Joel Clement doi
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><div class="fusion-post-content post-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; flex: 1 1 1px; color: rgb(34, 53, 76); font-family: Montserrat; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h2 class="entry-title fusion-post-title fusion-responsive-typography-calculated" data-fontsize="25" data-lineheight="32px" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(76, 126, 166); margin: 0px 0px 25px; font-weight: 400; font-family: Cinzel; line-height: 1.28; letter-spacing: 2px; font-size: 25px; padding-bottom: 0px; --fontSize:25;"><a href="https://whistleblower.org/general/climate-science-watch/whistleblower-joel-clement-lambasts-interior-secretary-ryan-zinke-and-president-trump-in-resignation-letter/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear; color: rgb(76, 126, 166);">Whistleblower Joel Clement Lambasts Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and President Trump in Resignation Letter</a></h2><div class="fusion-post-content-container" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">By <b>Anne Polansky CSPW</b> Sr. Climate Policy Analyst Federal whistleblower Joel Clement charged both Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and President Donald Trump with “poor leadership, waste, and … failures on climate change” in a fiercely critical letter of resignation submitted yesterday, effective tomorrow. In the letter, Clement accused President Trump and top Department of Interior [...]</p></div></div><div class="fusion-clearfix" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; zoom: 1; color: rgb(34, 53, 76); font-family: Montserrat; font-size: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div class="fusion-meta-info" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; overflow: hidden; margin-top: 20px; padding: 5px 0px; border-top: 1px solid rgb(203, 215, 228); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(203, 215, 228); font-size: 16px; width: 882.5px; border-right-color: rgb(203, 215, 228); border-left-color: rgb(203, 215, 228); color: rgb(34, 53, 76); font-family: Montserrat; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="fusion-alignleft" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 15px; width: 706px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">October 5th, 2017</span><span class="fusion-inline-sep" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 5px;">|</span><a href="https://whistleblower.org/category/climate-research-and-assessment/assessments-of-climate-impacts-and-adaptation/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear; color: rgb(87, 146, 193);">Assessments of Climate Impacts and Adaptation</a>, <a href="https://whistleblower.org/category/politicization-of-climate-science/attacks-on-climate-science-and-scientists/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear; color: rgb(87, 146, 193);">Attacks on Climate Science and Scientists</a>, <a href="https://whistleblower.org/category/climate-education-and-communication/climate-change-education-and-communication/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear; color: rgb(87, 146, 193);">Climate Change Education and Communication</a>, <a href="https://whistleblower.org/category/policy-responses-to-climate-change/climate-change-preparedness/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear; color: rgb(87, 146, 193);">Climate Change Preparedness</a>, <a href="https://whistleblower.org/category/general/climate-science-watch/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear; color: rgb(87, 146, 193);">Climate Science & Policy Watch</a>, <a href="https://whistleblower.org/category/politicization-of-climate-science/climate-science-censorship/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear; color: rgb(87, 146, 193);">Climate Science Censorship</a>, <a href="https://whistleblower.org/category/climate-research-and-assessment/global-climate-disruption-and-impacts/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear; color: rgb(87, 146, 193);">Global Climate Disruption and Impacts</a>, <a href="https://whistleblower.org/category/politicization-of-climate-science/global-warming-denial-machine/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear; color: rgb(87, 146, 193);">Global Warming Denial Machine</a>, <a href="https://whistleblower.org/category/climate-education-and-communication/science-communication/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear; color: rgb(87, 146, 193);">Science Communication</a>, <a href="https://whistleblower.org/category/policy-responses-to-climate-change/science-policy-interaction/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear; color: rgb(87, 146, 193);">Science-Policy Interaction</a>, <a href="https://whistleblower.org/category/scientific-integrity/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear; color: rgb(87, 146, 193);">Scientific Integrity</a>, <a href="https://whistleblower.org/category/climate-research-and-assessment/u-s-global-change-research-program/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear; color: rgb(87, 146, 193);">U.S. Global Change Research Program</a></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><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> 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><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> agency failed to document its decision-making process,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> despite federal guidance.</span></b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); 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"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Clement said last year that his reassignment was part of a pattern within Interior under the new administration. After he filed a </span><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><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> against the agency, </span><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="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); 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="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); 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="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); 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="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); 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="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); 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><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">n case you don't remember the details, here’s a refresher: Joel had been the director of the Office of Policy Analysis at the Department of the Interior, the climate change lead at the agency. He was pulled from his work on climate adaptation policy and supporting Native Alaskan communities displaced by rising seas, and reassigned to an unrelated position in the accounting office. There he was tasked with collecting royalty payments from fossil fuel extraction on public lands.</span></font></p><p style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;">This was no ordinary staff shuffle, and Joel gained national attention when he spoke out as a whistleblower. </span>Joel was one of dozens of employees at Interior who were given just two weeks notice earlier this year that they would be re-assigned — an unprecedented shakeup that was clearly politically motivated. Since then, Joel has resigned from his position. He tweeted: </font></p><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513530599171_17295" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://act.climatetruth.org/go/2194?t=3&akid=9443%2E100725%2EiVrJzu" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513530599171_17294" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: transparent; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.climatetruth.org/images/ClementTweet-Oct4.png" alt="“It was time to go, but will continue speaking truth to power from the outside, helping my contacts on the inside.”" width="499" height="205" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513530599171_17296" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; border: 0px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></font></a></p><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513530599171_17289" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Joel has publicly called for the resignation of Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, saying that both Zinke and President Trump are "shackled to special interests such as oil, gas, and mining" and "unwilling to lead on climate change." <span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513530599171_17288" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;">We need more brave voices like Joel's who are able to speak truth to power. That's why it is so important that we continue to support whistleblowers and ensure that they aren't silenced.</span></font></p><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1513530599171_17279" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The reassignments at Interior represent just one strand in a massive web of attacks on science and climate policy from the Trump administration and their allies in Congress.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05102017/whistleblower-resigns-letter-travel-misuse-trump-zinke-interior-dept-leadership-climate-change">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05102017/whistleblower-resigns-letter-travel-misuse-trump-zinke-interior-dept-leadership-climate-change</a></font></p><div class="content" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><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">A senior Interior Department official announced his resignation on Wednesday, accusing the Trump administration of poor leadership, wasting taxpayer dollars and failing to address climate change.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Joel Clement's resignation comes four months after he <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20072017/whistleblower-trump-intimidation-abuse-power-climate-scientists-joel-clement-zinke" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">invoked the protections of whistleblower law</a> for what he said was an illegal attempt by the department's leaders to intimidate him for speaking out about climate change.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"You and President Trump have waged an all-out assault on the civil service by muzzling scientists and policy experts like myself," Clement wrote in his resignation letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. "You have disrespected the career staff of the Department by questioning their loyalty, and you have played fast and loose with government regulations to score points with your political base at the expense of American health and safety."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the letter, Clement listed some of the groups of Americans who are reckoning with the impacts of climate change—including families and businesses in the path of hurricanes and flooding, the fishermen and farmers coping with new realities, medical professionals working to understand new diseases—and issued a warning.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
"Secretary Zinke: It is well known that you, Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt, and President Trump are shackled to special interests such as oil, gas, and mining," Clement wrote. "You are unwilling to lead on climate change, and cannot be trusted with our nation's natural resources.""If the Trump administration continues to try to silence experts in science, health and other fields, many more Americans, and the natural ecosystems upon which they depend, will be put at risk," he wrote.</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">Private Jets and Wastes of Taxpayer Money </font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When Clement first <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20072017/whistleblower-trump-intimidation-abuse-power-climate-scientists-joel-clement-zinke" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">blew the whistle</a>, he accused the department of wasting taxpayers' money. Clement, who had experience in science, policy and climate change, had been reassigned by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to a position for which he said he was unqualified.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The move shifted him from director of the Interior Department's Office of Policy Analysis, where he spoke frequently and publicly about the impacts of climate change, to a position in the accounting department. There, he had a "job title with no duties in an office that specializes in auditing and dispersing fossil fuel royalty income," he wrote in his resignation letter.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Complaints about the Trump administration wasting taxpayer dollars gained steam in recent weeks as news broke that Zinke and other cabinet officials, including EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and recently resigned Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, were using private planes paid for with public money.<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/28/ryan-zinke-charter-military-planes-interior-243280" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;"> Politico reported </a>that Zinke and his aides took several private or military flights, including a charter plane between Las Vegas and his hometown that cost taxpayers more than $12,000.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Secretary Zinke, you and your fellow high-flying Cabinet officials have demonstrated over and over that you are willing to waste taxpayer dollars, but I am not," Clement wrote in his letter of resignation.</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">Breaking Point: Zinke on Loyalty to Trump</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After blowing the whistle, Clement told InsideClimate News that he tried to remain at his job and learn what was required for the new position. The breaking point came last week, he said, when Zinke accused one-third of the department of being disloyal to the Trump administration.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Zinke's comments the other day, demanding loyalty from the career staff, was just so offensive to everybody," Clement said in an interview. "It caused me to sit and think, "I'm toiling away at something I'm not good at when I could be a voice for something that this agency is clearly not going to address.'"</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He added that he felt the number of Interior Department employees who disagree with Trump and Zinke is probably much higher. "I would suggest it's well over 90 percent," he said, "and it went up after those comments."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before his reassignment, Clement's work involved the intersection of climate change and public lands, and he was responsible for coordinating federal, state and local efforts to relocate Alaskan communities that are threatened by climate change.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I'm still checking in with folks to see how things are going, and they're saying everything is stalled out in Washington," he said. "At the state level, everything is ongoing, but there's just no support in Washington." Meanwhile, the members of those communities are facing continued threats from erosion and the thawing of permafrost.</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">Investigations into Zinke Shifting Scientists</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Clement's whistleblowing spurred two investigations into Zinke's actions in the department: one by the Office of Special Counsel and one by the Interior Department's <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20072017/whistleblower-trump-intimidation-abuse-power-climate-scientists-joel-clement-zinke" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Office of the Inspector General,</a> which was <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24072017/senators-call-investigation-zinke-interior-department-federal-scientists-reassigned" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">called for by eight senators</a> the day after Clement came forward. Both investigations are ongoing.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Clement said he's not sure what he'll do next, though made it clear that, while he's resigning, he's not going away. "I have a lot of contacts in and outside the agency," he said. "I'd like to use those to keep the pressure on the Trump administration."</font></p></div></div></div></div><div class="tagged-with" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><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;"><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"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/politics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">POLITICS</a></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/topics/arctic" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">ARCTIC</a></div> <div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/climate-science" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">CLIMATE SCIENCE</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"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/climate-change" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">CLIMATE CHANGE</a></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/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 class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/ryan-zinke" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">RYAN ZINKE</a></div></div></div></div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p>