the climate, but who can say whether humans are causing it? Well, after years of exhaustive study, scientists have found it is "extremely likely" (terms the scientific community does not choose lightly) that humans are significantly contributing to warming global temperatures. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We also know that the Beautiful, Clean Coal that Pletka suggested the U.S. has switched to does not exist. "Clean coal" is a misleading term for the same coal that continues to be the dirtiest fossil fuel in existence.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Did Todd challenge her with the facts? No. But this is what the evidence says. It's just Pletka isn't concerned with gathering the evidence and coming to a conclusion—also known as the essence of the scientific method. Here is an (albeit anonymous) account from an Atlantic reader who claims to have worked for Pletka at the American Enterprise Institute:</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A number of years ago I worked for Danielle Pletka for a summer as a researcher, and her piece today matches the "scholarship" she and AEI were producing in the early part of this decade<b>. I was rarely if ever asked to perform background research on a subject but was more often asked to provide specific evidence to support ready made assertations.</b> At the time AEI was mobilizing in support of military action against Iraq, and it was quite clear to me that the academic process was reversed - positions designed, research dug up to support the positions.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This seems like an opportune moment to mention that Pletka is widely known as a varsity-level cheerleader for the Iraq War. More recently, she demonstrated her intricate knowledge of the conflict by suggesting to the French ambassador on Twitter that France had joined the U.S. in the conflict. OK, so that was completely and laughably wrong (Remember the idiotic Freedom Fries charade?), but at least by 2013 she was...still defending the invasion. Yes, after it embroiled the region in sectarian conflict, and after all the reasons people like Pletka peddled for going in were proven to be baseless. Eventually, this genius foreign-policy move led to the rise of ISIS. This is just another example of how<b>, if you work in the Beltway, there are absolutely zero consequences for being completely wrong about everything.</b></span></div><div>
</div><div>In fact, if you work at a think tank like AEI, it might just get you a raise—if you stick to the party line. All think tanks are, to some extent, mouthpieces for their donors, but that particularly goes for a right-wing gun-for-hire shop like the Institute. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Guardian uncovered how AEI works to undermine the science on climate change in 2007:</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Travel expenses and additional payments were also offered.</div><div>And what did that ExxonMobil funding look like?</div><div>
</div><div><b>The AEI has received more than $1.6m from ExxonMobil </b>and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI's board of trustees.</div><div>
</div><div>You may remember that Exxon was also exposed as having discovered, through the work of its own scientists, that climate change was real as early as 1977. Instead of accepting this reality and beginning the work of responding to the burgeoning climate crisis, Exxon chose to fund disinformation on the topic for decades, protecting their profits in the shorter term. They're not alone among oil-and-gas outfits, many of which simultaneously started building their rigs to accommodate sea-level rise that would result from the climate change that, in public, they steadfastly disputed was happening.</div><div>
</div><div>One way to fund disinformation is to pay a think tank like AEI to spread it for you. And that's what Pletka was still doing, on Sunday, after just the latest report dropped detailing the catastrophic consequences of our inaction on the climate crisis. The U.S. report focused on the fact that the crisis will melt 10 percent of the American economy and send it crashing into the ocean by 2100. Farmers in the midwest will lose 75 percent of the crop yield on their corn. Rising sea levels will put trillions of dollars in coastal real estate in jeopardy. But last month's report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—compiled by 91 leading scientists from 40 different countries based on more than 6,000 scientific studies conducted by still more scientists—was even more apocalyptic. It found that human civilization as we know it will be in severe peril by 2040, and that we have 12 years to dramatically change course to avoid that scenario.</div><div>
</div><div>Amid all that, news programs like Chuck Todd's Meet The Press—offerings that putatively exist to inform the public about the world around them—are still playing host to people who are paid to spread false information about the world. Todd is not alone:<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> CNN hosted Rick Santorum on Sunday. Like NBC News, which employs Pletka as a contributor, they pay Rick directly to spread nonsense.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">...this Week talked about the climate report for two minutes with Sen. Amy Klobuchar and noted that the administration tried to bury it.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The report did not, from what I can tell, come up on the rest of the hour-long show...[vid]</span></div><div>
</div><div>whitehouse sen</div><div>
</div><div>Here's paid CNN commentator Rick Santorum praising the Trump administration for trying to bury the climate report, arguing that climate change is made up by scientists trying to make some money pic.twitter.com/lBpLMexgt9...</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>This festering boil on the body politic highlights another in-vogue conservative argument: that the scientists who've devoted their lives to studying the climate are really just in it for those juicy government grants to continue studying it. It's all about the money! As usual in this era, this is a case of accusing the opposition of something you're already up to.</div><div>
</div><div>Santorum is applying the incentive structure that exists for massive multinational oil and gas corporations and those they employ—seeking out certain findings because you have a vested financial interest in a certain outcome—to climate scientists. In reality, the kind of conspiracy that right-wingers like Santorum are alleging here would be perhaps unprecedented in scale. If this is all a big con, thousands of climate scientists spread across dozens of countries would need to all be getting their kickbacks, and have a way to secretly stay on-message. It's absurdly unlikely, and it belies the aforementioned way that the scientific community vets a scientific report's findings.</div><div>
</div><div>Oh, and the money in government grants ain't actually that good. That's why some "scientists" might take, say, $10,000 from AEI to dispute the scientific consensus. It's all bullshit, folks, and it's bad for ya.</div><div>
</div><div>...ay that the nation's major television news stations routinely play host to propagandists who are paid, directly or indirectly, to spread disinformation and muddy the waters to protect the interests of massive energy corporations, all at the expense of the future of human civilization.When Pletka said emissions are down since President Trump withdrew from the Paris climate accords—making the U.S. the only nation in the world that refuses to participate—that was just true enough: they are down in 2018, though the rate of emissions reductions slowed from the previous two years and will likely continue to slow as the Trump administration attempts to roll back our efforts to combat the crisis. The crown jewel in that regard is the Clean Power Plan, our main vehicle for meeting our obligations under the Paris agreement, which Trump has sought to repeal. At the very least, Todd is obligated to challenge this crap if he's going to host a dishonest broker—or host someone who can. </div><div>
</div><div>According to John Whitehouse of MediaMatters, none of the Sunday Shows hosted a single scientist while covering the climate in 2016 and 2017.</div><div>
</div><div>[RELATED STORIES</div><div>
</div><div>It's the Golden Age of Climate Denial</div><div>
</div><div>There Are Very Fine Scientists on Both Sides]</div><div>
</div><div>The Meet The Press chief will certainly defend his decision to host a climate-change "skeptic" on the basis of "intellectual diversity" and Hearing From Both Sides, as if what his viewers need is to hear both the truth and utter nonsense. Both Sides are not operating in good faith here. One side accepts the scientific consensus. On the other, the Republican Party is the only major political party in the industrialized world that disputes it. Both Sides Journalism, which falsely equates the truth about the world we've determined through the scientific method with self-serving crap dished out by the instruments of oil interests, has made it politically palatable to do nothing, for decades, about an existential threat to humanity. Friday's report further underlined the crisis facing humankind. Two days later, Meet The Press showcased part of how we've allowed things to get to this point.</div><div>
</div><div>But since we're on the topic of intellectual diversity, here's a suggestion: If Chuck Todd wants to talk about a scientific topic, how about having a fucking scientist on?</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>=</div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rider on old bill keeps CDC from research (on guns, lifted in big tax cut?)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">icn blk friday scam BS nat assess</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fact-Checking the Attacks</font></h3><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The administration and its allies appear to be repeating one main talking point in their effort to discredit the National Climate Assessment: They claim, inaccurately, that the report represents only a worst-case scenario. It actually reflects a broad range of possible future outcomes—along with an enormity of direct, present-day observations of the impacts of global warming.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The naysayers are trying to build that falsehood on a number of misleading assertions:</font></p><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em 3em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/press-briefing-press-secretary-sarah-sanders-director-nec-larry-kudlow-nsc-advisor-john-bolton-112818/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders</a> said "even Obama's undersecretary for science didn't believe the radical conclusions of the report that was released." This appears to be a reference to Steven Koonin, a former chief scientist for BP, who spent 18 months as an undersecretary in the Obama administration's energy department. Koonin has long maintained climate science is not "settled," and has argued the government should have a red-team/blue-team debate—an idea championed unsuccessfully by former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sanders also said that the National Climate Assessment "is based on the most extreme modeled scenario, which contradicts long-established trends." But in fact the report considered the <a href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/2/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">full range of climate scenarios</a> set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, looking at what will happen if carbon emissions decline, if they stabilize, and if they continue to grow unabated. As Hayhoe noted in<a href="https://twitter.com/KHayhoe/status/1067458211576496129" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;"> her Twitter thread,</a> "the observed increase in global carbon emissions over the past 15–20 years has been consistent with higher scenarios."<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trump EPA put out a news release it called a "fact check" on Wednesday, citing an article on the conservative website The Daily Caller to try to bolster an assertion by Wheeler that Obama administration's science adviser John Holdren instructed the report's authors in 2015 to look at worst-case scenarios. "Mr. Wheeler's insinuation is absolutely false," Holdren, now at Harvard, responded in a <a href="https://mahb.stanford.edu/breaking-news/john-holdrens-comment-andrew-wheelers-allegation-fourth-national-climate-assessment/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">statement.</a> "Assertions by high officials of the Trump administration that these are 'worst case' reports are nothing more than a flimsy attempt to discredit the careful and comprehensive work of some of the best climate scientists in the country, inside and outside of government," Holdren said.</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, said the administration might intervene in future climate reports</b>. "Going forward, I think we need to take a look at the modeling that's used for the next assessment," Wheeler <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/28/epa-trump-next-climate-study-992872" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">said.</a> But the report underwent<a href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/front-matter-about/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;"> several rounds of technical and policy review </a>by the 13 federal agencies involved. There was a series of regional engagement workshops that reached more than 1,000 people in over 40 cities, with listening sessions, webinars and public comment. An<a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/25013/chapter/3" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;"> expert external peer review</a> of the whole report was performed by a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /> </font></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c7acc346-7fff-817b-d6e4-e4e67f79f293" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>Roger Pielke Jr.</b>, a political scientist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/RogerPielkeJr/status/1067209652205641728" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">took issue with the report </a>for including a figure that was widely quoted in the media: that U.S. GDP could take a 10 percent hit by 2100 due to climate change. The estimate was derived from an innovative, cutting-edge modeling of climate impacts on the U.S. economy <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6345/1362" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">published in the journal <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Science</em></a>. Pielke, who often says he agrees with the core science on global warming but disputes how it is applied, argued this headline-grabbing data point should not have been included, since it reflected a scenario of more global warming than is commonly reckoned in modeling. <span id="docs-internal-guid-b9ece3fe-7fff-7bf5-d3bd-96ec452628f0" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Robert Kopp, a climate scientist at Rutgers University and co-author of the <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Science </em>paper, said the team purposefully took into account the unlikely</span>—<span style="box-sizing: inherit;">though not impossible</span>—<span style="box-sizing: inherit;">scenario at the end of the charted curve because of its potentially large consequences. "We were deliberately trying to include tail risks, not just 'most likely' outcomes, because consideration of tail risks is crucial to sound risk management," Kopp said in an email.</span></font></li></ul><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The arguments of the Trump administration have been <a href="https://weather.com/science/environment/news/2018-11-29-climate-deniers-found-themselves-on-tv" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">amplified in media</a> coverage in the aftermath of the report's release.  </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Danielle Pletka of the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute prefacing her remarks with the caveat, "I'm not a scientist," before delivering a blizzard of inaccuracies on Sunday's "Meet the Press" </span>on NBC aimed at undermining the report's credibility. Pletka said the last two years have been the coldest on record, when in fact they have been among the warmest. She said the U.S. "is not using dirty coal anymore," when in fact about 30 percent of U.S. power is still generated by coal and only <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44902.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">one</a> U.S. coal plant has technology in place to capture some of its carbon emissions.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hayhoe pre-taped an appearance on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 show to talk about the National Climate Assessment on Tuesday, but her appearance—<a href="https://twitter.com/windbarb/status/1068178498345418753" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">though posted online</a>—was bumped from the TV broadcast. CNN instead aired a segment with paid <a href="http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2017/01/18/cnn-adds-to-its-roster-of-commentators-and-contributors/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">contributor Rick Santorum</a>, a former Republican U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, who accused climate scientists of stoking alarm to make money.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">epa res ctr shut down, child res put on admin leave... see kid killers eg</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/koch-epa-industry-david-dunlap-chemical-water-1f08cfa2fb01/">https://thinkprogress.org/koch-epa-industry-david-dunlap-chemical-water-1f08cfa2fb01/</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Environmental Protection Agency has hired a former Koch Industries staffer who worked on water and chemical policy to fill a key role within the agency, continuing a Trump administration trend of appointing company insiders to oversee the industries they are meant to regulate.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">David Dunlap, a former Koch chemical engineer who has served as director of policy and regulatory affairs with the right-wing corporation since 2010, is joining the EPA as deputy assistant administrator for research and development. Prior to his eight years with Koch, Dunlap <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dunlap-david-78981834/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">worked</a> for the Chlorine Institute overseeing health and environmental safety, in addition to roles with both the Uniform and Textile Service Association and Ogden Environmental.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“As a chemical engineer, Mr. Dunlap has worked on environmental issues for nearly 30 years with a focus on<b> assessing risk,</b>” read a statement from EPA chief of staff Ryan Jackson. “His extensive experience on regulatory issues will be pivotal in our mission to protect human health and the environment.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/koch-industries-inc-holdings-investments" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Koch Industries</a> is a massive conglomerate overseen by the Koch brothers, major conservative donors who have spent decades undercutting U.S. climate and environmental policies — the brothers’ fortune was made largely from fossil fuels but has since expanded to chemicals and manufacturing.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In April, Senate Democrats <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/democrats-send-letter-to-trump-about-koch-influence-a325904aa03c/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">indicated</a> that they would probe the influence of the brothers on Trump administration policies, specifically with reference to the EPA and the Department of the Interior. Th<b>e Kochs have appeared to take credit for the rollback of the Clean Power Plan, among other Obama-era initiatives targeted by the Trump administration.</b></font></p><div class="related-contentwrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 2rem;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/democrats-send-letter-to-trump-about-koch-influence-a325904aa03c/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><div class="related-contentbody" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 513px;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/democrats-send-letter-to-trump-about-koch-influence-a325904aa03c/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/democrats-send-letter-to-trump-about-koch-influence-a325904aa03c/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/democrats-send-letter-to-trump-about-koch-influence-a325904aa03c/" style="box-sizing: inherit; 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text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/democrats-send-letter-to-trump-about-koch-influence-a325904aa03c/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/democrats-send-letter-to-trump-about-koch-influence-a325904aa03c/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/democrats-send-letter-to-trump-about-koch-influence-a325904aa03c/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/democrats-send-letter-to-trump-about-koch-influence-a325904aa03c/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/democrats-send-letter-to-trump-about-koch-influence-a325904aa03c/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/democrats-send-letter-to-trump-about-koch-influence-a325904aa03c/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">[Scope of Koch influence on Trump climate policy under scrutiny]</font></a></h3></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A spokesperson for Koch Industries <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/epa-names-former-koch-industries-figure-chief-of-research/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">told</a> Courthouse News on Monday that Dunlap is “not working for Koch Industries in any capacity” at this time, indicating that he has officially left his prior position with the company.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Dunlap’s predecessor, Richard Yamada, left the EPA in September after only 15 months in the position. Yamada was largely seen as one of the chief drivers behind a<a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);"> deeply controversial “secret science” policy proposal</a> attempting to limit the use of private data in scientific studies. Such efforts have been a pet cause of retiring Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX); Yamada previously had a role working with Smith to draft similar legislation prior to interest from the Trump administration.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>And during former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt’s tenure, the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/heritage-foundation" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Heritage Foundation</a> — which has received numerous donations from the Koch brothers over the years — <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060076559" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">hosted a closed-door meeting</a> with Pruitt and others to discuss the policy.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">n his new role, Dunlap will help to oversee a number of crucial programs. The risk assessment program that produced a health study linking formaldehyde to cancer, for instance, falls under the EPA’s research and development arm. Trump administration officials <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/06/epa-formaldehyde-warnings-blocked-696628" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">have blocked that report</a>, seemingly due to pressure from the chemical industry. Formaldehyde is a prevalent chemical throughout the United States and is often found in items like particle boards and crease-resistant fabrics.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Georgia-Pacific Chemicals LLC, a Koch Industries subsidiary, is one of the largest formaldehyde producers in the country, and has lobbied against the study’s release <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-energy/2018/10/02/senate-to-run-lwcf-revival-359188" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">according to Politico</a>. As a former Koch employee, Dunlap will now be in a position to direct the study’s future, amid a heavy industry lobbying effort.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The EPA is in the midst of a controversial streamlining effort; last week, the agency announced that th<b>e Office of the Science Advisor will be closing.</b> Meanwhile, Dunlap’s appointment <a href="https://insideepa.com/daily-news/epa-taps-koch-industries-chemical-engineer-lead-research-office" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">will provide a measure of political leadership</a> within the EPA while allowing the Trump administration to avoid a Senate confirmation hearing.</font></p><div class="related-contentwrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 2rem;"><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; 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text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;" /><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-secret-science-epa-lamar-smith-f5efd1dab736/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border: none; display: flex;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">[Politics-driven ‘secret science’ initiative isn’t going over well with EPA staff]</font></a></h3></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Recent battles over agency nominees with industry backgrounds have proven bruising for the White House, although the administration has largely succeeded in its efforts to appoint officials <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/ferc-chairman-tied-to-industry-34a9af1be02d/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">with strong ties to the companies and sectors</a> they now oversee. That includes acting EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler, who <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/andrew-wheeler-epa-regulations-stand-test-of-time-61172b68ec52/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">previously served as a coal lobbyist</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 2.1875rem; line-height: 2.5rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Green groups and advocates argue that revolving door between industry and the federal government has taken a toll on environmental regulations. The Trump administration has overseen an onslaught of environmental regulation rollbacks, many directly benefiting fossil fuel industries, chemical companies, and corporate interests more broadly. Most recently, the EPA has indicated <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/epa-rollback-mercury-rule-trump-obama-health-coal-e66b43ec1501/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">that it will propose easing limitations on the toxic chemical mercury</a>, in a victory for the coal industry.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">desmog 918</font></div><div><div class="views-field views-field-body" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" style="overflow: inherit;"><div class="field-content"><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/morgan-currie-335025" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Morgan Currie</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/stanford-university-890" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Stanford University</a></em>and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/britt-s-paris-339647" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Britt S. Paris</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-california-los-angeles-1301" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">University of California, Los Angeles</a></em></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After Donald Trump won the presidential election, hundreds of volunteers around the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> came together to “rescue” federal data on climate change, thought to be at risk under the new administration. “<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38324045" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Guerilla archivists</a>,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-guerrilla-archivists-saved-history-and-are-doing-it-again-under-trump-72346" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">including ourselves</a>, gathered to archive federal websites and preserve scientific data.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But what has happened since? Did the data vanish?<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/09/12/buried-altered-silenced-4-ways-government-climate-information-has-changed-trump-took-office" style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase;">READ MORE</a></font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">def fund:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The federal government <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://csldf.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=635c98e780ac7191328d30eeb&id=a9f4040057&e=15e3916d62">has now tried to restrict science 155 times</a> — about once every four days — since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, according to the <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://csldf.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=635c98e780ac7191328d30eeb&id=348fa59164&e=15e3916d62">Silencing Science Tracker</a> we maintain with the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. “It’s a pretty constant drumbeat,” <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://csldf.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=635c98e780ac7191328d30eeb&id=2b287439b0&e=15e3916d62">Lauren Kurtz, our executive director, told <em>Earther</em>.</a>

<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://csldf.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=635c98e780ac7191328d30eeb&id=48048f9294&e=15e3916d62"><img src="https://ecp.yusercontent.com/mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgallery.mailchimp.com%2F635c98e780ac7191328d30eeb%2Fimages%2Fff1a3238-4bc2-5ea8-8268-460b58646db6.jpg&t=1535556952&ymreqid=b783708d-3ee7-b602-1cb6-350d3101fc00&sig=f_N_ZVm0GuagNrVKP2A63w--_C" width="340" height="236" align="right" style="border: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; width: 340px; min-height: 236px; margin-top: 3px; margin-right: 3px; margin-bottom: 3px; height: auto !important;" /></a><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://csldf.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=635c98e780ac7191328d30eeb&id=ea88dfd896&e=15e3916d62">More than three-quarters of the Tracker entries involve attempts to silence climate science</a><b>, with the highest number of attacks occurring at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)</b>.

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One of the most troubling is <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://csldf.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=635c98e780ac7191328d30eeb&id=26bdc458bf&e=15e3916d62">the "science transparency" rule</a> proposed by the EPA, which would prohibit the agency from taking many scientific studies into consideration when making policy decisions. The EPA received nearly half a million comments on this proposal;</span> among them <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://csldf.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=635c98e780ac7191328d30eeb&id=35fee0a879&e=15e3916d62">are comments we submitted explaining our opposition</a> to the rule.

While climate scientists often face harassment, for women in climate science there is frequently another layer of hostility. Lauren Kurtz recently spoke with <em>E&E News</em> about <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://csldf.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=635c98e780ac7191328d30eeb&id=06c0925fdd&e=15e3916d62">how women in this field are attacked based on their gender</a>.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><header class="headline_block" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h1 class="headline " style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">IG halts climate censorship investigation</font></h1><section class="byline" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0.25em 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold;"><p class="authors" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.eenews.net/staff/Adam_Aton" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">Adam Aton</a>, E&E News reporter</font></p><time datetime="2018-08-16 07:42:17 -0400" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Published: Thursday, August 16, 2018</font></time></section></header><section class="login" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><section class="excerpt" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Interior Department's Office of Inspector General has dropped its investigation into allegations that the National Park Service censored a climate change report.</font></p></section></section></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://columbiaclimatelaw.com/silencing-science-tracker/epas-use-of-scientific-studies-restricted/">http://columbiaclimatelaw.com/silencing-science-tracker/epas-use-of-scientific-studies-restricted/</a></font></div><div><h2 class="sst-page-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 32.4px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">EPA’s Use of Scientific Studies Restricted</font></h2><div class="metadata" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 35px;"><div class="author-time" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px;"><span class="time" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Date:</strong> March 19th, 2018</font></span></div><div class="categories-tags" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px;"><div class="agency" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Agency:</strong> <a href="http://columbiaclimatelaw.com/silencing-science-tracker/agency/us-epa/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box;">US EPA</a></font></div><div class="explanation" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Explanation:</strong> <a href="http://columbiaclimatelaw.com/silencing-science-tracker/explanation/bias-and-misrepresentation/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Bias and Misrepresentation</a></font></div><div class="scientist" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Scientist:</strong> <a href="http://columbiaclimatelaw.com/silencing-science-tracker/scientist/other/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Other</a></font></div></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On March 19, 2018, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2018/03/19/epa-scott-pruitt-secret-science/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">announced</a> a new “science transparency policy” that restricts the scientific studies used in agency rulemakings. Under the policy, EPA will no longer use studies incorporating non-public scientific data in rulemakings, as has been its longstanding practice.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Administrator Pruitt has argued that the new policy is needed to prevent the use of so-called “secret science” that cannot be tested by third parties. In an <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2018/03/19/epa-scott-pruitt-secret-science/" style="box-sizing: border-box;">interview</a> published in The Daily Caller, Administrator Pruitt said:</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“If we use a third party to engage in scientific review or inquiry, and that’s the basis of rulemaking, you and every American citizen across the country deserve to know what’s the data, what’s the methodology that was used to reach that conclusion that was the underpinning of what — rules that were adopted by this agency.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Pruitt, if a study’s data and methodology are not published, “it’s not transparent. It’s not [able to be] objectively measured, and that’s important.” Others, however, point out that the studies undergo peer review. In an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/opinion/pruitt-attack-science-epa.html?mtrref=www.google.com&assetType=opinion" style="box-sizing: border-box;">op-ed</a> published in The New York Times, former top EPA officials Gina McCarthy and Janet McCabe wrote:</font></p><div id="shell" class="shell" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="page" class="page" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><article id="story" class="story theme-main " style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="story-body-supplemental" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="story-body story-body-1" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="story-body-text story-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Peer review ensures that the analytic methodologies underlying studies funded by the agency are sound . . .</font></p><div id="shell" class="shell" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="page" class="page" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><article id="story" class="story theme-main " style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="story-body-supplemental" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="story-body story-body-2" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="story-body-text story-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[Administrator Pruitt] and some conservative members of Congress are setting up a nonexistent problem in order to prevent the E.P.A. from using the best available science. These studies adhere to all professional standards and meet every expectation of the scientific community in terms of peer review and scientific integrity.”</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">McCarthy and McCabe also emphasized that the new policy would restrict the studies able to be used in EPA rulemakings. They wrote:</font></p><div id="shell" class="shell" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="page" class="page" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><article id="story" class="story theme-main " style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="story-body-supplemental" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="story-body story-body-1" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="story-body-text story-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Some of [the] studies [at issue], particularly those that determine the effects of exposure to chemicals and pollution on health, rely on medical records that by law are confidential because of patient privacy policies. These studies summarize the analysis of raw data and draw conclusions based on that analysis. Other government agencies also use studies like these to develop policy and regulations, and to buttress and defend rules against legal challenges. They are, in fact, essential to making sound public policy . . .</font></p><div id="shell" class="shell" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="page" class="page" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><article id="story" class="story theme-main " style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="story-continues-2" class="story-interrupter" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> For instance, foundational epidemiological research into the effects of air pollution on health by scientists at Harvard and the American Cancer Society established a clear connection between exposure to fine particles and increased mortality. This research led to further studies that supported the development of air quality standards and rules requiring industry to reduce pollution, improving health and reducing costs for millions of Americans.</font></div><div class="story-body-supplemental" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="story-body story-body-2" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="story-body-text story-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet, because the personal health data associated with individuals participating in the studies were obtained with guarantees of confidentiality, Mr. Pruitt apparently would have argued for those studies to be tossed out had he been at the helm then.”</font></p><table style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 1px solid rgb(255, 51, 51); padding: 10px;"><tbody style="box-sizing: border-box;"><tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td width="100%" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Update</strong></span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">:</span> </strong>On April 24, 2018, Administrator Pruitt signed a <a href="https://www.eenews.net/assets/2018/04/24/document_pm_04.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box;">proposed rule</a> intended to implement the “science transparency policy.” The rule provides that, “when EPA develops regulations, including regulations for which the public is likely to bear the cost of compliance, with regard to those scientific studies that are pivotal to the action being taken, EPA should ensure that the data underlying those are publicly available in a manner sufficient for independent validation.”</font><p style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On May 17, 2018, E&E News <a href="https://perma.cc/7KYY-L2K3" style="box-sizing: border-box;">reported</a> that the science transparency policy “closely resemble[s]” proposals put forward by industry groups, including the National Association of Manufactures and American Petroleum Institute.</font></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></article></div></div></div></div></article></div></div></div></div></article></div></div></div></div></article></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ICN 7/18</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">...Researchers also have been <a href="https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/pubhealth/hat/noms/mtr_mining/index.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">studying the impact</a> of mountaintop removal operations on the health of people living nearby.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last August, the Trump administration, <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21082017/mountaintop-mining-coal-health-study-scrapped-trump" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">halted</a> a health study on the impacts of mountaintop mining that was already underway by the National Academy of Sciences. A Department of Interior Inspector General's review found in June that the study had been canceled for no clear reason.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The study has not resumed, though, and the committee was disbanded earlier this year,</span> Jennifer Walsh, spokeswoman for the <b>National Academies of Sciences</b>, Engineering and Medicine, told InsideClimate News on Tuesday.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The National Academies still believe this is an important study of the potential health risks for people living near surface coal mine sites in Central Appalachia," she said.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/06/epa-formaldehyde-warnings-blocked-696628" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/06/epa-formaldehyde-warnings-blocked-696628</a></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">many lnx</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump administration is suppressing an Environmental Protection Agency report that warns that most Americans inhale enough formaldehyde vapor in the course of daily life to put them at risk of developing leukemia and other ailments, </b>a current and a former agency official told POLITICO.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The warnings are contained in a draft health assessment EPA scientists completed just before Donald Trump became president, according to the officials. They said top advisers to departing Administrator Scott Pruitt are delaying its release as part of a campaign to undermine the agency’s independent research into the health risks of toxic chemicals.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Andrew Wheeler,</b> the No. 2 official at EPA who will be the agency's new acting chief as of Monday, also has a history with the chemical. He was staff director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in 2004, when his boss, then-Chairman Jim <b>Inhofe (R-Okla.), sought to delay an earlier iteration of the formaldehyde assessment.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Formaldehyde is one of the most commonly used chemicals in the country. Americans are exposed to it through wood composites in cabinets and furniture, as well as air pollution from major refineries. The new assessment would give greater weight to warnings about the chemical's risks and could lead to stricter regulations from the EPA or class-action lawsuits targeting its manufacturers, as frequently occurs after these types of studies are released.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They’re stonewalling every step of the way,” the current official said, accusing political appointees of interfering with the formaldehyde assessment and other reports on toxic chemicals produced by EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System. Industry has long faulted the IRIS program, the agency’s only independent scientific division evaluating the health risks of toxic chemicals, whose assessments often form the basis for federal and state regulations.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The current official and former official requested anonymity out of fear for their jobs and the impact that speaking out could have on the IRIS program.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Interfering with the formaldehyde study is one of several steps Trump's EPA has taken to side with the businesses the agency is supposed to regulate and undermine the agency's approach to science, critics say. Public health advocates also expressed alarm after Pruitt replaced academic scientists with industry advocates on the agency’s influential science advisory boards and sought to limit the types of human health research the EPA can rely on in rulemakings.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The officials said Trump appointees have required that career officials receive their permission before beginning the required internal review of the formaldehyde study and have canceled key briefings that would have advanced it.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> That interference came after EPA career scientists revised the study once already last year to insulate it from political controversy, they said.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a statement, EPA denied that the assessment was being held back.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“EPA continues to discuss this assessment with our agency program partners and have no further updates to provide at this time," EPA spokeswoman Kelsi Daniell said. “Assessments of this type are often the result of needs for particular rulemakings and undergo an extensive intra-agency and interagency process.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But as long ago as January, Pruitt told a Senate panel that he believed the draft assessment was complete.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Five months later, it has yet to see the light of day. Meanwhile, internal documents show, a trade group representing businesses that could face new regulations and lawsuits if the study were released had frequent access to top EPA officials and pressed them to either keep it under wraps or change its findings.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“As stated in our meeting, a premature release of a draft assessment … will cause irreparable harm to the companies represented by the Panel and to the many companies and jobs that depend on the broad use of the chemical,” Kimberly Wise White, who leads the American Chemistry Council’s Formaldehyde Panel</b>, wrote in a Jan. 26 letter to top officials at the EPA. The panel represents companies including the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Koch Industries</b> subsidiary Georgia-Pacific Chemicals LLC that could face higher costs from stricter regulations or lawsuits.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmentalists: Pruitt's replacement 'should scare anyone who breathes'</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By ERIC WOLFF</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Nearly a million jobs “depend on the use of formaldehyde,”</b> White’s letter argued.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The holdup is attracting attention on Capitol Hill, where Democrats have already expressed alarm, arguing that the Trump administration has allowed politics to interfere in EPA’s scientific assessments of threats such as toxic pollution and climate change.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The agency must “move past politics and focus on its job of protecting human health” by releasing the formaldehyde study, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement to POLITICO.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Because formaldehyde can be found in everything from wood products to women’s hair straighteners, the public health risks are substantial,” Markey said. “Delaying the EPA’s latest assessment of the health risks of formaldehyde only further endangers the health of Americans."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Public health advocates have similarly expressed fears that the Trump administration has allowed EPA to be captured by the industries it regulates. The revelations about the formaldehyde study come after Pruitt removed academic scientists from the agency’s influential science advisory boards and in many cases replaced them with industry advocates, and after he proposed a policy to limit the agency's use of human health data while offering a carve-out for confidential industry studies.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“At every corner, you see the agency trying to either minimize the role of science or manipulate the role of science or just ignore the work of scientists in doing the critical work to ensure that human health and the environment is protected,” said Jennifer McPartland, a senior scientist with the <b>Environmental Defense Fund’s</b> health program.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">POLITICO also reported in May that Trump administration officials, including EPA chief of staff Ryan Jackson, sought to delay an HHS study finding that nonstick chemicals pose health dangers at a lower level than EPA has said is safe.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Insiders anticipate few major policy changes under Wheeler, who is widely expected to continue Pruitt's deregulatory agenda and is well-versed in chemicals issues. He began his career in EPA's chemical safety office, and after leaving Inhofe's staff lobbied for<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> several chemicals companies, including <b>Celanese Corp.</b>, a major formaldehyde manufacturer and ICOR International, a refrigerants manufacturer that was recently acquired by Chemours Co., a DuPont spin-off. A Celanese spokesman said Wheeler worked only on the Renewable Fuels Standard for the company, although Wheeler’s disclosure forms describe his lobbying as being on the broad topic of “chemicals issues.” Wheeler is not barred from working on chemicals issues under the recusal statement he signed in May.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Decades’ of research has linked formaldehyde to nose and throat cancer and respiratory problems, and newer research has suggested the connection to leukemia — controversial conclusions that would gain significant credence if EPA formally adopts them. The new assessment affirms those links to leukemia, nose and throat cancer and other ailments, according to the current and former officials familiar with its findings.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The new assessment could lead the EPA to impose stricter regulations of chemicals refineries or wood products and could spur class-action lawsuits from cancer patients attempting to hold companies responsible for their illnesses.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The agency officials said the political aides blocking the assessment include Jackson and <b>Richard Yamada, a former staffer for House Science Chairman Lamar Smith</b>(R-Texas) who is now a top official in EPA’s Office of Research and Development. And they said<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Nancy Beck, who criticized the IRIS program in her previous job as a top chemical industry expert, is now helping to stymie the program’s assessments in her new post as head of EPA’s chemical safety office</span>. Jackson, Yamada and Beck did not respond to requests for comment.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The EPA spokeswoman disputed the accusations and said Yamada and Jackson have, in fact, requested briefings on the assessment.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The current EPA official told POLITICO that political appointees have managed to avoid creating written evidence of their interference with the formaldehyde assessment by refusing to send emails or create other records that eventually could become public, instead using what the official described as “a children’s game of telephone."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By blocking the report at the first step of the IRIS review process, political appointees are keeping it from being reviewed by the National Academies of Sciences, an independent panel of the country's top scientists that must weigh in on all such risk assessments. EPA has already paid the academies $500,000 for that review, the highest level of scrutiny a scientific study can receive, but the work cannot start until Pruitt's aides send the study.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“If the administration was really keen on protecting public health, why wouldn’t they send this to the National Academy and give it a really good review?” the former EPA</b> official asked. “If it survives that review, then there’s a public health problem that needs to be dealt with, and if it doesn’t survive the review, then they can point the finger at IRIS and say, ‘You’re dead.’”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How Scott Pruitt blew it</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By ALEX GUILLÉN and ANDREW RESTUCCIA</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The former official said there would be only one reason not to ask the country’s top experts whether they agree with the analysis: “You don’t want the answer.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Public health advocates say the administration’s attacks on science have had especially<b> significant implications for the IRIS program.</b> The small office of about 35 experts pores over the huge body of existing research on chemicals, including industry-backed studies aimed at proving the substances safe, to independently assess their risks. While purely scientific, the program’s reviews are looked to by regulators not just at EPA, but also in the states and around the world, often paving the way for new or more stringent regulations.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But industry has long targeted the program, arguing it uses an opaque process to decide which studies to rely on and which research to give credence to when findings conflict.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The American Chemistry Council, Beck’s former employer, spent more than $7 million last year lobbying EPA and Congress </b>on issues including IRIS, formaldehyde and the policy to limit EPA’s use of human health research. Chemicals manufacturers, including Hexion, one of the country’s largest manufacturers of formaldehyde, have also spent tens of thousands of dollars on lobbying related to the program this year.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A National Academies panel agreed with some of industry’s criticisms of the IRIS program in a blistering review of an earlier iteration of the formaldehyde assessment that recommended major changes to how IRIS decides how much weight to give conflicting studies, although it did not attack the substance of its findings about the health effects of formaldehyde. Critics of the IRIS program have pointed to that review frequently as they have sought to kill it, including in an appropriations battle this spring. The EPA spokeswoman also pointed to that assessment in her statement. "The National Academy of Science and Congress in legislative reports have for years been highly critical of EPA’s previous assessments involving formaldehyde," she said.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>But te EPA has overhauled the program since then, hiring a new director for IRIS and a new head of the National Center for Environmental Assessment, in which it is housed.</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The changes have received high marks from the National Academies in two more recent reviews</span>, one in 2014 and one this past April. The latest formaldehyde assessment is expected to demonstrate further progress implementing the academies’ recommendations, potentially undermining industry critiques of the overall IRIS program if it were to be released.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although efforts to kill EPA’s independent scientific arbiter have so far failed, EPA officials and public health advocates say the program has been significantly hobbled under an administration with close ties to the chemicals industry.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">White, the top staffer for the American Chemistry Council’s Formaldehyde Panel,<b> wrote the EPA three times between September 2017 and January 2018, urging the agency to incorporate industry-funded research that found no link between formaldehyde and leukemia, and arguing that the studies shifted the scientific consensus away from the conclusion that it does. </b>In November, <b>Pruitt appointed her to the agency’s influential Science Advisory Board.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Less than a week after the council's Jan. 24 meeting with EPA, Pruitt himself confirmed that the report had been complete for months. During a Senate hearing at the end of January, Markey asked Pruitt for an update on the formaldehyde assessment, saying it was his understanding “that the EPA has finalized its conclusion that formaldehyde causes leukemia and other cancers and that [the] completed new assessment is ready to be released for public review, but is being held up."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“You know, my understanding is similar to yours,” Pruitt replied, promising to follow up.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Markey reminded Pruitt of the exchange in a May 17 letter. In a response Thursday, the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> agency’s principal deputy assistant administrator for science, Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, said EPA “continues to discuss the formaldehyde assessment internally and has no further updates to provide at this time."</span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/trump-administration-erodes-protections-endangered-animals-developers-new-attack">https://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/trump-administration-erodes-protections-endangered-animals-developers-new-attack</a></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">kitty bock HSUSA</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>...Now, a new action by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency puts at further peril endangered and threatened animals in the United States.</b></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The FWS has issued a memorandum prohibiting agency staff from even telling developers when they are required to file for a permit before they begin development projects on properties that could degrade the habitats of endangered and threatened species.</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/interior-warns-staffers-to-keep-mum-about-mandatory-endangered-species-protections_us_5aecee82e4b0ab5c3d65b4f7" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Huffington Post</a>, the memo, issued last month by the agency's principal deputy director Greg Sheehan, says it's "not appropriate" for staff to tell developers when they need to obtain such a permit—even though it may be required by law in many circumstances.</span></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The situation is pretty simple to understand: the survival of wildlife depends on biologically healthy and intact ecosystems and habitats, and our government should be giving the benefit of the doubt to imperiled species, not to commercial interests. Notification of the requirement to secure a permit is not onerous red tape; it’s a sign of a functional and effective government.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>I have written before about Sheehan, who is closely associated with <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/2015/09/report-exposes-safari-club-international-trophy-madness.html?credit=blog_post_051118_idhome-page" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Safari Club International</a>, a membership club for American trophy hunters</b>. In March, Sheehan greenlighted the lifting of existing bans on the import of elephant and lion trophies from certain African countries and signaled that FWS will approve such imports on a case-by-case basis—a decision that the Humane Society of the United States is challenging in federal court.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last year the FWS prematurely and unlawfully <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/2018/04/alert-help-us-stop-wyoming-idaho-opening-trophy-hunts-yellowstone-grizzlies.html?credit=blog_post_051118_idhome-page" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">removed ESA protections for grizzly bears</a> in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, leading states in the region to move to open up a trophy hunting season for these great bears.</font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pandering to commercial interests and reducing transparency has become an alarming tendency for this administration, especially at the Department of the Interior. These furtive and reckless actions put at risk the beautiful wildlife that we all, as Americans, enjoy, cherish and wish to protect. We’ve got to stand up for wildlife, by standing strong against misguided moves by federal agencies charged with the protection of wild animal species.<b>The FWS has also established an "advisory board" stocked with trophy hunters, giving them a platform to destroy any and all barriers to international trophy hunting and the import of trophy heads and parts by U.S. citizens.</b></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/interior-warns-staffers-to-keep-mum-about-mandatory-endangered-species-protections_us_5aecee82e4b0ab5c3d65b4f7</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="1" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>New guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior now prohibit staff members from informing private interests when they must obtain a permit before they can develop properties where activities may affect habitats of endangered species.</b></font></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="2" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A <a href="https://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa-library/pdf/Guidance-on-When-to-Seek-an-Incidental-Take-Permit.pdf" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:2;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="1" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">memorandum issued last month</a> by the Fish and Wildlife Service principal deputy director, <b>Greg Sheehan,</b> declared that it’s “not appropriate” for staff to tell developers when they need to obtain such a permit — even though it may be required by law in many circumstances.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="3" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under a section of the 1973 <a href="https://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:3;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="2" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Endangered Species Act</a>, businesses and individuals must request what’s called an “incidental take permit” if they believe their developments could interfere with the habitats of endangered species.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="4" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sheehan insists in his memo that it’s the “decision of the applicant” whether or not to apply for such a permit. Staff members should not use “mandatory language (e.g., a permit is ‘required’),” the memo warns.</font></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="5" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The biological, legal, and economic risk assessment regarding whether to seek a permit belongs with the private party determining how to proceed,” Sheehan said.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="6" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Staffers will still be able to provide “critical technical assistance” when it’s requested, according to the memo.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="7" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The memo also appears to sharply limit situations where such permits may be required.</b> That includes only cases “where a non-federal project is<b> <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">likely</em></b> to result in a ‘take’ of a listed species of fish or wildlife ... habitat modification, in and of itself, does not necessarily constitute take,” according to the memo. That would seem to imply such a decision would rely on the judgment of a private interest with a commercial business at stake.  </font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="8" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Sheehan was the official who announced to trophy hunting lobby group Safari Club International </b>in Tanzania last year that the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/trump-administration/" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="4" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Trump administration</a> was <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-lift-ban-elephant-trophies_us_5a0cb765e4b0c0b2f2f78878" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="5" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">lifting an Obama-era ban on elephant trophies</a> from two African nations, Zimbabwe and Zambia.  <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/donald-trump" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="6" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Donald Trump</a> later held off on the action, but the ban was officially lifted again on a <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-administration-elephant-trophies_us_5a9e218ee4b0a0ba4ad7376b" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="7" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">“case-by-case basis”</a> in March.</font></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="9" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He’s considered among the Interior officials “behind the curtain who are really, really changing our public lands and setting a future direction that may or <a href="http://therevelator.org/zinke-aides-under-radar/" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:9;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="8" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">may not be consistent with what the law requires</a>,” <a href="http://environment.yale.edu/profile/lyons" target="blank" rel="noopener" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:9;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="9" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Jim Lyons</a>, a research scholar at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, told The Revelator.</font></font></p></div><div id="inline-newsletter_placeholder" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="10" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Environmental advocates have criticized Sheehan’s newest edict as a way to weaken regulations with the kind of single-handed action that has been a hallmark of the Trump administration.</b> Noah Greenwald of the environmental nonprofit <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:10;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="10" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Center for Biological Diversity</a> told The Hill that he believes it will be <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">harder to enforce requirements protecting habitats of endangered species because there will <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/386278-interior-guidance-disallows-employees-from-telling-builders-they" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:10;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="11" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">no longer be a record of permit recommendations</a>.</span></font></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="11" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The memo is the latest erosion of wildlife protections by the Trump administration. </font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="12" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The administration is also battling blanket safeguards when a species is declared threatened. Under the Endangered Species Act, once a species is listed as threatened, a series of protections <a href="https://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/factsheets/ESA%20SpecialRules%20Factsheet_020714.pdf" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:12;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="12" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">automatically go into effect</a>. Under a proposed new rule, specific protections would be decided on a case by case basis.</font></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="13" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An <a href="https://www.fws.gov/midwest/wolf/esastatus/e-vs-t.htm" target="blank" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:13;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid_p="13" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">endangered species</a> is at risk of extinction, while a threatened species is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. <a href="https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/reports/ad-hoc-species-report?kingdom=V&kingdom=I&status=E&status=T&status=EmE&status=EmT&status=EXPE&status=EXPN&status=SAE&status=SAT&mapstatus=3&fcrithab=on&fstatus=on&fspecrule=on&finvpop=on&fgroup=on&header=Listed+Animals" target="blank" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:13;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid_p="14" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Threatened species</a> include such animals as manatees, sea otters, the Guadalupe fur seal, wood bison, the gray wolf, the grizzly, the polar bear and the northern spotted owl. There are more than 300 threatened animal and plant species in the U.S. More than 500 animal species are endangered in the U.S.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="14" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last month, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke tapped Susan Combs — a rancher and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/04/04/a-fierce-opponent-of-the-endangered-species-act-is-picked-to-oversee-interiors-wildlife-policy/?twitter_impression=true&utm_term=.3747be3d08d4" target="blank" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:14;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid_p="15" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">fierce opponent of the Endangered Species Act</a> with strong ties to the oil industry — to serve as acting secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. </font></font></p></div></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dingdong</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/here-are-8-ways-outgoing-epa-chief-scott-pruitt-suppressed-science">https://www.alternet.org/here-are-8-ways-outgoing-epa-chief-scott-pruitt-suppressed-science</a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font><div style="font-weight: bold;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" 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Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here Are 8 Ways Outgoing EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Suppressed Science</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt leaves a legacy of suppressing the role of science at the agency</div><div>By Elizabeth Shogren / Center for Investigative Reporting July 7, 2018, </div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">EW</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">R</font><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/us-government-scientists-media-2580336653.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">eport: Trump Admin. Suppressing Media Access of Government Scientists</font></a></div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url expanded" data-elid="2580336653" data-authors="Lorraine Chow" data-headline="Report: Trump Admin. Suppressing Media Access of Government Scientists" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><div class="widgetbrief"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Trump</a> administration protocol requires U.S. Geological Survey (<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/usgs" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">USGS</a>) scientists to run interview requests with the Department of the Interior, its parent agency, before speaking to journalists, the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-trump-policy-usgs-scientists-20180621-story.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Los Angeles Times</a> reported.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The move is a departure from past media practices that allowed government scientists to quickly respond to journalists' inquiries, according to unnamed USGS employees interviewed by the Times.</font></p></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">The scientists fear the new rule would give taxpayers less exposure to USGS expertise, as journalists would seek scientific comments elsewhere.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"In the 44 years I was with the agency, I was never required to go through anyone for authorization to speak with a reporter," William Ellsworth, a former USGS scientist who is now at Stanford University told the Times. "The USGS is a nonpolitical science agency ... These new roadblocks will not help them fulfill their mission."</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scientists with USGS study the country's landscape, its natural resources and its natural hazards. The department also measures and analyzes natural and man-made factors that contribute to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">climate change</a>—an issue that has become <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/gop-federal-grants-climate-change-2580081151.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">increasingly partisan</a> since Donald Trump became president.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">The LA Times cited a April 25 email from Interior press secretary Heather Swift stating that it is standard procedure for scientists to first obtain approval for interviews with media outlets when the topics are considered "very controversial or ... likely to become a national story."</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">The new policy also allows Interior's communications office to turn down interview requests on certain topics, the Times reported.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Faith Vander Voort told the newspaper in an email that "the characterization that there is any new policy or that it for some reason targets scientists is completely false," and that Interior had only asked the USGS public affairs office to follow guidelines established in 2012 under President Obama.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">However, the guidelines do not say that scientists must get approval before speaking with reporters.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In fact, a 2015 <a href="https://www2.usgs.gov/usgs-manual/500/500-5.html" target="blank" title="https://www2.usgs.gov/usgs-manual/500/500-5.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">USGS manual</a> on news release and media relations policy states: "The USGS supports and encourages employees to speak on behalf of the USGS to news media representatives about their official work and freely and openly discuss scientific, scholarly, technical information, findings and conclusions based on their official, published work or area of expertise."</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A number of senior employees have left the Interior department headed by former Montana congressman <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Ryan Zinke</a>. Earlier this year, nearly all members of the National Park Service advisory panel abruptly quit in protest of the Trump administration's policies, which they say have neglected science, climate change and environmental protections.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We resigned because we were deeply disappointed with the department and we were concerned," the former head of the panel, Tony Knowles, told the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/climate/trump-national-parks.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">New York Times</a>. "[Zinke] appears to have no interest in continuing the agenda of science, the effect of climate change, pursuing the protection of the ecosystem.</font></p></div></div></div><div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/scientists-climate-change-language-us-2545036053.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Scientists Under Scrutiny in Newly Revealed Interior Department ... ›</a></font></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-scientists-conference-2500143723.html</font></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/center-science-and-democracy/promoting-scientific-integrity/2018-federal-scientists-survey" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">2018 Federal Scientists Survey FAQ | Union of Concerned Scientists ›</font></a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/01/26/government-scientists-at-u-s-climate-conference-terrified-to-speak-with-the-press/" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Government Scientists at U.S. Climate Conference Terrified to ... ›</font></a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-resist-idUSKBN15A0DI" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Defying Trump, Twitter feeds for U.S. government scientists go rogue ... ›</font></a></li></ul></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-trump-science-2571740964.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-trump-science-2571740964.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House Considered Ignoring Climate Science, Internal Memo Reveals</font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px;" /></font><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px;"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2571740964" data-authors="Climate Nexus" data-headline="White House Considered Ignoring Climate Science, Internal Memo Reveals" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Trump</a> administration debated whether it should attack or simply ignore federal research on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" style="text-decoration-line: none;">climate change</a>, </b>the Washington Post reported Wednesday.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A memo obtained by the Post written last September by former top White House energy and environmental aide Michael Catanzaro presented three pathways for the administration to approach climate science. The menu of options: conducting a red team/blue team exercise to "highlight uncertainties"; using the Administrative Procedure Act to formally attack scientific findings; or "ignor[ing], and not seek[ing] to characterize or question, the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">science</a> being conducted by federal agencies and outside entities." The memo did not present an option for endorsing federal climate science.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="text-align: center;">As reported by the </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/05/23/in-an-internal-memo-the-white-house-considered-whether-to-simply-ignore-federal-climate-research/?utm_term=.366c2c2cd57f" target="blank" style="text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;">Post</a><span style="text-align: center;">, the document "highlights the dilemma the administration has faced over climate change since Trump took office. Even as Trump's deputies have worked methodically to uproot policies aimed at curbing the nation's carbon output, the administration's agencies continue to produce reports showing that climate change is happening, is human-driven and is a threat to the United States."</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The scientific evidence about accelerating effects of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is so strong, and so prevalent, that it would be impossible to hush it up even if you wanted to," said Rush Holt, CEO of the <b>American Association for the Advancement of Science,</b> in a phone interview with the Post. "<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coral-reefs" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Coral</a>deaths and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/glaciers" style="text-decoration-line: none;">glacier</a> melting and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-level-rise" style="text-decoration-line: none;">sea-level rise</a>, and all of these things are just so well documented and there's just new evidence every day, whether it's from USGS, or [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration], or NASA, or Department of Energy, or various academic institutions. It just can't be swept under the rug."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> no many lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/climate/epa-kelly-perrotta-resignations.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/climate/epa-kelly-perrotta-resignations.html</a>
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</div><div>The departures include Pasquale Perrotta, who served as Mr. Pruitt’s chief of security and helped facilitate the costly and unusual team of bodyguards and other protective measures provided to Mr. Pruitt — measures that critics have called unnecessary.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Also departing was Albert Kelly, a longtime friend of Mr. Pruitt’s and a former banker who received a lifetime ban from the finance industry last year following a banking violation. Mr. Kelly ran the agency’s Superfund program, which oversees the cleanup of hazardous waste sites.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The resignations of Mr. Kelly and Mr. Perrotta follow a string of reports of Mr. Pruitt’s lavish spending and alleged conflicts of interest, including his office’s illegal purchase of a secure telephone booth, his condominium-rental agreement with the wife of an energy lobbyist, and accusations that he demoted or sidelined E.P.A. employees who questioned his actions.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Mr. Pruitt, who is the subject of 11 federal investigations, is now seeking to establish a legal defense fund, according to four people familiar with his plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not directly involved with setting up the fund. These people said they expect Mr. Pruitt to operate the fund privately, with no E.P.A. affiliation.</div><div>
</div><div>When asked about the fund, Jahan Wilcox, an E.P.A. spokesman, said, “E.P.A. does not set up a legal expense fund for any employee.”</div><div>
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</div><div>The people familiar with Mr. Pruitt’s legal defense fund said they did not know what legal or financial form the fund would take.</div><div>
</div><div>The practice among administration officials of setting up some form of outside fund or account to help defray the cost of legal expenses dates back to at least the Nixon administration, said Robert Rizzi, a tax attorney who specializes in government ethics with the firm Steptoe. Mr. Rizzi noted that Mr. Pruitt would hardly be the first member of the Trump administration to set up such a fund. “This has come up more often in this administration than in previous administrations,” he said.  </div><div>Mr. Rizzi also said the creation of such a fund could cause further headaches for Mr. Pruitt should energy companies or other industries regulated by the E.P.A. contribute to it. “These funds raise a lot of uncertainties in the tax area and the ethical area,” he said.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Also on Tuesday, new details emerged about the lobbying of the E.P.A. by <b>J. Steven Hart, the lobbyist whose wife had last year rented a $50-a-night condo to Mr. Pruitt. Congressional investigators on Tuesday provided The New York Times with an email in which Mr. Hart asked Mr. Pruitt for help in getting three people appointed to</b> the E.P.A.’s prestigious <b>Science Advisory Board</b>. They had been recommended by Smithfield Foods, a company that was a client of Mr. Hart’s lobbying firm?, and its Smithfield Foundation, a charitable subsidiary.</span></div><div>
</div><div>The email was sent in August 2017, a few weeks after Mr. Pruitt had moved out of the apartment, but at a time when he still owed money to Mr. Hart’s wife.</div><div>
</div><div>Representative Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, ?the leading Democrat on the House committee that helps oversee E.P.A. operations, ?called the email “further proof that Administrator Pruitt has consistently misled Congress and the public about the extent to which the special interests providing him with gifts have sought specific favors from E.P.A. in return.”</div><div>
</div><div>The E.P.A. press office did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Williams & Jensen, the lobbying firm that Mr. Hart left last month, did not respond to a request for comment.</div></div></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> =</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> cancer tobacco playbook the nation hertsgaard, regulatory capture, sci supp 3</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A closer look reveals the industry’s sleight of hand. When Henry Lai, the professor whom Carlo tried to get fired, analyzed 326 safety-related studies completed between 1990 and 2005, he learned that 56 percent found a biological effect from cell-phone radiation and 44 percent did not; the scientific community apparently was split. But when Lai recategorized the studies according to their funding sources, a different picture emerged: 67 percent of the independently funded studies found a biological effect, while a mere 28 percent of the industry-funded studies did.</span> Lai’s findings were replicated by <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1797826/" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">a 2007 analysis in <em style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: inherit;">Environmental Health Perspectives</em></a> that concluded industry-funded studies were two and a half times less likely than independent studies to find a health effect.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One key player has not been swayed by all this wireless-friendly research: the insurance industry. <em style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: inherit;">The Nation</em> has not been able to find a single insurance company willing to sell a product-liability policy that covered cell-phone radiation. “Why would we want to do that?” one executive chuckled before pointing to more than two dozen lawsuits outstanding against wireless companies, demanding a total of $1.9 billion in damages. Some judges have affirmed such lawsuits, including a<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/21/italian-court-rules-mobile-phone-use-caused-brain-tumour" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;"> judge in Italy who refused to allow industry-funded research as evidence</a>.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even so, the industry’s neutralizing of the safety issue has opened the door to the biggest, most hazardous prize of all: the proposed revolutionary transformation of society dubbed the “Internet of Things.” Lauded as a gigantic engine of economic growth, the Internet of Things will not only connect people through their smartphones and computers but will connect those devices to a customer’s vehicles and home appliances, even their baby’s diapers—all at speeds faster than can currently be achieved.</font></p><aside class="pull-quote-module" mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-top: 2px solid rgb(229, 223, 212); border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(229, 223, 212); padding: 25px 0px; margin: 35px 0px; position: relative;"><div class="pull-quote-blocks" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.43em; word-spacing: 0.3px; text-transform: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Billions of cell-phone users have been subjected to a public-health experiment without informed consent.</font></p></div></aside><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is a catch, though: The Internet of Things will require augmenting today’s 4G technology with 5G, thus “massively increasing” the general population’s exposure to radiation, according to <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B14R6QNkmaXuelFrNWRQcThNV0U/view" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">a petition signed by 236 scientists worldwide</a> who have published more than 2,000 peer-reviewed studies and represent “a significant portion of the credentialed scientists in the radiation research field,” according to Joel Moskowitz, the director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California, Berkeley, who helped circulate the petition. Nevertheless, like cell phones, 5G technology is on the verge of being introduced without pre-market safety testing.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lack of definitive proof that a technology is harmful does not mean the technology is safe, yet the wireless industry has succeeded in selling this logical fallacy to the world. In truth, the safety of wireless technology has been an unsettled question since the industry’s earliest days. The upshot is that, over the past 30 years, billions of people around the world have been subjected to a massive public-health experiment: Use a cell phone today, find out later if it causes cancer or genetic damage. Meanwhile, the wireless industry has obstructed a full and fair understanding of the current science, aided by government agencies that have prioritized commercial interests over human health and news organizations that have failed to inform the public about what the scientific community really thinks. In other words, this public-health experiment has been conducted without the informed consent of its subjects, even as the industry keeps its thumb on the scale.</font></p><p class="drop_c" mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" margin-right="margin-right" margin-left="margin-left" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" margin-top="margin-top" important="important" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="wpsdc-drop-cap" knockout="Knockout" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" font-weight="font-weight" bold="bold" margin="margin" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" float="float" left="left" line-height="line-height" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px;">“</span><span class="wpsdc-drop-cap" knockout="Knockout" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" font-weight="font-weight" bold="bold" margin="margin" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" float="float" left="left" line-height="line-height" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px;">T</span>he absence of absolute proof does not mean the absence of risk,” Annie Sasco, the former director of epidemiology for cancer prevention at France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research, told the attendees of the 2012 Childhood Cancer conference. “The younger one starts using cell phones, the higher the risk,” Sasco continued, urging a public-education effort to inform parents, politicians, and the press about children’s exceptional susceptibility.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For adults and children alike, the process by which wireless radiation may cause cancer remains uncertain, but it is thought to be indirect. Wireless radiation has been <a href="https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/7520941992.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">shown to damage the blood-brain barrier</a>, a vital defense mechanism that shields the brain from carcinogenic chemicals elsewhere in the body (resulting, for example, from secondhand cigarette smoke). Wireless radiation has also been shown to <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1409.1431.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">interfere with DNA replication</a>, a proven progenitor of cancer. In each of these cases, the risks are higher for children: Their skulls, being smaller, absorb more radiation than adults’ skulls do, while children’s longer life span increases their cumulative exposure.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The wireless industry has sought to downplay concerns about cell phones’ safety, and the Federal Communications Commission has followed its example. In 1996, the FCC established cell-phone safety levels based on “specific absorption rate,” or SAR. Phones were required to have a SAR of 1.6 watts or less per kilogram of body weight. In 2013, <a href="https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/7520941318.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">the American Academy of Pediatrics advised the FCC</a> that its guidelines “do not account for the unique vulnerability and use patterns specific to pregnant women and children.” Nevertheless, the FCC has declined to update its standards.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The FCC has granted the industry’s wishes so often that it qualifies as a “captured agency,” argued journalist Norm Alster in <a href="http://ethics.harvard.edu/files/center-for-ethics/files/capturedagency_alster.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">a report</a> that Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics published in 2015. The FCC allows cell-phone manufacturers to self-report SAR levels, and does not independently test industry claims or require manufacturers to display the SAR level on a phone’s packaging. “Industry controls the FCC through a soup-to-nuts stranglehold that extends from its well-placed campaign spending in Congress through its control of the FCC’s congressional oversight committees to its persistent agency lobbying,” Alster wrote. He also quoted the CTIA website praising the FCC for “its light regulatory touch.”</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The revolving-door syndrome that characterizes so many industries and federal agencies reinforces the close relationship between the wireless industry and the FCC. Just as Tom Wheeler went from running the CTIA (1992– 2004) to chairing the FCC (2013–2017), Meredith Atwell Baker went from FCC commissioner (2009–2011) to the presidency of the CTIA (2014 through today). To ensure its access on Capitol Hill, the wireless industry made $26 million in campaign contributions in 2016, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/totals.php?ind=B09" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">according to the Center for Responsive Politics</a>, and spent $87 million on lobbying in 2017.</font></span></p><p class="drop_c" mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" margin-right="margin-right" margin-left="margin-left" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" margin-top="margin-top" important="important" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="wpsdc-drop-cap" knockout="Knockout" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" font-weight="font-weight" bold="bold" margin="margin" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" float="float" left="left" line-height="line-height" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px;">N</span>eutralizing the safety issue has been an ongoing imperative because the research keeps coming, much of it from outside the United States. But the industry’s European and Asian branches have, like their US counterpart, zealously war-gamed the science, spun the news coverage, and thereby warped the public perception of their products’ safety.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The WHO began to study the health effects of electric- and magnetic-field radiation (EMF) in 1996 under the direction of Michael Repacholi, an Australian biophysicist. Although Repacholi claimed on disclosure forms that he was “independent” of corporate influence, in fact Motorola had funded his research: While Repacholi was director of the WHO’s EMF program, Motorola paid $50,000 a year to his former employer, the Royal Adelaide Hospital, which then transferred the money to the WHO program. When journalists exposed the payments, Repacholi <a href="http://microwavenews.com/CT.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">denied</a> that there was anything untoward about them because Motorola had not paid him personally. Eventually, Motorola’s payments were bundled with other industry contributions and funneled through the Mobile and Wireless Forum, a trade association that gave the WHO’s program $150,000 annually. In 1999, Repacholi helped engineer a WHO statement that “EMF exposures below the limits recommended in international guidelines do not appear to have any known consequence on health.”</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Two wireless trade associations contributed $4.7 million to <a href="http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">the Interphone study</a> launched by the WHO’s International Agency for Cancer Research in 2000.</b> That $4.7 million represented 20 percent of the $24 million budget for the Interphone study, which convened 21 scientists from 13 countries to explore possible links between cell phones and two common types of brain tumor: glioma and meningioma. The money was channeled through a “firewall” mechanism intended to prevent corporate influence on the IACR’s findings, but whether such firewalls work is debatable. “Industry sponsors know [which scientists] receive funding; sponsored scientists know who provides funding,” Dariusz Leszczynski, an adjunct professor of biochemistry at the University of Helsinki, has explained.</font></p><aside class="pull-quote-module" mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-top: 2px solid rgb(229, 223, 212); border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(229, 223, 212); padding: 25px 0px; margin: 35px 0px; position: relative;"><div class="pull-quote-blocks" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.43em; word-spacing: 0.3px; text-transform: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The FCC grants the wireless industry’s wishes so often that it qualifies as a “captured agency.”</font></p></div></aside><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To be sure, the industry could not have been pleased with some of the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/39/3/675/631387" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">Interphone study’s conclusions</a>. The study found that the heaviest cell-phone users were <a href="http://microwavenews.com/Interphone.Appendix2.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">80 percent more likely to develop glioma</a>. (The initial finding of 40 percent was increased to 80 to correct for selection bias.) The Interphone study also concluded that individuals who had owned a cell phone for 10 years or longer saw their risk of glioma increase by nearly 120 percent. However, the study did not find any increased risk for individuals who used their cell phones less frequently; nor was there evidence of any connection with meningioma.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When the Interphone conclusions were released in 2010, industry spokespeople blunted their impact by deploying what experts on lying call “creative truth-telling.” “Interphone’s conclusion of no overall increased risk of brain cancer is consistent with conclusions reached in an already large body of scientific research on this subject,” John Walls, the vice president for public affairs at the CTIA, <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100517006038/en/CTIA%E2%80%93The-Wireless-Association-Statement-Interphone-Study" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">told reporters</a>. The wiggle word here is “overall”: Since some of the Interphone studies did not find increased brain-cancer rates, stipulating “overall” allowed Walls to ignore those that did. The misleading spin confused enough news organizations that their coverage of the Interphone study was essentially reassuring to the industry’s customers. <em style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: inherit;">The Wall Street Journal</em> announced “Cell Phone Study Sends Fuzzy Signal on Cancer Risk,” while the BBC’s headline declared: “No Proof of Mobile Cancer Risk.”</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The industry’s $4.7 million contribution to the WHO appears to have had its most telling effect in May 2011, when the WHO convened scientists in Lyon, France, to discuss how to classify the cancer risk posed by cell phones. The industry not only secured “observer” status at Lyon for three of its trade associations; it placed two industry-funded experts on the working group that would debate the classification, as well as additional experts among the “invited specialists” who advised the group.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Niels Kuster, a Swiss engineer, initially filed a conflict-of-interest statement affirming only that his research group had taken money from “various governments, scientific institutions and corporations.” But after Kuster co-authored a summary of the WHO’s findings in <em style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: inherit;">The Lancet Oncology</em>, the medical journal <a href="https://retractionwatch.com/2015/06/24/lancet-oncology-updates-coi-for-monograph-on-cancer-risk-of-cell-phones-other-devices/" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">issued a correction</a> expanding on Kuster’s conflict-of-interest statement, noting payments from the Mobile Manufacturers Forum, Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, Sony, GSMA, and Deutsche Telekom. Nevertheless, Kuster participated in the entire 10 days of deliberations.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The industry also mounted a campaign to discredit Lennart Hardell, a Swedish professor of oncology serving on the working group. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/6603070" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">Hardell’s studies</a>, which found an increase in gliomas and acoustic neuromas in long-term cell-phone users, were some of the strongest evidence that the group was considering.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Hardell had already attracted the industry’s displeasure back in 2002, when he began arguing that children shouldn’t use cell phones.</b> Two scientists with industry ties quickly <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4122/e9cc3b08a2ebead92692aa20410fe1b15f8f.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">published a report</a> with the Swedish Radiation Authority dismissing Hardell’s research. His detractors were John D. Boice and Joseph K. McLaughlin of the International Epidemiology Institute, a company that provided “Litigation Support” and “Corporate Counseling” to various industries, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130403080359/https://www.cspinet.org/integrity/nonprofits/international_epidemiology_institute.html/" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">according to its website</a>. Indeed, at the very time Boice and McLaughlin were denigrating Hardell’s work, the institute was providing expert-witness services to Motorola in a brain-tumor lawsuit against the company.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The wireless industry didn’t get the outcome that it wanted at Lyon, but it did limit the damage. A number of the working group’s scientists had favored increasing the classification of cell phones to Category 2A, a “probable” carcinogen; but<a href="http://interphone.iarc.fr/UICC_Report_Final_03102011.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;"> in the end, the group could only agree</a> on an increase to 2B, a “possible” carcinogen.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That result enabled the industry to continue proclaiming that there was no scientifically established proof that cell phones are dangerous. Jack Rowley of the GSMA trade association said that “interpretation should be based on the overall balance of the evidence.” Once again, the slippery word “overall” downplayed the significance of scientific research that the industry didn’t like.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Industry-funded scientists had been pressuring their colleagues for a decade by then</b>, according to Leszczynski, another member of the Lyon working group. Leszczynski was an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School when he first experienced such pressure, in 1999. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He had wanted to investigate the effects of radiation levels higher than the SAR levels permitted by government, hypothesizing that this might better conform to real-world practices. But when he proposed the idea at scientific meetings, <a href="https://betweenrockandhardplace.wordpress.com/2015/02/12/the-gamechanger-revision-of-dosimetry-by-schmid-kuster/" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">Leszczynski said</a>, it was shouted down by Mays Swicord, Joe Elder, and C.K. Chou—scientists who worked for Motorola. As Leszczynski recalled, “It was a normal occurrence at scientific meetings—and I attended really a lot of them—that whenever [a] scientist reported biological effects at SAR over [government-approved levels], the above-mentioned industry scientists, singularly or as a group, jumped up to the microphone to condemn and to discredit the results.”</span></font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Years later,<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25644546" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;"> a study</a> that Leszczynski described as a “game changer” discovered that even phones meeting government standards, which in Europe were a SAR of 2.0 watts per kilogram, could deliver exponentially higher peak radiation levels to certain skin and blood cells. (SAR levels reached a staggering 40 watts per kilogram—20 times higher than officially permitted.)<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> In other words, the official safety levels masked dramatically higher exposures in hot spots, but industry-funded scientists obstructed research on the health impacts.</span></font></p><aside class="pull-quote-module" mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-top: 2px solid rgb(229, 223, 212); border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(229, 223, 212); padding: 25px 0px; margin: 35px 0px; position: relative;"><div class="pull-quote-blocks" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.43em; word-spacing: 0.3px; text-transform: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Everyone knows that if your research results show that radiation has effects, the funding flow dries up.” —Dariusz Leszczynski, adjunct professor of biochemistry at the University of Helsinki</font></p></div></aside><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Everyone knows that if your research results show that radiation has effects, the funding flow dries up,” Leszczynski said in an interview in 2011. Sure enough, the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland, where Leszczynski had a long career, discontinued research on the biological effects of cell phones and discharged him a year later.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to scientists involved in the process, the WHO may decide later this year to reconsider its categorization of the cancer risk posed by cell phones; the WHO itself told <em style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: inherit;">The Nation</em> that before making any such decision, it will review the final report of the National Toxicology Program, a US government initiative. The <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/05/26/055699.full.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">results reported by the NTP</a> in 2016 seem to strengthen the case for increasing the assessment of cell-phone radiation to a “probable” or even a “known” carcinogen. Whereas the WHO’s Interphone study compared the cell-phone usage of people who had contracted cancer with that of people who hadn’t, the NTP study exposed rats and mice to cell-phone radiation and observed whether the animals got sick.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“There is a carcinogenic effect,” announced Ron Melnick, the designer of the study. Male rats exposed to cell-phone radiation developed cancer at a substantially higher rate, though the same effect was not seen in female rats. Rats exposed to radiation also had lower birth rates, higher infant mortality, and more heart problems than those in the control group. The cancer effect occurred in only a small percentage of the rats, but that small percentage could translate into a massive amount of human cancers. “Given the extremely large number of people who use wireless communications devices, even a very small increase in the incidence of disease…could have broad implications for public health,” the NTP’s draft report explained.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>But this was not the message that media coverage of the NTP study conveyed, </b>as the industry blanketed reporters with its usual “more research is needed” spin. “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/5/27/11797924/cellphones-cancer-bad-reporting" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">Seriously, stop with the irresponsible reporting on cell phones and cancer</a>,” demanded a <em style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: inherit;">Vox</em> headline. “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/05/27/do-cellphones-cause-cancer-dont-believe-the-hype/" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">Don’t Believe the Hype</a>,” urged <em style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: inherit;">The Washington Post</em>. <em style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: inherit;">Newsweek</em>, for its part, <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/can-cell-phone-radiation-harm-your-health-new-california-guidelines-raise-751121" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">stated the NTP’s findings in a single paragraph</a>, then devoted the rest of the article to an argument for why they should be ignored.</font></span></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The NTP study was to be peer-reviewed at a meeting on March 26–28, amid signs that the program’s leadership is pivoting to downplay its findings. The NTP had issued a public-health warning when the study’s early results were released in 2016. But when the NTP released essentially the same data in February 2018, John Bucher, the senior scientist who directed the study, announced in a telephone press conference that “I don’t think this is a high-risk situation at all,” partly because the study had exposed the rats and mice to higher levels of radiation than a typical cell-phone user experienced.</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: inherit;">Microwave News</em>’s Slesin <a href="http://microwavenews.com/news-center/what-changed" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(207, 14, 14); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; outline: 0px !important;">speculated on potential explanations</a> for the NTP’s apparent backtracking: new leadership within the program, where a former drug-company executive, Brian Berridge, now runs the day-to-day operations; <b>pressure from business-friendly Republicans on Capitol Hill and from the US military, whose weapons systems rely on wireless radiation; and the anti-science ideology of the Trump White House. </b>The question now: Will the scientists doing the peer review endorse the NTP’s newly ambivalent perspective, or challenge it?</font></p><p mercury="Mercury" display="Display" a="A" b="B" font-size="font-size" px="px" outline="outline" padding="padding" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" line-height="line-height" word-spacing="word-spacing" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4/18 sum update</font></div><div><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>1. Restricting Information</strong>
</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Across many federal agencies, information about <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">climate change</a> and policies to address it has been removed from the internet or archived in hard-to-access locations. Terms like "climate change" have been removed from agency websites, and others have been renamed. For example, the Department of Energy's Clean Energy Investment Center is now simply the Energy Investor Center.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Morgan Currie, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University's Digital Civil Society Lab, and Britt S. Paris, a Ph.D. student in information studies at UCLA, acknowledge that public information on government activities changes to reflect the policy directives of different administrations. But <a href="https://theconversation.com/buried-altered-silenced-4-ways-government-climate-information-has-changed-since-trump-took-office-92323" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">as they note</a>, climate change is still occurring, whether it is reported or not:</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px 10px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"In our view, burying climate science diminishes our democracy. It denies the average citizen the information necessary to make informed decisions, and fuels the flames of rhetoric that denies consensus-based science."
</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2. Stacking Advisory Panels</font></strong></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many scientists provide advice without pay to federal agencies on issues within their areas of expertise. But the Trump administration has downgraded or eliminated independent scientific input on a number of key issues.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For example, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt has barred scientists receiving agency grants from serving on EPA advisory committees, and has <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/11/epa-unveils-new-industry-friendlier-science-advisory-boards" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">replaced</a> a number of academic board members with representative of industries and state governments.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke has created a new advisory board on <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/zinke-creates-new-outdoor-recreation-panel-made-up-entirely-of-industry-advisers/2018/03/26/04f3e960-2f9a-11e8-8688-e053ba58f1e4_story.html?utm_term=.93b40b1aa48a" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">recreation</a> that is heavily weighted toward industry and another on <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2018/03/15/trump-wildlife-protection-board-trophy-hunters/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">international wildlife protection</a> made up mainly of trophy hunters.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Past administrations that tried to stack advisory boards ultimately <a href="https://theconversation.com/history-shows-that-stacking-federal-science-advisory-committees-doesnt-work-80590" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">failed to achieve their goals</a>, according to Donald Boesch, a professor of marine science at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who has served on many federal advisory committees. Other scientists, not affiliated with the administration, will call out biased conclusions and unsupported recommendations from these slanted panels, Boesch predicts:</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px 10px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Consequently, policies and regulations based on the panels' recommendations will be less likely to withstand public or political scrutiny and be more open to legal challenges than if they were based on more balanced input."</font></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>3. Manufacturing Controversy</strong>
</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although his proposal was ultimately <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/09/climate/pruitt-red-team-climate-debate-kelly.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">rejected</a> by the White House, EPA administrator Pruitt campaigned energetically in 2017 for a "red team-blue team" review of current climate science. Such an exercise, Pruitt asserted, would provide fresh perspective.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Critics viewed this idea as an attempt to undercut a widely supported consensus that human actions are changing Earth's climate, by putting climate deniers on an equal footing with mainstream experts.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Red team-blue team exercises center on "the spirit of challenge by an antagonist," explains University of Michigan climate scientist Richard Rood, who has participated in these types of reviews. Rather than shedding light on serious scientific questions, Rood <a href="https://theconversation.com/red-team-blue-team-debating-climate-science-should-not-be-a-cage-match-80663" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">describes Pruitt's proposal</a> as a performance designed to advance a political agenda:</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px 10px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Such spectacle will be based on emotional appeal and will rely on manipulating the message about the role that uncertainty plays in scientific investigation. The goal will be the amplification and persistence of public doubt—a goal that would be undoubtedly achieved."</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px 10px 20px;"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4. Distorting Scientific Findings</font></strong></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many statements about climate change by Trump administration officials have questioned whether climate change is occurring or have downplayed the need to take action. Most recently, in late March 2018, EPA staffers received a list of "talking points" about climate change that instructed them to emphasize uncertainty when discussing the issue with local communities and Native American tribes.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For example, one point <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/epa-climate-adaptation_us_5abbb5e3e4b04a59a31387d7?ux" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">stated</a>:</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px 10px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Human activity impacts our changing climate in some manner. The ability to measure with precision the degree and extent of that impact, and what to do about it, are subject to continuing debate and dialogue."
</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Joe Arvai, a professor of sustainable enterprise at the University of Michigan who served on EPA's Chartered Science Advisory Board from 2011 to 2017, <a href="https://theconversation.com/im-suing-scott-pruitts-broken-epa-heres-how-to-fix-it-94089" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">calls this framing an exaggeration</a> of uncertainties around the human causes of climate change. "In effect, Pruitt is asking EPA staffers to lie," Arvai contends.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In another area—the health impacts of exposure to pollutants and toxics—Pruitt has proposed to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/climate/epa-scientific-transparency-honest-act.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">change EPA policy</a> so that the agency would only consider scientific research if underlying raw data can be made public for external scientists and organizations to review. Pruitt says this approach will increase transparency, but Arvai argues otherwise:</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px 10px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"[I]n reality, this rule would mean that critical public health studies could no longer be used to inform EPA policy because some of the data are protected by doctor-patient or researcher-participant confidentiality."</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><div class="around-the-web"><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</font></div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/scientists-public-engagement-2559042237.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Researchers See Public Engagement as Crucial Part of Their Job ›</font></a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/04/09/march-science-scientists-back-and-ready-march/497448002/" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">March for Science: Scientists are back and ready to march ›</font></a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.axios.com/can-science-march-turn-into-a-movement-eaaee599-a508-466b-a2bb-713a5ed85f4a.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">March for Science 2.0 seeks movement status - Axios ›</font></a></li></ul></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/02/14/climate-denier-tim-ball-trump-approved-not-credible-enough-stand-accountable-libel-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/02/14/climate-denier-tim-ball-trump-approved-not-credible-enough-stand-accountable-libel-0</a></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It was gratifying, today, to see a senior justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia denounce the professional “climate change sceptic” <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/timothy-f-ball-tim-ball" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Dr. Tim Ball</a> as incompetent, inattentive and, perhaps, indifferent to the truth.</font></p><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="min-height: 280px;"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But it was an outrage to see the same judge let Ball so casually off the hook, by <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judge%20Skolrood%2C%20re%20Weaver%20v.%20Ball%2C%2002-13.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">dismissing a libel action</a> that had been brought by University of Victoria climate scientist and <span class="caps">B.C.</span> Green Party leader Dr. Andrew Weaver.</font></p><h3 style="line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related: <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/02/14/judge-dismisses-libel-claim-sceptic-tim-ball-not-credible-enough-take-seriously" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Judge Dismisses Libel Claim, Tim Ball Not Credible Enough To Be Taken Seriously</a></font></h3><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Weaver sued Ball in 2011 for one in a series of rabid diatribes that Ball had written for the website <em>Canada Free Press</em> (“Corruption of Climate Science Has Created 30 Lost Years,” Jan 10, 2011 — no longer available since <span class="caps">CFP</span> took it down and apologized for its defamatory content).</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ball, a long-retired geographer who is more famous for overstating his own credentials than for anything accomplished during his academic career, had accused Weaver (then a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) of bias and scientific incompetence — casting him as part of a politicized campaign to fleece Canadian taxpayers of grant money while overselling the dangers of climate change.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The resulting libel action ground through the courts until it finally went to trial last fall, with 7.5 days of evidence heard over a period of more than three weeks — a brutal and expensive waste of time that would be a significant deterrent for almost anyone hoping to defend a reputation against the climate denial assault.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>But Weaver had become a target and stepped up to the task. And with this judgment, he was vindicated, entirely.</b>

Justice <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judge%20Skolrood%2C%20re%20Weaver%20v.%20Ball%2C%2002-13.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Skolrood found</a> that “… despite Dr. Ball’s history as an academic and a scientist, the Article is rife with errors and inaccuracies, which suggests a lack of attention to detail on Dr. Ball’s part, if not an indifference to the truth.” The judge further accepted that Ball was committed to damaging Weaver’s reputation. Justice Skolrood wrote: “These allegations are directed at Dr. Weaver’s professional competence and are clearly derogatory of him. Indeed, it is quite apparent that this was Dr. Ball’s intent.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But with the strangest get-out-of-jail-free card ever delivered in a Canadian libel trial, the judge concluded that Ball’s writing was too apparently idiotic to be taken seriously.</span>

Again, from Justice Skolrood’s Reasons for Judgment: “The Article is poorly written and does not advance credible arguments in favour of Dr. Ball’s theory about the corruption of climate science. Simply put, a reasonably thoughtful and informed person who reads the Article is unlikely to place any stock in Dr. Ball’s views, including his views of Dr. Weaver as a supporter of conventional climate science.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But where in the Canadian or American climate conversation (or in either country’s governments) does Justice Skolrood think we might find the kind of “reasonably thoughtful and informed person” who would be immune to Ball’s low standard of science or accuracy?

Clearly, in a time of Donald Trump’s presidency, scientific, administrative and personal incompetence — not to mention indifference to truth — are no longer barriers to being taken seriously.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Tim Ball, himself, <a href="https://www.therebel.media/dr_tim_ball_team_trump_about_global_warming" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">was invited to Washington</a> to participate in a briefing with the Trump transition team.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the Canadian libel tradition, if a plaintiff demonstrates that he or she has been defamed, the case is won. And you would expect, if the plaintiff was famous and credible and the defendant quite obviously a dunce, that damages would be minimal. But there would still <span class="caps">BE</span> damages.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That is, unless the defamer can argue one of a narrow range of defences. “Fair comment,” for example, would require an affirmative answer to the question: “could anyone honestly express that opinion on the proved facts?” In this case, Justice Skolrood said, no.</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 1.5em 30px;"><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="dquo" style="margin-left: 0px;">“</span>While Dr. Ball presents his central thesis that climate science has been corrupted by politics, the Article offers little in the way of support for that thesis, apart from vague references to missing or falsified data and political manipulation, unsubstantiated and erroneous references ….”</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">So, unable to claim conventional defences, Ball’s lawyer, Michael Scherr, went for something novel. Having admitted that his client was guilty of defamation, Scherr demanded that Weaver should have to prove that the defamatory comments actually caused damage. In the judge’s words, Scherr was seeking “a threshold of seriousness,” and arguing, in effect, that his client’s work didn’t meet that threshold.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The notion arose from a case in another Canadian province (<em>Vellacott v. Saskatoon Star Phoenix Group Inc. et al, </em>Saskatchewan, 2012). In that case, the court found that certain published comments were not defamatory because they were so ludicrous and outrageous as to be unbelievable and therefore incapable of lowering the reputation of the plaintiff in the minds of right-thinking persons. Against that standard, Justice Skolrood wrote, “the impugned words here are not as hyperbolic as the words in <em>Vellacott</em>, (but) they similarly lack a sufficient air of credibility to make them believable and therefore potentially defamatory.”</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The woeful truth, now, is that climate change denial has suffered from a similar “lack (of) a sufficient air of credibility” for decades, and Tim Ball has spent that period on the lecture circuit saying blithely incredible things, dissembling about climate science and defaming climate scientists — without ever facing an impartial judge or being censured for the damage that he’s done.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, finally, he is brought before — and broadly derided by — the court, but nevertheless allowed to walk away without so much as a requirement that he cease and desist.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ball’s supporters (who obviously have no illusions about the quality of his work) are cheering this decision as, “<a href="http://www.climatedepot.com/2018/02/13/alert-canadian-judge-dismissed-all-charges-in-lawsuit-against-skeptical-climatologist-dr-tim-ball/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">A great victory for free speech</a>.” But, one hopes, the celebrations will end with an ultimate comeuppance. Weaver’s lawyer, Roger McConchie, is already preparing the appeal. Beyond being castigated as inept and lacking integrity, Ball may yet be called to account.

“The only real finding in the judgment is that it didn’t defame Dr. Weaver and it’s a little puzzling because the defendants themselves admitted in their defence that they did defame him,” <a href="http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/b-c-green-party-s-andrew-weaver-loses-defamation-lawsuit-1.23174209" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">McConchie told</a> the Times Colonist.

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Roman">TAGS: </font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div class="field-items" style="display: inline;"><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/799" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">tim ball</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/tags/andrew-weaver" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">andrew weaver</a></div><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/topics/climate-lawsuit" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">climate lawsuit</a></div><div class="field-item odd" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/1574" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">libel suit</a></div></div></div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11042018/zinke-interior-department-staff-reassignments-inspector-general-report-whistleblower-joel-clement-doi-scientist">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11042018/zinke-interior-department-staff-reassignments-inspector-general-report-whistleblower-joel-clement-doi-scientist</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><div class="content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b> Interior Department's Office of Inspector General concluded an investigation into the reassignment of 27 top career employees last year without being able to determine the reasons behind the moves or their legality, because, it said, the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> agency failed to document its decision-making process,</span> despite federal guidance.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a <a href="https://www.doioig.gov/reports/reassignment-senior-executives-us-department-interior" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">report issued Monday</a>, the agency's watchdog examined the reassignment of the employees between June 15, 2017, and October 29, 2017.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Among those moved was Joel Clement, formerly the director of the Office of Policy Analysis. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/im-a-scientist-the-trump-administration-reassigned-me-for-speaking-up-about-climate-change/2017/07/19/389b8dce-6b12-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html?utm_term=.ec015cef504a" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">In a July 2017 op-ed</a>, Clement accused the department under Secretary Ryan Zinke of transferring him to an obscure accounting post as retaliation for speaking out about the threats manmade climate change poses to Alaskan villages. Zinke has expanded greater fossil fuel development on federal lands and played down or erased consideration of climate impacts across the agency.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Clement said last year that his reassignment was part of a pattern within Interior under the new administration. After he filed a <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20072017/whistleblower-trump-intimidation-abuse-power-climate-scientists-joel-clement-zinke" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">federal </a><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20072017/whistleblower-trump-intimidation-abuse-power-climate-scientists-joel-clement-zinke" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">whistleblower </a><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20072017/whistleblower-trump-intimidation-abuse-power-climate-scientists-joel-clement-zinke" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">complaint</a> against the agency, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24072017/senators-call-investigation-zinke-interior-department-federal-scientists-reassigned" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">eight senators</a> asked the Inspector General's Office to undertake an inquiry.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The <a href="https://www.doioig.gov/reports/reassignment-senior-executives-us-department-interior" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">investigators found</a> that Interior's Executive Resources Board (ERB)—made up of six voting members who were all political appointees at the time and who made the personnel decisions—"did not document its plan for selecting senior executives for reassignment, nor did it consistently apply the reasons it stated it used to select senior executives for reassignment. We also found that the ERB did not gather the information needed to make informed decisions about the reassignments, nor did it effectively communicate" with those re-assigned.  </font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The report continued: "As a result, many of the affected senior executives questioned whether these reassignments were political or punitive, based on a prior conflict with DOI leadership, or on the senior executive's nearness to retirement. Many executives speculated that multiple reasons applied or believed their reassignment may have been related to their prior work assignments, including climate change, energy, or conservation."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Interior Department had 227 top career staff, designated as Senior Executive Service, at the time. The department has broad authority to reassign them, provided it follows certain rules. One is that the employee is reassigned to a position "for which the appointee is qualified," something <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05102017/whistleblower-resigns-letter-travel-misuse-trump-zinke-interior-dept-leadership-climate-change" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Clement, a scientist and policy expert, took issue with</a> when he was reassigned to an office that specializes in auditing and dispersing fossil fuel royalty income.  </font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The report noted that all but two of the reassignment notices were sent on June 15, and that the first reassignment started on July 2. It also noted that reassignments aren't allowed until 120 days after an agency head is appointed; July 2 would have been 123 days after Zinke's confirmation.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Because the ERB had no documents related to its decisions, we relied on interviews with ERB members for the rationale behind the ERB's decisions," the investigators wrote. ERB members "told us that instead of consulting with the senior executives or with the senior executives' supervisors about performance and qualifications, the ERB used short biographies submitted by the senior executives in February 2017." Those biographies had been requested as "a way for the new political leadership to get to know the career" staff, they wrote. They also reported that, in most cases, the staff members' supervisors were not informed until hours before the notices were sent. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Interior Deputy Secretary David L. Bernhard said in a written response to the report that the decisions the agency made were "lawful."</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Clement, who <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05102017/whistleblower-resigns-letter-travel-misuse-trump-zinke-interior-dept-leadership-climate-change" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">resigned</a> in October 2017, four months after he invoked the federal whistleblower protections, said in an emailed statement that he was "stunned by the level of incompetence that this report describes."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"There were so few records kept that the Inspector General can't even make a determination of the legality of the reassignment actions," he wrote. "It's remarkable that the political staff at Interior would be so blithe, thoughtless, and careless during a time of intense scrutiny. It begs the question, what did they have to hide?"</font></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/03/leaked-memo-epa-gives-its-employees-talking-points-on-how-to-downplay-climate-science/">https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/03/leaked-memo-epa-gives-its-employees-talking-points-on-how-to-downplay-climate-science/</a>

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</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday evening sent employees a list of eight approved talking points on climate change from its Office of Public Affairs―guidelines that promote a message of uncertainty about climate science and gloss over proposed cuts to key adaptation programs.</font></p><div class="content-list-component bn-content-list-text yr-content-list-text text" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" citation="citation" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-cpos="2" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An internal email obtained by<em> HuffPost</em>―forwarded to employees by Joel Scheraga, a career staffer who served under President Barack Obama―directs communications directors and regional office public affairs directors to note that the EPA “promotes science that helps inform states, municipalities and tribes on how to plan for and respond to extreme events and environmental emergencies” and “works with state, local, and tribal government to improve infrastructure to protect against the consequences of climate change and natural disasters.”</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component bn-content-list-text yr-content-list-text text" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" citation="citation" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-cpos="3" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But beyond those benign statements acknowledging the threats climate change poses are talking points boiled down from the sort of climate misinformation EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has long trumpeted.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component bn-content-list-text yr-content-list-text text" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" citation="citation" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-cpos="4" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Human activity impacts our changing climate in some manner,” one point reads. “The ability to measure with precision the degree and extent of that impact, and what to do about it, are subject to continuing debate and dialogue.”</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component bn-content-list-text yr-content-list-text text" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" citation="citation" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-cpos="5" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The other states: “While there has been extensive research and a host of published reports on climate change, clear gaps remain including our understanding of the role of human activity and what we can do about it.”</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component bn-content-list-text yr-content-list-text text" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" citation="citation" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-cpos="6" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The email was sent under the subject line: “Consistent Messages on Climate Adaptation.”</font></p></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a statement to <em>HuffPost</em>, the EPA confirmed the memo and said the agency’s “work on climate adaptation continues under the leadership of Dr. Scheraga.”</font></p><div class="content-list-component bn-content-list-text yr-content-list-text text" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" citation="citation" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-cpos="8" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The delivery of the talking points comes a week after Pruitt announced plans to restrict the agency’s use of science in writing environmental rules, barring the use of research unless the raw data can be made public for other scientists and industry to scrutinize. That directive would disqualify huge amounts of public health research conducted on the condition that subjects’ personal information will remain private. Two former top EPA officials called the move an “attack on science” in a <em><a class="bn-clickable" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/opinion/pruitt-attack-science-epa.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" data-beacon="{" p="p" lnid="lnid" new="New" york="York" times="Times" mpid="mpid" plid="plid" https="https" www.nytimes.com="www.nytimes.com" opinion="opinion" pruitt-attack-science-epa.html="pruitt-attack-science-epa.html" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="2" data-v9y="1"><span class="bn-clickable">New York Times</span></a></em> op-ed published Monday.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component bn-content-list-text yr-content-list-text text" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" citation="citation" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-cpos="9" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last year, the EPA reassigned the four staffers in the policy office who worked on climate adaptation, <a class="bn-clickable" href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/327854-epa-shutting-climate-adaptation-program" target="blank" rel="noopener" data-beacon="{" p="p" lnid="lnid" shuttered="shuttered" its="its" program="program" mpid="mpid" plid="plid" http="http" thehill.com="thehill.com" policy="policy" energy-environment="energy-environment" epa-shutting-climate-adaptation-program="epa-shutting-climate-adaptation-program" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:9" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="3" data-v9y="1"><span class="bn-clickable">shuttered its program</span></a> on climate adaptation and proposed eliminating funding for programs that deal with rising seas and warming temperatures.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component bn-content-list-text yr-content-list-text text" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" citation="citation" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-cpos="10" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt <a class="bn-clickable" href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29012018/scott-pruitt-epa-climate-websites-erased-emails-reveal-close-involvement-clean-power-plan" target="blank" rel="noopener" data-beacon="{" p="p" lnid="lnid" personally="personally" oversaw="oversaw" mpid="mpid" plid="plid" https="https" insideclimatenews.org="insideclimatenews.org" news="news" scott-pruitt-epa-climate-websites-erased-emails-reveal-close-involvement-clean-power-plan="scott-pruitt-epa-climate-websites-erased-emails-reveal-close-involvement-clean-power-plan" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:10" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="4" data-v9y="1"><span class="bn-clickable">personally oversaw</span></a> efforts to scrub climate change from EPA websites, and staunchly defended President Donald Trump’s decision last June to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord. In October, Pruitt <a class="bn-clickable" href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-epa-repeal-clean-power-plan_us_59dbe2b3e4b00377980b25b4" target="blank" rel="noopener" data-beacon="{" p="p" lnid="lnid" proposed="proposed" repealing="repealing" mpid="mpid" plid="plid" https="https" www.huffingtonpost.com="www.huffingtonpost.com" entry="entry" trump-epa-repeal-clean-power-plan_us_59dbe2b3e4b00377980b25b4="trump-epa-repeal-clean-power-plan_us_59dbe2b3e4b00377980b25b4" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:10" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="5" data-v9y="1"><span class="bn-clickable">proposed repealing</span></a> the Clean Power Plan, the only major federal policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.</font></p></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The agency had also suggested zero
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/nasa-climate-science-trump-2553691889.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/nasa-climate-science-trump-2553691889.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Critics say NASA's Earth Science Division is a waste of taxpayer dollars and a distraction from the agency's core mission of space exploration. But NASA has a critical role to play in understanding human-caused climate change, by operating satellites that monitor the earth's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/forests" style="text-decoration-line: none;">forests</a>, deserts, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" style="text-decoration-line: none;">oceans</a> and atmosphere.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NASA scientists are working to <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/rachel-licker/proposed-budget-cuts-to-nasas-earth-science-division-are-damaging-for-all-of-us" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">improve</a> our understanding of natural disasters like wildfires, hurricanes and drought, while tracking long-term changes to the earth's climate. Researchers are also <a href="https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/search.cgi?contentType=HyperwallVis&ipp=All" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">mapping out</a> those changes so Americans can understand how heat-trapping carbon pollution is reshaping the world. Below is a collection of NASA maps, graphs and photos cataloging this profound transformation.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/drugs/drug-companies-are-funding-investigational-studies-influence-their-results">https://www.alternet.org/drugs/drug-companies-are-funding-investigational-studies-influence-their-results</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Remember how appalled we felt as a society when we discovered that, for so long, we had been mistakenly taking <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/big-tobacco-finally-tells-truth-court-ordered-ad-campaign-n823136" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Big Tobacco’s word</a> that cigarettes are harmless? Rinse and repeat with <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/a-deeply-misleading-ad-tries-to-derail-marijuana-legalization-in-massachusetts-b0e1b0189d7a/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">lobbyists for Big Alcohol fear-mongering about legal weed</a>. And again and again with a panoply of consumer-level commodities and goods.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Nowadays we have all these familiar worries, but about our drugs and medications instead. It’s become so bad that there's now reason to believe Big Pharma is also colluding to poison the well of scientific inquiry.</b></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The truth is, there are many examples of private industry paying for positive press from the scientific community. When you look closer at our spending priorities as a nation, it’s not entirely difficult to see why. As public funding for the sciences has fallen away, many scientists have had to pivot toward more consistent—and ethically fraught—sources of funding and stability as surely as politicians who, for want of public election funding, get buoyed by billionaires at <a href="https://wlns.com/2017/11/30/skubick-whats-on-the-menu-snyder-hosts-100k-per-plate-fundraiser-tonight/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">$100,000-per-plate fundraising dinners</a>.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We’ll take a look at case studies in a moment, but for right now, think about how important it is for us to be able to trust, at a minimum level, the products we invite into our bodies and our homes.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s become common knowledge that the pharmaceutical industry is one of the most corrupt out there. This is a serious affront to justice that has gone on for far too long. The fight for consumer protections of all kinds can and must begin with health care, medicines, prescription drugs and medical devices. Here are the stakes.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>The Erosion of Trust</strong></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2006, GlaxoSmithKline—the esoteric name for a ubiquitous diabetes treatment brand—took a victory lap after a lengthy <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa066224" style="text-decoration-line: none;">report in the New England Journal of Medicine</a> declared its Avandia medication to be the most effective of the three diabetes drugs tested.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Unfortunately for readers and patients, the extent of the report’s bias was not as attention-grabbing as the headline and ensuing celebratory press releases. In fact, with the help of the FDA and renowned heart specialist Steven Nissen, the Washington Post found that GlaxoSmithKline directly funded the research itself. All 11 of the paper's authors <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/as-drug-industrys-influence-over-research-grows-so-does-the-potential-for-bias/2012/11/24/bb64d596-1264-11e2-be82-c3411b7680a9_story.html?utm_term=.4b6b45f7a087" style="text-decoration-line: none;">had received consultation fees</a>, grants or another form of monetary compensation.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There may be no clearer example of conflicts of interest in the halls of science. Given the degree to which private money may have influenced the result of this scientific endeavor, we have little choice but to assume it did.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even worse? The drug didn’t merely fail to help patients cope with their illnesses, it actually raised their risk of heart attack. Avandia effectively doesn’t exist anymore in the U.S., in part because GlaxoSmithKline was so busy trying to force two logical dots to connect that it didn’t even pick up on all the collateral damage.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is outrageous. Consumers shouldn’t have to second-guess the medical professionals who are supposed to help us take care of ourselves.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>The Fall of Accountable Science</strong></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Between 2011 and 2012, the New England Journal of Medicine published more than 70 “original studies” of newly FDA-approved and experimental drugs. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/as-drug-industrys-influence-over-research-grows-so-does-the-potential-for-bias/2012/11/24/bb64d596-1264-11e2-be82-c3411b7680a9_story.html?utm_term=.4b6b45f7a087" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Of these 70-plus reports</a>:</font></p><ul dir="ltr"><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<b>Up until about the 1980s, the federal government was the primary financier of scientific research in the world of medicine.</b> In the '60s and '70s, the federal government had a 70 percent share of scientific research.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> In 2013, that number <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/data-check-us-government-share-basic-research-funding-falls-below-50" style="text-decoration-line: none;">finally dropped below the 50 percent mark</a>.Sixty received direct pharmaceutical company funding.</span></font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fifty were written or co-written by a current employee of a pharmaceutical company.</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Thirty-seven had lead writers who had, at some point, received speaking fees or other compensation from the subject of the study.</font></li></ul><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As you may have guessed, there is at least token legal oversight available for clinical investigations of new drugs in the form of FDA regulation. In addition to protecting the personal information of trial participants (patients), the FDA also maintains that <a href="https://www.td2inc.com/news/what-is-a-clinical-investigation" style="text-decoration-line: none;">no drug may reach the investigation phase</a> until its effects—and its lack of harm—have both been documented in a lab setting. As you can likely tell, these protections no longer appear adequate.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It has become an open secret that most of the drugs the FDA concerns itself with <a href="https://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/risky-drugs-why-fda-cannot-be-trusted" style="text-decoration-line: none;">cannot be relied upon to greatly outperform placebos, or existing treatments, in a vast majority of cases</a>. Moreover, the wholesale regulatory capture of the FDA has resulted in a situation where this vital public office <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f2809" style="text-decoration-line: none;">serves as a glorified rubber patent stamp</a> for protecting medicines as privately owned, profit-generating pieces of intellectual property.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>The American People Are No Longer in Control of Their Scientific Destiny</strong></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A generation or so ago, the skill with which a nation pursued and made use of scientific knowledge was one of the chief metrics of its greatness.<b> However, starting in the 1980s, the United States <a href="https://hbr.org/1991/11/does-privatization-serve-the-public-interest" style="text-decoration-line: none;">took a decided turn away from public sector expansion</a>. Reagan-era policies aimed to privatize government services in the name of balancing local and state budgets. </b>Since then, the world has watched as Americans have continued to vote accountable government and transparent scientific study nearly out of existence by proponents of “small government” and the shifting of fiscal, bureaucratic and legislative power from the public to the private sector.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When corporatists boast of the rate of innovation in the private sector, they generally fail to mention <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21929310-200-state-of-innovation-busting-the-private-sector-myth/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">where the money came from</a> that makes all that innovation possible—or what America used to do with it instead. In truth, privatization does not necessarily lead to less government, as its proponents would like to believe. In many cases of privatized innovation, the government still plays a significant role along the value chain of innovation.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The difference, though, is that instead of the government being involved for the sake of oversight and accountability, profit-seeking privatized enterprises can lobby for the expansion of public funding just the same as those in the public sector would. Those private companies can then <a href="https://hbr.org/1991/11/does-privatization-serve-the-public-interest" style="text-decoration-line: none;">skim off only the most successful ventures</a>. It’s simply another example of how the government continues to turn a blind eye to unethical, profit-mongering business practices in the name of “trickle down economics,” which we know <a href="https://newrepublic.com/minutes/143174/purest-supply-side-economics-experiment-date-finally-over-unmitigated-failure" style="text-decoration-line: none;">have not worked in the past</a>.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, the winds of change seem to be shifting. For all our present social and political turmoil, we’re more aware of the problem than ever before. But before we can fix it, we must remember science is, like any other endeavor, a human institution.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Like a passionate grade-school teacher who can’t do her best work due to a lack of school funding, scientists of all stripes are, after all, human beings with their own biases, internal monologues, ideas, agendas and needs. Science is one of the most vitally important institutions we have right now. Most <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-climatechange-poll/most-americans-want-aggressive-action-on-climate-change-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKBN18X198" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Americans say it’s very nearly the only thing that matters</a> in the face of global, anthropocentric climate change, but it’s currently perishing from neglect.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here is the silver lining: Though junk science seems to have a stubborn place in the spotlight and in our shared vocabulary, scientists are actively trying to turn the tables. Inspired in part by the fallout from the 2016 election, American scientists are <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8qeypb/3000-scientists-have-asked-for-help-running-for-office-to-oppose-trump" style="text-decoration-line: none;">seeking political office at a brisk clip</a>—and being vocal about it, too.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Additionally, it seems that we are finally collectively beginning to wake up to the enormous disservices that Big Pharma has done our society. Throwing our support behind scientist-politicians could be one aid to the problem, but we also need to address the bigger issues at hand with how our medical knowledge is funded and who we can trust to provide us with real answers to medical questions.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Government oversight and funding are important aspects of that, and improved transparency regarding where we’re getting our “science” is something people <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/09/17/health-advocates-combat-opioid-epidemic-target-big-pharma" style="text-decoration-line: none;">are finally starting to advocate for</a>, and should continue to. With this two-part awakening in both the scientific and general community, we can only hope that we are, at last, reaching the end of the road for scientific illiteracy in the States.</font></p><div wibbitz="embed-main-player"><div class="bio-new body_living" style="width: 630px; line-height: 22px; height: auto; border-top: 3px solid rgb(223, 223, 218); clear: both;"><div class="author-bio"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kate Harveston</font></p></div></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> =</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pruitt-clean-power-plan-2529918305.htm">https://www.ecowatch.com/pruitt-clean-power-plan-2529918305.htm</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.edf.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Environmental Defense Fund</a> (EDF) has obtained emails indicating U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-line: none;">EPA</a>) Administrator <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scott-pruitt" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Scott Pruitt</a>'s personal involvement in efforts to <a href="https://www.edf.org/media/environmental-defense-fund-obtains-information-over-1900-climate-related-items-removed-or" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">remove information</a> about <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">climate change</a>from EPA's website.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">EDF obtained the emails from EPA in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. We have posted <a href="https://www.edf.org/content/foia-partial-production-01-05-2018" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">the files</a> for easy public access.</font></p><div id="AdThrive_Content_1_desktop" class="adthrive-ad adthrive-dynamic adthrive-content" data-google-query-id="CLSI_r-ugNkCFUvCwAod9jsCmQ" style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center; min-height: 100px; overflow-x: visible !important;"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18012018/science-climate-change-advisory-board-epa-interior-trump-administration">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18012018/science-climate-change-advisory-board-epa-interior-trump-administration</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/18 update</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/environment/national-parks-epa-trump-administration-stiff-arms-science-advisers">https://www.alternet.org/environment/national-parks-epa-trump-administration-stiff-arms-science-advisers</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/majority-national-park-service-advisory-panel-resigns-trump-administration">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/majority-national-park-service-advisory-panel-resigns-trump-administration</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New 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POLITICS</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>Majority of National Park Service Advisory Panel Resigns from Trump Administration</div><div>The move came after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke consistently refused to meet with them.</div><div>By Elizabeth Preza / Raw Story January 16, 2018, 11:23 PM GMT</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Nine out of 12 members of the National Park System Advisory Board on Tuesday quit out of “frustration” after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke refused to meet with them, the Washington Post reports.</div><div>
</div><div>In a letter to Zinke, former Alaska governor Tony Knowles said the board members “have stood by waiting for the chance to meet and continue the partnership,” slamming the interior secretary for ignoring their “requests to engage.”</div><div>
</div><div>“We understand the complexity of transition but our requests to engage have been ignored and the matters on which we wanted to brief the new Department team are clearly not part of its agenda,” Knowles wrote. “I wish the National Park System and Service well and will always be dedicated to their success.”</div><div>
</div><div>Knowles told the Washington Post the board members “were frozen out” of recent Interior Department decisions to raise entrance fees and reverse a decision to ban plastic water bottles from the national park system.</div><div>
</div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px;"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One Year Into the Trump Administration, Where Do We Stand?</font></h1></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px;" /></font><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px;"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2526927488" data-authors="The Revelator" data-headline="One Year Into the Trump Administration, Where Do We Stand?" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By John R. Platt</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What a long, strange year it's been.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Saturday, Jan. 20 marks the one-year anniversary of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Trump administration</a> officially taking office after a long and arduous election. It's a year that has seen seemingly unending <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-science-advisers-2526885024.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">attacks on science and the environment</a>, along with a rise in hateful rhetoric and racially motivated policies. But it's almost been met by the continuing growth of the efforts to resist what the Trump administration has to offer.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="text-align: center;">So where do we stand, one year in?</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Well, for one thing, we can say that the year has given the administration's actions a visible shape. "These are not isolated incidents at this point," said <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/bio/jacob-carter.html#.WlUOsDdG1PY" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Jacob Carter</a>, research scientist for the Center for Science and Democracy at the <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Union of Concerned Scientists</a>, who has been tracking the administration's <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/jacob-carter/one-year-of-attacks-on-science-by-trump-administration" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">attacks against science</a>—at least 65 since the president took office. "They're happening so often now that there is definitely a pattern starting to emerge. The administration really wants to undermine the role of science and science-based decision making. They're getting the expertise out of the way to further a political agenda."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carter said these attempts to remove science from government decision-making—ranging from ending a study of the health effects of mountaintop-removal mining to eliminating the words "<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">climate change</a>" from all EPA grants—"have real consequences on peoples' lives. It's about our health and safety. If we don't listen to the best available science, then our lives are at risk."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But pushing science and scientists aside doesn't mean they go away forever. "Under this administration we know the scientific evidence isn't going to be able to speak for itself, so scientists really have to step up and speak for it," Carter said. And scientists have been doing that in record numbers, starting with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/march-for-science-truth-to-power-2375041158.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">last year's March for Science</a> and continuing on multiple fronts ever since. "They're stepping up in an unprecedented number and saying science has got to be used in policy-making decisions." That's not slowing down; Carter recalls how he attended two big scientific conferences last year and "I had tons of scientists coming up and asking me how they can advocate, what they could do to make sure that science is being used and remains in a proper place."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That increased level of activism is not unique to scientists, as people from many walks of live have definitely become more politically engaged in the past year. "Trump's election was a wakeup call in a way," said <a href="https://www.fairfield.edu/lassochannel/academic/profile/index.lasso?id=2228" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Gayle Alberda</a>, an assistant professor of politics at Connecticut's Fairfield University, who studies elections, political participation and civic engagement. "Nation-wide, we've seen this huge influx of people wanting to know not only how to run for office, but how to get politically engaged."...</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">SHAIKH</span>:</strong> Well, I also wanted to ask you, Professor Banerjee, about the <b>threats faced by environmental scientists </b>under the Trump administration. In August, <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Democracy Now!</i> <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2017/8/8/meet_the_senior_federal_official_blowing" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; border: 0px;">interviewed</a> Interior Department whistleblower Joel Clement, a senior official at the Interior Department who had focused on the dangers that climate change poses to Alaska Native communities in the Arctic. We spoke with Clement after he was transferred to an unrelated job within the Interior Department where he was tasked with collecting royalty checks from oil and gas companies.</font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 3px solid rgb(241, 242, 243); letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JOEL <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">CLEMENT</span>: There’s been a long pattern, since the administration took over, of suppressing science, muzzling scientists, sidelining subject matter experts. The biggest concern is that doing so has huge consequences for Americans—and, particularly in my case, those Alaska Natives. I mean, that permafrost is melting. They’re fully exposed to storms now that the sea ice has receded. And that concern is not going to be limited to Alaska Natives for long.</font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">NERMEEN</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">SHAIKH</span>:</strong> So that’s Interior Department whistleblower Joel Clement speaking in August. He has since, of course, resigned. So, Professor Banerjee, can you talk about the threats faced by environmental scientists under the Trump administration?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">SUBHANKAR</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">BANERJEE</span>:</strong> This is—thank you for bringing this up. This is not only the Trump administration, but previous administrations have done this, is there is—any scientist working on pathbreaking work on Arctic offshore, or offshore at large, that somehow gets entangled with oil and gas issues, are being silenced and punished. So, Joel Clement is the latest of this. I’ll give you two more examples. And Joel Clement’s work is, again, pathbreaking, because the coastal erosion is an extremely significant issue for indigenous communities all across Arctic Alaska, both—all across Arctic Alaska. And he was trying to highlight that. And so, as we are speaking right now, the Department of Interior is actually hosting what they call some sort of a symposium to do a massive overhaul or reorganization of their senior staff members. And Joel Clement got caught up in that, but he’s extremely courageous, so he went and blew the whistle. <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Democracy Now!</em> covered it.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now let me give you a couple of more examples. <b>Charles Monnett</b> was a leading federal Arctic biologist who studied the polar bear biology and the first scientist to bring attention to the plight of polar bears from climate change. His research was published, and that research he did in the Beaufort Sea, where Trump administration will try to open up to oil drilling. He did the research in 2004, when polar bears were drowning in the Beaufort Sea because of melting sea ice. The research was published in the peer-reviewed journal <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Polar Biology</em> in 2006, which actually inspired the animation in Al Gore’s film, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">An Inconvenient Truth</em>, and brought worldwide attention to the plight of polar bears from climate change. Fast-forward, the Bush administration then went after Charles Monnett and his studies. Again, they demoted him, and they did all sorts of things to cover his funding and so on and so forth. But Obama administration went one step further, because Obama administration was also really pushing for oil and gas development in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. The Obama administration Department of Interior actually put Charles Monnett under house arrest in 2012 for six weeks, after which he was released without any charges being leveled against him.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then there’s a third example of<b> Professor Richard Steiner of University of Alaska Fairbanks,</b> who spoke out against oil and gas issues in the Bering Sea. The University of Alaska took away all his federal funding, from agencies like National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He protested. <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Democracy Now!</em> did the coverage. Amy, you spoke with Rick Steiner also. And he protested and filed a lawsuit, and then he resigned.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So, to draw attention to all of these issues, I am convening a major conference called “The Last Oil” at the University of New Mexico, that will take place from February 21 to 23rd, to bring attention to this form of silencing, punishing, as well as marginalization of indigenous people all across the Arctic.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> Finally—</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">SUBHANKAR</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">BANERJEE</span>:</strong> So, we are in a time they are doing everything to undermine the public process. They’re silencing scientists. They’re marginalizing and silencing indigenous communities. We need a all-out antiwar movement, antiwar-style movement now.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see particulate holocaust:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">intercept</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...<span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The top-billed witness scheduled to provide testimony at the House hearing on Tuesday is a lawyer named</span><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span><b times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em">Jeffrey Holmstead, who has has worked to block the EPA’s efforts to limit mercury pollution</b><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">while representing coal companies including Duke Energy, Progress Energy, and Southern Company. Meanwhile,</span><b times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em"> Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican chair of the House Science Committee who has been zealously promoting the“secret science” bill,</b><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">is also in the pocket of the energy companies. Though he’s also received funding from Koch Industries and </span><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2003/03/17/daily14.html" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" font-weight="font-weight" bold="bold" color="color" rgb="rgb" outline="outline" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box">iHeartMedia</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> (formerly Clear Channel Communications), Smith’s biggest contributors are </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2016&cid=N00001811&type=I" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" font-weight="font-weight" bold="bold" color="color" rgb="rgb" outline="outline" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box">oil and gas</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> companies, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Also testifying on Tuesday will be Kimberly White of the American Chemistry Council, the chemical industry trade group.</span></font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This bald industry bid to subvert public health-based regulations that can cut into profit isn’t new. What’s new is that this upside-down environmental attack, in which those who benefit directly from polluting industries are policing the independent scientists who can show the harms of their products, could now succeed. Although the House passed the secret science bill in 2014 and 2015, it never made it to the Senate floor. After it passed the House in 2015, Barbara Boxer called the bill “<a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/240365-senators-vote-to-block-epas-use-of-secret-science" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">insane</a>,” Bernie Sanders called it “laughable,” and President Obama promised to veto it. This time, it’s not a joke. With a Republican majority in both houses and Trump in the White House, the secret science act could easily become law</font></p><div data-reactid=".ti.1.0.1.2.0.0.1.0.4.$p-0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The small group of lawyers and PR strategists orchestrating the secret science effort are closely tied to those attacking the EPA from within. All have connections to either big tobacco, oil, or both — and almost all have been affiliated with a small, right-wing group called the <a href="https://eelegal.org/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>Energy & Environment Legal Institute</b></a>.</span> It’s interesting that E&E should fixate on transparency since the group has gone to great lengths to conceal its donors. Nevertheless, public records document some of the group’s ties to big coal companies, including the now bankrupt <a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/08/25/chris-horner-coal/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Alpha Natural Resources</a>, <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/06/13114/peabody-coal-bankruptcy-reveals-extensive-funding-climate-denial-network" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Peabody Coal</a>, and <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2016/03/11/arch-coal-made-10000-gift-to-energy-environment-legal/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Arch Coal</a>.</font><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">E&E senior policy fellow <b>Steve Milloy,</b> a former tobacco industry attorney, has perhaps written the most — at least publicly — about the secret science strategy, both in an <a href="http://junkscience.com/2016/12/new-book-by-steve-milloy-scare-pollution-why-and-how-to-fix-the-epa/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">ebook</a> and for Steve Bannon’s <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/07/14/epas-fraudulent-science/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Breitbart News</a></span>. Milloy calls Myron Ebell, who oversaw Trump’s EPA transition team, his “<a href="https://twitter.com/JunkScience/status/804533797828038656" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">friend and hero</a>.” In the late 1990s, Milloy and Ebell were both members of the American Petroleum Institute’s Global Climate Science Communications Team, which laid out the oil industry’s strategy to undermine the science of global warming.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Meanwhile, three of Milloy’s colleagues from E&E are also members of the EPA landing team. Among them are David Schnare, E&E’s general counsel, who is perhaps best known for harassing Michael Mann and other environmental scientists with FOIA requests, and Amy Oliver Cooke, an energy industry think tanker who created MILF, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq8XaTm6ddA" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Mothers In Love with Fracking</a>.</span></font></p><p class="caption overlayed" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.27273; letter-spacing: 0.01em; word-spacing: -0.25em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[vid]:amy Oliver Cooke describes her love for fracking.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Two other E&E associates have been wrapped up in the secret science strategy for years. The first is Christopher Horner, </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">a senior fellow at both E&E and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who is also a member of Trump’s EPA landing team. Back in the 1990s, Horner worked for Bracewell LLP, the law firm (formerly known as Bracewell & <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2016/01/19/mayor-giuliani-to-leave-houston-based-law-firm.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Giuliani)</a>supplying the top witness at Tuesday’s hearing.</span> The dawning awareness of the dangers of second-hand smoke was putting tobacco companies on the defensive, including Horner’s client, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. In a 1996 <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3445520-Horner-to-RJR-Reynolds-1996-Bracewell-Giuliani.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">memo</a>, which seems to be the earliest known reference to the secret science strategy, Horner laid out a plan to fight back.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.13px;"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/02/05/republicans-want-to-make-the-epa-great-again-by-gutting-health-regulations/">https://theintercept.com/2017/02/05/republicans-want-to-make-the-epa-great-again-by-gutting-health-regulations/</a></span></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a57128/trump-coal/">http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a57128/trump-coal/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><p class="body-dropcap" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem 47.5938px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">weirdly iconic role that coal mining played in the last election, and the weirdly iconic role it has played in the administration's rhetoric since then, continues to amaze and astound. In a time in which the reliance on fossil fuels and the subsequent emissions of CO2 have endangered the future of the planet, a successful presidential candidate ran on bringing back a dying industry that, even in its salad days, killed and maimed people with distressing regularities, an industry in which the labor strife was the most serious armed conflict between Americans since Appomattox, and an industry that crippled the economy of several states. This president ran on the most pro-coal platform of any presidential candidate since Theodore Roosevelt stepped in to mediate the coal strikes in 1905.</span> It was as though we were living through some sort of presidential re-enactors convention.</font></p><p class="p1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem 47.5938px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, in the real world, the coal industry continues to be dangerously unhealthy and environmentally ruinous. So, naturally, having handed environmental policy over to people like EPA director Scott Pruitt, an extraction industry sublet, the way to solve these perennial problems with coal is not to study them any more. The <em data-redactor-tag="em" data-verified="redactor" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="body-link" data-tracking-id="recirc-text-link" href="http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/coaltattoo/2017/08/21/trump-osm-issues-cease-all-work-order-on-study-of-mountaintop-removal-minings-health-effects/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">Charleston Gazette-Mail</a></em> seems somewhat stunned by this development.</font></p><blockquote class="body-blockquote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 47.5938px; margin-right: 0px; clear: both; line-height: 1.3; border-left: 0.375rem solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 1.25rem;"><p class="body-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem 41.5625px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In an August 18 letter, the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement informed the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine <span data-redactor-tag="strong" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">that it should cease all work on a study of the potential health risks for people living near surface coal mine sites</span> in Central Appalachia. The letter states that the Department has begun an agency-wide review of its grants and cooperative agreements in excess of $100,000, largely as a result of the Department's changing budget situation.</font></p></blockquote><p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem 47.5938px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Mountaintop removal</span> is probably the worst possible form of coal mining. It is a tantrum of a process that has been known to unleash untold poisons into the water tables in surrounding areas. A month ago, <a class="body-link" data-tracking-id="recirc-text-link" href="http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/20170711/research-on-mountaintop-removal-health-effects-adequate-panel-told" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">a researcher talked to the National Academy of Sciences</a> and told that panel that enough studies have been conducted to conclude that mountaintop removal mining threatens the health and safety of citizens living in and around the coalfields.</font></p><blockquote class="body-blockquote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 47.5938px; margin-right: 0px; clear: both; line-height: 1.3; border-left: 0.375rem solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 1.25rem;"><p class="body-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem 41.5625px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We know enough," researcher Michael Hendryx told the panel during a meeting in Washington. "If all we do is call for more research, we're asking people to be research subjects without their consent." While at WVU, Hendryx became a target for coal industry criticism when he published dozens of peer-reviewed papers that found coalfield residents living near mountaintop removal operations faced increased risks of <a class="body-link" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3Awww.wvgazettemail.com_News_201107271037&d=DwMFaQ&c=B73tqXN8Ec0ocRmZHMCntw&r=nfEsr3_7G8mMzciVotUPcNyvGH3WftYYyF7Ffipyk5c&m=5_RrAlgYV3SynIC_HJiBtOpxAUq_nom3WHeKSyRCgbk&s=Vx9os3viKmOp29i56lqOWGvj_SffhrG4AY0_eBwVPFk&e=" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">cancer</a>, <a class="body-link" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3Ablogs.wvgazettemail.com_coaltattoo_2011_06_30_birth-2Ddefects-2Dstudy-2Dmore-2Dinconvenient-2Dfacts-2Dabout-2Dthe-2Dimpact-2Dof-2Dmountaintop-2Dremoval-2Dcoal-2Dmining&d=DwMFaQ&c=B73tqXN8Ec0ocRmZHMCntw&r=nfEsr3_7G8mMzciVotUPcNyvGH3WftYYyF7Ffipyk5c&m=5_RrAlgYV3SynIC_HJiBtOpxAUq_nom3WHeKSyRCgbk&s=9i40Bq6Y8Kz6JOTI17hOAYZ4mdz6QIKARZBesWaa3XE&e=" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">birth defects</a> and <a class="body-link" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3Ablogs.wvgazettemail.com_coaltattoo_2009_06_20_weighing-2Dcoals-2Dcosts-2Dand-2Dbenefits&d=DwMFaQ&c=B73tqXN8Ec0ocRmZHMCntw&r=nfEsr3_7G8mMzciVotUPcNyvGH3WftYYyF7Ffipyk5c&m=5_RrAlgYV3SynIC_HJiBtOpxAUq_nom3WHeKSyRCgbk&s=TyJ1KLx-tNht_5Ro43YberMMCfPizTN5ItZ6jOIuRBo&e=" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">premature death</a>, among other health problems. The National Academy of Sciences, with funding from the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, is conducting a two-year study of the issue, an exercise that in many ways amounts to a review of scientific papers that Hendryx either authored or inspired with his work at WVU. Hendryx, who is not on the academy panel, now is an assistant professor of public health at the University of Indiana Bloomington.</font></p></blockquote><blockquote class="body-blockquote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 47.5938px; margin-right: 0px; clear: both; line-height: 1.3; border-left: 0.375rem solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 1.25rem;"><p class="body-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem 41.5625px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The project <a class="body-link" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3Awww.documentcloud.org_documents_3004318-2DOSMRE-2DNews-2DRelease-2DNAS-2DStudy-2DFINAL.html&d=DwMFaQ&c=B73tqXN8Ec0ocRmZHMCntw&r=nfEsr3_7G8mMzciVotUPcNyvGH3WftYYyF7Ffipyk5c&m=5_RrAlgYV3SynIC_HJiBtOpxAUq_nom3WHeKSyRCgbk&s=rOKuqiIcJuDC5OqWWf2CobVRU-vp6-R6xiUpmrSX0n8&e=" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">was announced in August 2016</a> and funding was in place before the Donald Trump administration — which has promised to roll back regulations on the coal industry — took office. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">State Public Health Commissioner Dr. Rahul Gupta and former state Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Randy Huffman had asked the U.S. Interior Department for help on the issue, and Interior's OSM provided $1 million in funding for the academy review. </span>West Virginia political and governmental leaders <a class="body-link" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3Ablogs.wvgazettemail.com_coaltattoo_2011_09_14_west-2Dvirginias-2Danti-2Dscience-2Dgubernatorial-2Dcandidates-23more-2D19021&d=DwMFaQ&c=B73tqXN8Ec0ocRmZHMCntw&r=nfEsr3_7G8mMzciVotUPcNyvGH3WftYYyF7Ffipyk5c&m=5_RrAlgYV3SynIC_HJiBtOpxAUq_nom3WHeKSyRCgbk&s=3yZxKUF3uBbHZbCGgSw6GC0Mmk0wzbQuEOSvfq-paL4&e=" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">have mostly either ignored the growing body of science on mountaintop removal's health effects</a> or tried to belittle the work. Coal industry officials have, likewise, attacked the studies, <a class="body-link" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3Awww.wvgazettemail.com_News_201304060061&d=DwMFaQ&c=B73tqXN8Ec0ocRmZHMCntw&r=nfEsr3_7G8mMzciVotUPcNyvGH3WftYYyF7Ffipyk5c&m=5_RrAlgYV3SynIC_HJiBtOpxAUq_nom3WHeKSyRCgbk&s=wRWzheEIfhDUxRv6QMlA5V2Jt1PxLVfwFsS7eEP8rPo&e=" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">funding a large effort to discredit the work</a>.</font></p></blockquote><p class="body-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem 47.5938px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But, if you don't study something, it doesn't really exist. The damage already done to this country and its institutions is going to take decades to fix.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px;"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump Administration Word Ban Extends to Other Federal Agencies. Its Ongoing Assault on Science Is Much Worse.</font></h1></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px;" /></font><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px;"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2518373473" data-authors="Union of Concerned Scientists" data-headline="The Trump Administration Word Ban Extends to Other Federal Agencies. Its Ongoing Assault on Science Is Much Worse." style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Michael Halpern</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A word ban extends beyond the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC), the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/words-banned-at-multiple-hhs-agencies-include-diversity-and-vulnerable/2017/12/16/9fa09250-e29d-11e7-8679-a9728984779c_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-more-top-stories_hhswords-7pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&u" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">reported last night</a>, including at another, unnamed <a href="http://hhs.gov/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">U.S. Department of Health and Human Services</a> (HHS) agency that was told how to talk about the Affordable Care Act, presumably to discourage people from signing up for health care. The directive came from the White House Office of Management and Budget, which coordinates the president's budget proposal and rule-making agenda.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Friday, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-diversity/2017/12/15/f503837a-e1cf-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.357451344f20" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">the Washington Post broke the news</a>, and other outlets confirmed, that CDC officials were prevented from referring to seven words when putting together the agency's budget: vulnerable, entitlement, diversity, transgender, fetus, evidence-based and science-based.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img alt="" src="https://cdn.blog.ucsusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Springer-300x200.jpg" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%;" /></font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><em>If only the banning of "science-based" and "diversity" was the worst thing the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Trump administration</a> has done to science.</em></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Additional terminology guidance given to the State Department suggests that the administration intends to pull funding from science-based HIV/AIDS prevention initiatives that work to<b> promote abstinence-only programs</b> instead, even though peer-reviewed research <a href="http://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(17)30260-4/fulltext" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">consistently finds</a> that abstinence-only programs do not delay sexual activity or change other sexual risk behaviors.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The CDC word ban was widely repudiated by <a href="https://twitter.com/aaas/status/941879122824921089" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">scientists</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJeffMerkley/status/942136932087336961" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">senators</a> and <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/cdc-ban-fetus-transgender-experts-alarmed-51837385" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">public health advocates</a>. The issue has attracted enormous attention—<a href="https://twitter.com/cher/status/942332954629599232" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">even from Cher</a>—as emblematic of a morally, scientifically and ethically corrupt style of governing.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In an email to staff last night, CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald said that the CDC "remains committed to our public health mission as a science and evidence based institution…science is and will remain the foundation of our work."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet recently, CDC scientists were <a href="https://www.axios.com/cdc-cracks-down-on-communications-with-reporters-2484371851.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">banned from responding to basic data requests from reporters without political approval</a>—a clear violation of the agency's scientific integrity policy.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Sidelining Science Since Day One</strong></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This starts with words and communication, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Just last week, Interior Sec. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/public-lands-fracking-2516878619.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Ryan Zinke</a> summoned the head of <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/364994-zinke-reprimanded-park-head-after-climate-tweets" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Joshua Tree National Park to his office for a tongue lashing</a> over tweets the park had sent out referencing climate change. That's right: the park director flew across the country to be reprimanded for a couple of tweets, in order to send a message to all park directors: talking about climate change is verboten.</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And oh, if only word choice was the worst action this administration has taken to undermine the use of science in policy-making. They're not just trying to downplay the phrase "evidence-based." They're trying to ditch the whole idea of basing policy on evidence.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In July, we chronicled how <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/center-science-and-democracy/promoting-scientific-integrity/sidelining-science-from-day-one#.WjaON0zMzUo" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">the Trump administration has sidelined science since day one</a>. And since then the abuses of evidence have continued to flow.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Treasury Secretary claimed that economists were working "around the clock" to come up with analysis justifying the tax bill. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/us/politics/treasury-analysis-tax-bill.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">They were not</a>. The EPA <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/michael-halpern/the-epa-science-advisory-board-is-being-compromised-heres-why-that-matters" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">banned scientists who receive EPA grants</a>—the ones the agency has decided do the most promising environmental and public health research—from providing science advice to the agency. The Department of Interior is <a href="https://www.americangeosciences.org/geotimes/23-science-organizations-urge-congress-continue-funding-usgs-library" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">trying to defund and prevent public access to</a> the U.S. Geological Survey library system.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The White House has no science advisor, and the president's Office of Science and Technology Policy is a ghost town.</b> Numerous political appointees—including the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/12/11/new-cdc-head-faces-questions-about-financial-conflicts-of-interest/?utm_term=.bdb34ff0d9d6" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">CDC director</a> and the <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/andrew-rosenberg/conflicts-of-interest-noaas-nominees-accuweather-ceo-barry-myers-and-dr-neil-jacobs-of-panasonic" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">nominee for NOAA administrator</a>—have financial conflicts of interest that <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/genna-reed/trump-six-months" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">lead many to question their ability to do the jobs</a>. The administration has shut down studies where it expects it won't like the outcome: on <a href="https://eos.org/articles/major-federal-tropical-research-project-to-cease-7-years-early" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">climate change in the tropics</a>, on <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/teen-pregnancy-researchers-regroup-after-trumps-hhs-pulls-funding/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">teen pregnancy prevention</a> and on the <b><a href="http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=8212017" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">health risks of surface coal mining in West Virginia</a>. Science agencies are targeted across the board for severe budget cuts.</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An exhaustive list is, quite frankly, impossible. President Trump's attacks on science harm our environment and make all of us sicker and less safe. If the Trump administration won't allow federal agencies to do their job, it's time to ask Congress to step up its game, engage in meaningful oversight and do its job.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><em><a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/author/michael-halpern#.WjfEaFQ-eTc" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Michael Halpern</a> is an expert on political interference in science and solutions to reduce suppression, manipulation and distortion of government science.</em></font></p><div class="around-the-web"><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</font></div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/health/cdc-trump-banned-words.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Uproar Over Purported Ban at C.D.C. of Words Like 'Fetus' - The ... ›</a></font></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/usda-bans-climate-change-2470565728.html" class="around-the-web__link" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Trump Administration's Solution to Climate Change: Ban the Term ›</a></font></li></ul></div></div></div></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Aug. 21, 2017</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Statement Regarding National Academies Study on Potential Health Risks of Living in Proximity to Surface Coal Mining Sites in Central Appalachia</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WASHINGTON -- In an August 18 letter, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement informed the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that it should cease all work on a <a href="http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/projectview.aspx?key=49846" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">study</a> of the potential health risks for people living near surface coal mine sites in Central Appalachia. The letter states that the Department has begun an agency-wide review of its grants and cooperative agreements in excess of $100,000, largely as a result of the Department’s changing budget situation. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The National Academies will go forward with previously scheduled meetings for this project in Kentucky on August 21-23 -- which are allowed to proceed according to the letter -- and encourages the public to attend <a href="http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=8152017&ga=2.222565277.707320120.1503324467-141596223.1486144204" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">open meetings</a> in Hazard and Lexington on August 21 and 22. The National Academies believes this is an important study and we stand ready to resume it as soon as the Department of the Interior review is completed.  We are grateful to our committee members for their dedication to carrying forward with this study.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, technology, and medicine. They operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Contacts:<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span>William Kearney, Executive Director<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Riya V. Anandwala, Media Relations Officer<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Office of News and Public Information<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="tel:(202)%20334-2138" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">202-334-2138</a>; e-mail <a href="mailto:news@nas.edu" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">news@nas.edu<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></a><a href="http://national-academies.org/newsroom" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">national-academies.org/newsroom</a></font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/08/trump-kills-coal-health-study/">http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/08/trump-kills-coal-health-study/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b> Trump administration has told the National Academy of Sciences to <a href="http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=8212017" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">stop working</a> on a study about the potential health risks for people living near mountaintop coal-removing sites in Central Appalachia.</b> </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Everyone knows there are major health risks living near mountaintop removal coal mining sites,” Bill Price, the senior Appalachia organizer at the Sierra Club <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/347374-trump-administration-halts-research-on-mountaintop-removal-coal" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">said in a statement</a>. “It’s infuriating that Trump would halt this study on the health effects of mountaintop removal coal mining, research that people in Appalachia have been demanding for years.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2014, a West Virginia University <a href="http://www.wvgazettemail.com/article/20141016/GZ01/141019355" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">study</a> found that dust from mountaintop removal coal-mining sites was linked to increased incidences of lung cancer. The following year, the state <a href="https://www.osmre.gov/resources/newsroom/news/2016/080316.pdf" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">formally asked the Obama administration</a> for help in studying these health effects, and in <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">2016, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) gave the NAS $1 million to determine the human health effects for people living near coal mine operations. </span></font></p><div id="InContent_Banner_1" data-adunit="InContent_Banner_1" data-size-mapping="InContent" class="dfw-unit display-none" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1em; text-align: center; position: relative; z-index: 2000;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But last week, in an August 18 <a href="http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=8212017" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">letter</a> to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the OSMRE said that the Department of the Interior has begun an agency-wide review of all its grants and cooperative agreements that exceed $100,000, as part of a the Department’s “changing budget situation” and that the <b>agency should halt all work on the study. The NAS says that it is ready to resume work on the study when the review is complete.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Communities living with daily health threats were counting on finally getting the full story from the professionals at the National Academies of Science,” Price <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/347374-trump-administration-halts-research-on-mountaintop-removal-coal" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">said</a>. “To take that away without warning or adequate reason is beyond heartless.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Not only can coal have an impact on public health, burning it releases carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Nonetheless, the Trump administration has been aligned with climate skeptics, and throughout his campaign and presidencyTrump expressed support for the coal industry.  </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When he <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-launches-back-basics-agenda-pennsylvania-coal-mine" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">announced</a> a new agenda for the Environmental Protection Agency, Administrator Scott Pruitt told a group of coal miners that “the coal industry was nearly devastated by years of regulatory overreach, but with new direction from President Trump, we are helping to turn things around for these miners.” At an Iowa rally in June, Trump <a href="http://time.com/4830619/donald-trump-coal-regulation/" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(">promised to put coal miners back to work</a>. “We’ve ended the war on clean, beautiful coal,” he said. “And we’re putting our miners back to work.”</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bill Price, from the Sierra Club, says that revoking this study demonstrates the administration’s real priorities when it comes to coal. “It appears that the only people Trump cares about in Appalachia are coal executives,” he wrote, “not the people who’ve lived and worked here for generations.”</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><table width="283" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="hide" align="right"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/projectview.aspx?key=49846" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;"><img src="http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/images/print.gif" width="15" height="11" border="0" style="border-style: none;" /></a></font></td><td class="hide"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="textBold" style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/projectview.aspx?key=49846" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;"> Printer Friendly Version</a></span></font></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td width="100%"><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="left"><tbody><tr><td align="left"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="frmLabel" style="font-weight: bold;">Project Title: 

</span></font></td><td valign="top"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Potential Human Health Effects of Surface Coal Mining Operations in Central Appalachia</font></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="frmLabel" style="font-weight: bold;">PIN:</span></font></td><td valign="top" nowrap="nowrap"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="lbPin">DELS-BESR-16-03</span>  <span class="frmLabel" style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>   <span class="frmLabel" style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>  

</font></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="frmLabel" style="font-weight: bold;">Major Unit: 

</span></font></td><td valign="top"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="lblUnit"><a href="http://dels.nas.edu/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">Division on Earth and Life Studies</a>
<a href="http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">Health and Medicine Division</a>
</span>
</font></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="frmLabel" style="font-weight: bold;">Sub Unit:</span></font></td><td valign="top"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="lblBoard"><a href="http://dels.nas.edu/besr" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">Board on Earth Sciences & Resources</a>
<a href="http://dels.nas.edu/best/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">Board on Environmental Studies & Toxicology</a>
<a href="http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">Board on Health Sciences Policy</a>
</span>
</font></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="frmLabel" style="font-weight: bold;">RSO:</span></font></td><td valign="top"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="text"><span id="lblRSO">Glickson, Deborah</span> </span>

</font></td></tr><tr><td width="150" valign="top" nowrap=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="frmLabel" style="font-weight: bold;">Subject/Focus Area:</span></font></td><td valign="top"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="text"><span id="lblSubject">Earth Sciences; Engineering and Technology; Environment and Environmental Studies; Health and Medicine</span> </span>

</font></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3"><div style="padding-bottom: 1px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img src="http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/images/spacer.gif" width="100%" height="1" style="border-style: none;" /></font></div></td></tr><tr><td><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<span class="frmLabel" style="font-weight: bold;">Project Scope</span></font></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3" width="100%"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="text"><span id="lblScope">An ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will conduct a study to examine the potential relationship between increased health risks and living in proximity to sites that have been or are being mined or reclaimed for surface coal deposits. The study will focus on four states in Central Appalachia.  In particular, the study will 

1.    Identify and briefly describe the main types of coal deposits in Central Appalachia that are extracted using surface mining techniques.  Descriptions will include geologic and geochemical characteristics, mining and reclamation operations, and waste management approaches. 

2.    Summarize the state and federal regulatory frameworks for surface coal mining operations, including coal preparation plants and the associated coarse coal refuse facilities and slurry impoundments. 

3.    Systematically search and screen literature to identify relevant scientific publications on the potential human health effects related to surface coal mining operations. The committee will use the selected literature to accomplish the following: 

a.    Identify effects from surface coal mining operations on air, surface water, ground-water, and drinking water quality and on ecologic communities and soil that could potentially lead to human health concerns. 

b.    Evaluate the potential for short-term and long-term human health effects, which will include consideration of potential exposure pathways and relevant environmental contaminants and other stressors. 

c.    Assess the scientific and methodologic quality, rigor, and sufficiency of the scientific research. 

4.    Identify baseline data and approaches necessary to monitor environmental and human health indicators that may be affected by surface coal mining operations. 

5.    Identify gaps in research and needs for additional research that may assist in the development of new approaches to safeguard the health of residents living near these types of coal mining operations.  

As this study is focused on human health effects for those living in close proximity to surface coal mine operations, the committee will not consider the occupational health aspects of workers at these mines.</span> </span>

</font></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><div style="padding-bottom: 1px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img src="http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/images/spacer.gif" width="100%" height="1" style="border-style: none;" /></font></div></td></tr><tr><td><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></td></tr><tr><td valign="bottom"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="frmLabel" style="font-weight: bold;">Project Duration:</span></font></td><td valign="top" nowrap="nowrap"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="text"><span id="lblDuration">24 months</span> </span>   </font></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-diversity/2017/12/15/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-diversity/2017/12/15/</a></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We’re fully into Orwellian territory now. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-diversity/2017/12/15/f503837a-e1cf-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_story.html?utm_term=.d7e716915ed4" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">The Washington Post’s Lena H. Sun and Juliet Eilperin reported</a>Friday evening that a group of CDC employees were told not to use seven words in official budget documents: “vulnerable,” “fetus,” “transgender,” “entitlement,” “diversity,”<b> “evidence-based,” and “science-based.”</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twenty-four hours later, Sun and Eilperin followed up by reporting that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/words-banned-at-multiple-hhs-agencies-include-diversity-and-vulnerable/2017/12/16/9fa09250-e29d-11e7-8679-a9728984779c_story.html?utm_term=.97c5eedd61c3" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">another HHS agency received similar guidance</a> about avoiding “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” and “diversity,” as well as instructions to use “Obamacare” instead of “Affordable Care Act.” Another linguistic substitution is visible at the State Department, where some documents now refer to “sexual risk avoidance” rather than “sex education.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a post at the Union of Concerned Scientists blog on Saturday morning, <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/michael-halpern/is-cdc-banning-the-use-of-scientific-words-its-time-for-cdc-director-brenda-fitzgerald-to-speak-up" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">Michael Halpern wrote</a>:</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px;"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Much to Grouse About: Interior Department Calls for Changes That Could Threaten Sage Grouse Protection</font></h1></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px;" /></font><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px;"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2493751218" data-headline="Much to Grouse About: Interior Department Calls for Changes That Could Threaten Sage Grouse Protection" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Charise Johnson</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That the current administration places very little value on the merit of robust scientific evidence when considering its actions (or inactions) is no longer shocking, but it remains an intolerable practice.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In this week's episode of "How is the Trump Administration Dismantling Science-Based Protections?" we visit the Interior Department's decision to formally reconsider a widely heralded <a href="http://westernvaluesproject.org/sage-grouse-agreement-sets-the-standard-for-21st-century-conservation/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Obama-era agreement</a> for protections of the greater sage grouse in the West.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Thursday, the Interior Department published a formal <a href="https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/GRSG%20Amendment_NOI_FRN_100317_CLEAN%20PDF.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">notice of intent</a> to rework 98 sage grouse management plans across the <a href="http://digg.com/video/more-like-sage-gross" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">quirky bird's</a> 11 state range. This change comes after a <a href="https://www.eenews.net/assets/2017/08/07/document_gw_08.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">mere 60 days deliberation</a> by the Interior Department's internal Sage-Grouse Review Team (appointed by Sec. <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Ryan Zinke</a>) </span>and Sage-Grouse Task Force (representatives of governors of the eleven western states)—and much to the chagrin of the many stakeholders who worked for several years to craft a cooperative land use agreement in an effort to protect the sage grouse and its habitat.</font></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>What's the deal with the sage grouse?</strong></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The sage grouse is the chicken of the "<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/sagebrush-sea-about/12170/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Sagebrush Sea</a>"—an ecosystem which is "suffering death by a thousand cuts," as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHUsVfmyXhg" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">former Sec. of Interior Sally Jewell put it</a>. Habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" style="text-decoration-line: none;">wildfires</a> in the sagebrush have all contributed to the decline of this magnificent bird.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Importantly, Sec. Jewell worked to put in place federal-state partnerships in order to protect the sage grouse. In 2010, the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/greatersagegrouse/findings.php" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">FWS proposed listing</a> the sage grouse under <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Endangered Specie</a>s because of the threats its survival faced. After much input from stakeholders and the public, the agency in 2015 chose <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/historic-conservation-campaign-protects-greater-sage-grouse" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">not to list</a> the species and instead put efforts into state management plans, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHUsVfmyXhg" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">assuring us all</a> that states could put programs in place to ensure the bird's protection. With Sec. Zinke's moves, we're now paving over (perhaps literally) those state protection plans, leaving the sage grouse at least as vulnerable as it was when the FWS proposed listing it under the Endangered Species Act.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The sage grouse has long been caught in the crosshairs of political controversy, especially when it comes to undermining the science behind conservation efforts. For example, in<b> 2004, Julie MacDonald, a political appointee at the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/center-for-science-and-democracy/scientific_integrity/abuses_of_science/a-to-z/sage-grouse.html#.WdQHl7KGNhG" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">altered scientific content</a> in a report</b> examining the vulnerability of the greater sage grouse, which was subsequently presented to a panel of experts that recommended against listing the bird under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) (read my colleagues' thoughts on political interference in sage grouse conservation efforts <a href="http://blog.ucsusa.org/gretchen-goldman/interfering-in-the-science-congress-targets-sage-grouse-protections-in-cromnibus-bill-759" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">here</a> and <a href="http://blog.ucsusa.org/michael-halpern/your-handy-guide-to-attacks-on-how-the-endangered-species-act-uses-science-726" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>).</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Ignoring the science</strong></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Sage-Grouse Review Team (SGRT) recommendations include potentially removing or modifying the boundaries of critical habitat called sagebrush focal areas (SFAs), as well as setting population targets and <a href="http://wildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/TWS-Comment-on-Sage-Grouse-SO_FINAL_2017.07.20.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">captive breeding</a>, and modifying or issuing new policy on fluid mineral leasing and development. Also worth noting is that <a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060061473" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">an Obama-era moratorium on mining claims in six Western states recently expired</a>, with no indication of renewal from Sec. Zinke.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The problem with the Interior changing the conservation plans is twofold: 1) the motivation for reviewing the sage grouse management plans was to "ease the burden on local economies" by opening protected lands to development, which could have negative impacts on already rapidly-dwindling sage grouse populations, and 2) reopening the plans could spell more trouble for recovery efforts and potentially force FWS to list the sage grouse under the ESA in the future, which is precisely what states wanted to avoid. The conservation plan is critical, but it only works with the agreed upon protections in place.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The decision to undo years of collaboration and compromise between federal, state, local, and tribal governments, NGO's, scientists, industry, landowners, ranchers and hunters in a matter of two months sends a loud message to the public that economic considerations prevail over scientific evidence, even at the cost of an entire ecosystem and the species dependent upon it.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The SGRT recommendations ignore the science and put the entire sagebrush landscape at risk, much to the detriment of the sage grouse.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead is <a href="http://trib.com/business/energy/wyoming-governor-concerned-by-anticipated-sage-grouse-changes/article_794ed2b4-1414-5ca3-a207-bb32fd5241f7.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">critical of the new plan</a>, concerned that it ignores scientific consensus</span>. "We've got to have good science lead the way, and that trumps politics," <a href="http://trib.com/business/energy/wyoming-governor-critical-of-federal-changes-to-sage-grouse-management/article_6d33d076-1a3b-5ab7-8040-5c02e1455054.html" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Mead said</a>. "Let's look at what the states have done, and what biologists, folks who know this, are telling us."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Sage advice</strong></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We cannot allow our government to irresponsibly cater to oil and gas industry at the expense of our wildlife and public lands. Instead, we must urge the Department of Interior to focus their efforts on collaborative, science-informed management of the sage grouse and its habitat.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Charise Johnson is a research associate in the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>