Attacks on Climate Science and Scientists

Whistleblower Joel Clement Lambasts Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and President Trump in Resignation Letter

By Anne Polansky CSPW 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 [...]

Award-Winning Department of Interior Official Joel Clement Resigns

[F]or … three compelling reasons – poor leadership, waste, and your failures on climate change,” a senior Department of Interior Official, Joel Clement, submitted his resignation on October 4 to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. In his resignation letter, Clement said the administration is “shackled to special interests” and “unwilling to lead on climate change.” Just two weeks earlier, Clement had received the Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage.

Interior Department Whistleblower Joel Clement Receives Award for Civic Courage

On Sept 21, 2017, Joel Clement received the Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage from The Shafeek Nader Trust for the Community Interest. In announcing Clement as one of this year’s recipients of the prize, the trust said that Clement upheld “the highest standards of his civil service oath as a senior federal official” when “he blew the whistle on the Trump Administration’s Interior Department for using personnel reassignment to shut down climate change programs, muzzle scientists and undermine subject matter experts.” Clement urges other employees to speak out as he has.

EPA Administrator Misleadingly Criticized Draft Climate Science Special Report; EPA then Cleared Report for Final Release

Scott Pruitt, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Source: EPA By Nicky Sundt CSPW Senior Fellow “Frankly this report ought to be subjected to peer-reviewed, objective-reviewed methodology and evaluation,” said Scott Pruitt, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, when asked about the leaked draft of a Federal Climate Science Special Report (CSSR). [...]

ExxonMobil and Climate Change: A Story of Denial, Delay, and Delusion, Told in Forms 10-K — Part Three (E): 2013

By Anne Polansky Source: https://go.nasa.gov/2vXO0Vm Covering the year 2013, this is our latest installment in a timeline series addressing how the Exxon Mobil Corporation has characterized risks to its business operations associated with climate change (in its annual 10-K reports to shareholders), in light of what corporate leadership knew, or reasonably could have [...]

Red-Team v. Blue-Team: A Black and White Attack on Climate Science and Scientists

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry By Anne Polansky and Nicky Sundt Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and others are calling for a red-team/blue-team (RT/BT) exercise to resolve differences of opinion regarding the science of global climate change. The approach is meant to resolve conflict through a [...]

Syria, Nicaragua, and now the United States of America:  Official Members of the Climate Change Ostrich Club

“Hello Mr. President, I hope you will take action on climate change,” CSPW founder and George W. Bush White House climate change whistleblower Rick Piltz said politely but firmly to President Bush in the White House Rose Garden on a sunny morning in June 2001. The President was just about to make a much-anticipated statement [...]

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Catastrophe: After 7 Years, We’re Still Stuck with Toxic Corexit

Source: Greenpeace By Louis Clark On the anniversary of this horrific event, we are reminded of the tragic loss of life and health, devastation to marine life and the coastline ecosystems, and distress to local economies and livelihoods. But we are also reminded that we are no more prepared to handle devastating oil [...]

Retiring EPA Career Veteran Michael Cox Pens Letter to Scott Pruitt: “We Are Insulted”

Michael Cox. SOURCE: A 2015 speaker bio http://www.wasla.org/2015-wasla-conference_lunch-presentation  A 27-year veteran of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) retiring from his position as Climate Change Advisor for EPA’s Region 10 office in Seattle, Washington took EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and President Donald Trump to task in a March 31 departure letter (also copied [...]

ExxonMobil and Climate Change: A Story of Denial, Delay, and Delusion, Told in Forms 10-K (2009-2016) – Part Three (C): 2011

Maura Healey & Eric Schneiderman SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2ouw2Ja This is the fifth installment of our series analyzing how Exxon Mobil Corporation has communicated to its shareholders the risks associated with climate change over the last two and a half decades, using the company’s annual 10-K reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The [...]