Furor erupts over EPA decision to pull climate scientists from panel discussion
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is drawing heat for pulling its scientists from a panel discussion Monday in Rhode Island as part of a conference spotlighting the effects of climate change on the Narragansett Bay.
The withdrawal of the two scientists as well as an agency consultant has sparked fresh criticism about EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s skepticism toward the broad scientific community’s conclusion that human-caused global warming is a proven fact and a growing concern.
The conference where the scientists were scheduled to speak is coinciding with the release of a report showing the threats of climate change to Narragansett Bay, the 196- square-mile estuary whose watershed encompasses 1,705 square miles with more than 100 towns and cities that are home to nearly 2 million people.
“Climate change is affecting air and water temperatures, precipitation, sea level, and fish in the Narragansett Bay region,” the report, which was partially funded by the EPA, concludes.
“Narragansett Bay is one of Rhode Island’s most important economic assets and the EPA won’t let its scientists talk with local leaders to plan for its future. Whatever you think about climate change, this kind of collaboration should be a no-brainer,†Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., told The Washington Post in a statement. “Muzzling our leading scientists benefits no one.â€
Whitehouse is expected to speak at the conference along with other members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation.
Narragansett Bay is one of 28 estuaries that make up the National Estuary Program, an EPA program designed “to protect and restore the water quality and ecological integrity of estuaries of national significance.”
The EPA has not responded to a request for comment.
Agency spokesman John Konkus told The Washington Post in an email Sunday that “EPA scientists are attending, they simply are not presenting, it is not an EPA conference.”
The agency officials initially scheduled to speak during the conference are Autumn Oczkowski, a research ecologist at the EPA’s National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory Atlantic Ecology Division in Rhode Island, and Rose Martin, a postdoctoral fellow at the same EPA laboratory, according to The New York Times, which first reported the story.
Emily Shumchenia, an EPA consultant, was also scheduled to take part in an afternoon panel titled “The Present and Future Biological Implications of Climate Change.”
Read more:
Rollback of Clean Power Plan rule by EPA Administrator Pruitt won’t happen overnight
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