At the time of writing , it ’s difficult to reason that the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) has a valuable purpose . It ’s supposed to do precisely what its name suggests , but it has been quickly poison and corrupt from within by the Trump administration and its climate denying , scientific discipline bashing chief , Scott Pruitt .
Not only has its science been removed from its mission statement , but most of its scientific advisory council is about to be purge . Now it ’s egress that the scientist speak out against this tragedy were “ bullied ” by a senior EPA functionary into keeping smooth about it .
Environmental chemist Deborah Swackhamer – the advisory circuit card ’s ranking scientist – was due to show before the House Science Committee about the plate and reasoning behind the mass dismissal of scientists demand piazza at the EPA on May 23 .
allot to emails receive byThe New York Times , however , the EPA ’s top dog of faculty , Ryan Jackson , call for that she roll back her testimonial and cohere to the agency ’s talk points . She was tell to enjoin the citizens committee that any such purge had not fall out yet , despite the fact that scientist were being handed their notices both before and after the testimonial was due to happen .
It ’s not clear whatcensoringSwackhamer would have achieved anyway ; the House Science Committee is a Republican - controlled physical structure that isnotoriously anti - scientific , and the sacking at the EPA would have inevitably become public knowledge anyway .
to begin with in May , Pruitt caused an uproar when he told 18 members of the EPA ’s Board of Science Counselors ( BOSC ) that they would n’t involve to return to study later that year . Just a few days ago , it became clear that this numberwould rise to 38 , which would allow for just 11 people left standing .
Pruitt now has the ability to handpick the replacements for those vacant seat – if he so chooses – and it ’s thought that pro - fossil fuel industry interpreter and climate skeptics will be invite into the government agency . In fact , Pruitt has late quest that a“red team , dismal team”committee gets set up to " debate " the science behind climate variety – one which will be comprise half of actual climatologists and one-half of climate denier .
In forgetful , the EPA is continually being divest of its ability to carry scientific investigation and protect the environment . As is now being made clear , any protest about the onward motion of this agency towards self - destruction are also being censored , albeit ineffectively .
So what is the point of the EPA anymore ? The Trump governing body has been exquisite to demolish the EPA , and there are Republicans in the House that are keen to see it abolish . At this microscope stage , maybe it should be , because right now it ’s nothing more than an embarrassing repository to irony .
