The Republican Party has been attacking science and the “regulations” that come out of scientific discoveries and data for some time now. Texas Representative Lamar Smith was about to become the chair of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology. When Rep. Smith farts, oil and Koch brothers money shoots out of his ears, that is. Rep. Smith has used his position to tie up scientists’ time and energy by relentlessly subpoenaing various agencies of research. He and other Republicans use the guise of “oversight” to create these costly and time-consuming witch hunts to stall the progress that different groups are making and then figuring out ways to neuter those programs. There is no shame for Republicans in overstepping any and all boundaries of decency or legality. Trump’s transition team has brought us Oklahoma’s oil and gas industry friendly Scott Pruitt to become the head of the EPA. If Pruitt is confirmed what can we expect to see? The head of Trump’s communications section of his transition team had this to say:
"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 told 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."
This goes in tandem with the Trump administration’s censoring of all science information on social media platforms that went into affect the past 48 hours. But maybe science will be able to win Trump’s orange-spray-painted mind?
Pressed further about whether specific research on issues such as climate change could be withheld, Ericksen told NPR that "it's premature to comment on a hypothetical before we've even had the time to look at what's currently happening in the [agency]."
That’s bad news, because the “hypothesis” of that question shouldn’t be up for discussion in an intelligent government.