Trump Policy Shifts At EPA Prompt Criticism
By Sara Jerome,
@sarmje
The Trump administration is enacting swift policy changes at the U.S. EPA, and critics are concerned about how effective the nation’s top water regulator will be under the new president. The Trump administration, however, says the policy shifts are a normal part of the presidential transition.
In the first week of Trump’s presidency, the administration has “barred staff from awarding any new contracts or grants” and banned “press releases, blog updates or posts to the agency's social media accounts,” according to the Associated Press. In addition, the administration delayed implementation of rules passed in the final weeks of the Obama administration, the report said.
The contract ban is among the most controversial EPA policies implemented by the new administration. It is “expected to have a significant and immediate impact on EPA activities nationwide,” the AP reported.
The move created uncertainty for state agencies that rely on EPA funding.
"We are actively seeking additional information so we can understand the impact of this action on our ability to administer critical programs," said Alan Matheson, executive director of Utah’s Department of Environmental Quality, per the AP.
ProPublica reported that the contract freeze is an unusual move by the new administration:
One EPA employee aware of the freeze said he had never seen anything like it in nearly a decade with the agency. Hiring freezes happened, he said, but freezes on grants and contracts seemed extraordinary. The employee said the freeze appeared to be nationwide, and as of Monday night it was not clear for how long it would be in place.
Vox contextualized the kind of grants EPA doles out. Some of the funding is central to the agency’s role as a clean-water regulator:
Every year, the EPA awards billions of dollars in grants to state environmental agencies, local communities, universities, and nonprofits — intended to support a variety of environmental monitoring and remediation projects. These grants help states track air pollution and restore watersheds, or support researchers studying various environmental problems.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer raised concerns about the contract ban, per the AP: "This decision could have damaging implications for communities across New York state and the country, from delaying testing for lead in schools to restricting efforts to keep drinking water clean to holding up much-needed funding to revitalize toxic brownfield sites.”
The Trump administration has downplayed the significance of the contract freeze.
Doug Ericksen, the communications director for Trump's transition team at EPA, “clarified that the freeze on EPA contracts and grants won't apply to pollution cleanup efforts or infrastructure construction activities. The agency later said it would also seek to complete that review [this week],” the AP reported.
The extensive media blackout imposed at EPA has also prompted sharp criticism against the new administration. Politico reported:
At EPA, the lockdown extends well beyond formal coordinated messaging. Aside from a block on news releases and social media posts, a Monday memo, circulated internally and obtained by POLITICO, warned that EPA employees scheduled to speak at public events like conferences in the next month must alert Trump’s team of temporary political appointees.
The new administration also downplayed the significance of these policy changes, attributing the shifts to due diligence during a major transition. Per the AP:
"I don't think it's any surprise that when there's an administration turnover, that we're going to review the policies," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said. Ericksen said he expects the communications ban to be lifted by the end of this week.
Longtime officials in multiple agencies told The New York Times that “the guidance was similar to that of when Mr. Obama took office eight years ago.”
Some critics disagree. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility Executive Director Jeff Ruch said the contract freeze and media blackout “go beyond what has occurred in prior” presidential transitions, according to the AP. "We're watching the dark cloud of Mordor extend over federal service," Ruch said, making a "Lord of the Rings" reference.
Another point of contention: the release of scientific research produced by EPA scientists.
At issue is how the agency scientists will disseminate their findings under the new administration. Ericksen told NPR in an interview this week that scientific reports will be released on a “case by case basis" during the transition. "We'll take a look at what's happening so that the voice coming from the EPA is one that's going to reflect the new administration," Ericksen said.
It is unclear whether this “unspecified internal vetting process,” as NPR called it, will be a permanent EPA policy during the Trump years. "We're on Day 2 here. You've got to give us a few days to get our feet underneath us," Ericksen said, per NPR.
Agency critics are concerned this policy could have a “chilling effect” on environmental research, according to NPR:
Any review would directly contradict the agency's current scientific integrity policy, which was published in 2012. It prohibits "all EPA employees, including scientists, managers and other Agency leadership from suppressing, altering, or otherwise impeding the timely release of scientific findings or conclusions."
But it appears that previous administrations have, at times, also restricted access under certain circumstances, per NPR:
It's not abnormal for administrations to restrict access to government scientists. In 2013, a statement by the Society of Environmental Journalists called the EPA under former-President Obama "one of the most closed, opaque agencies to the press."
Yet, the report added, “while previous administrations have restricted government scientists' communications to the public, controlling their scientific conclusions is far more rare.”
Vox summed up the conflicting opinions on the Trump administration’s early EPA moves like this:
These developments could be early-stage transition pains that will get worked out over time. We don’t know. But when considered alongside Trump’s Cabinet appointments and loose relationship with the truth, it seems like science in the age of Trump is on track for massive upheaval.