Amanda Marcotte of Salon, October 25, 2017, accuses the head of the Environmental Protection Agency Scott Pruitt of installing Soviet-style government censorship to prevent scientists with the EPA to discuss recent findings about climate change and its dire effects. He recently banned scientists with EPA grants from advising the EPA.
Former EPA head William D. Rukelshaus, The Washington Post, November 12, 2017, argues that the transparency he brought to the EPA was essential in establishing public trust in the agency’s pronouncements about the safety of water and air. He writes that Pruitt’s secrecy is harmful especially as he fails to report his discussions with industries under government regulation.
The EPA cancelled the appearance of three EPA scientists who were to discuss climate change at a Rhode Island conference last week. The EPA did not disclose the reason for the move. The EPA has been funding the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program that is hosting the conference. Critics blasted the EPA for censoring its scientists and said it was essential to address climate change in considering the future of the estuary. (The New York Times, October 22, 2017, by Lisa Friedman)