Trump administration reportedly told EPA to freeze grants, contracts

Myron Ebell, Trump’s appointee who oversaw the transition work at the agency and a climate change denier, confirmed the freeze in an interview with ProPublica, but claimed that it was not unprecedented. And Ericksen said, somewhat to our surprise, that for now at least, even researchers will be subject to a case-by-case review for disseminating their scientific findings. “We’re on Day 2 here”.

Any review would directly contradict the agency’s current scientific integrity policy, which was published in 2012.

It also would likely have a chilling effect on the agency’s ability to conduct research on the environmental issues it is charged with regulating.

The EPA, like the departments of the Interior and Agriculture, was instructed to stop tweeting, publishing press releases and talking to the news media, which Erickson said was not uncommon during presidential transitions.

A spokesperson for the EPA declined to comment.

As for the communications freeze, sources on Capitol Hill said they are anxious about the timing of the directive.

The order comes as Trump’s administration has moved to curb the flow of information from several government agencies who oversee environmental issues since last week, in actions that appeared created to tighten control and discourage dissenting views.

That perspective breaks with the overwhelming majority of climate scientists, who hold that humans are the dominant cause of global warming since the middle of last century.

“The American people expect an open, transparent and honest government, and your actions are not only contrary to that expectation, they promote a long lasting culture of fear among federal employees and prevent them from following their mission to openly serve the American public”, they wrote.

Trump has vowed to remove environmental regulations in order to promote more energy production and mining. “That includes press releases and on and off the record conversations”. Some federal employees were so depressed, they took time off. Others might retire early. Those findings are crucial in ensuring that regulations and government policy are based on the best information available.

There also appears to be a lockdown on external communication at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Inside the agency, there’s a different view, Politico reported.

A screenshot of the EPA’s climate change data website, taken 9:38 AM, Wednesday, January, 25, 2017. A Pennsylvania environmental regulator told a local news outlet that the suspension of grants would “significantly disrupt the work of the agency to protect public health and the environment“.

The sources asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

“We’re looking at scrubbing it up a bit, putting a little freshener on it and getting it back up to the public”, Ericksen told The Hill.