Refusing to Name Names, DOE Fearful of 'Climate Purge' Under Trump
Employees are "shocked and dismayed" after President-elect Donald Trump's transition team asked for names of individuals who worked on Obama's climate policies
Resisting what is widely feared to be a "climate purge" of government employees who have studied global warming and other environmental policies under U.S. President Barack Obama, the Department of Energy (DOE) confirmed Tuesday that it would not be releasing individual names to President-elect Donald Trump's transition team.
"There is major concern amongst my members," Jeff Eagan, president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) chapter at the DOE's Washington headquarters, told the Washington Post. "I have received lots of calls, emails, messages expressing shock and dismay."
The outcry was in response to an internal memo, made public last week, in which the transition team submitted 65 questions to the DOE--a number of which sought specific information on "employees and contractors who attended United Nations climate meetings, along with those who helped develop the Obama administration's social cost of carbon metrics, used to estimate and justify the climate benefits of new rules," as Bloomberg reported at the time.
But the DOE isn't rolling over.
In an emailed statement sent to news outlets, department spokesperson Eben Burnham-Snyder responded to the request, saying that the "questions asked left many in our workforce unsettled."
Burnham-Snyder continued:
Our career workforce, including our contractors and employees at our labs, comprise the backbone of DOE (Department of Energy) and the important work our department does to benefit the American people. We are going to respect the professional and scientific integrity and independence of our employees at our labs and across our department.
We will be forthcoming with all publically-available information with the transition team. We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team. (emphasis in the email)
While the president-elect has professed ambivalence in regards to whether humanity is driving climate change, his cabinet appointments and vows to role back environmental regulations and policies have left many in the science community rattled.
Indeed, some have begun compiling independent archives of government climate data.
As the Guardian's Oliver Milman pointed out on Monday, "Trump has assembled a transition team in which at least nine senior members deny basic scientific understanding that the planet is warming due to the burning of carbon and other human activity. These include the transition heads of all the key agencies responsible for either monitoring or dealing with climate change."
In addition, his nominees to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, and now--with Tuesday's appointment of Texas Governor Rick Perry--the Department of Energy, are all unabashed climate change deniers.
FINAL DAY! This is urgent.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just hours left in our Spring Campaign, we're still falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Resisting what is widely feared to be a "climate purge" of government employees who have studied global warming and other environmental policies under U.S. President Barack Obama, the Department of Energy (DOE) confirmed Tuesday that it would not be releasing individual names to President-elect Donald Trump's transition team.
"There is major concern amongst my members," Jeff Eagan, president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) chapter at the DOE's Washington headquarters, told the Washington Post. "I have received lots of calls, emails, messages expressing shock and dismay."
The outcry was in response to an internal memo, made public last week, in which the transition team submitted 65 questions to the DOE--a number of which sought specific information on "employees and contractors who attended United Nations climate meetings, along with those who helped develop the Obama administration's social cost of carbon metrics, used to estimate and justify the climate benefits of new rules," as Bloomberg reported at the time.
But the DOE isn't rolling over.
In an emailed statement sent to news outlets, department spokesperson Eben Burnham-Snyder responded to the request, saying that the "questions asked left many in our workforce unsettled."
Burnham-Snyder continued:
Our career workforce, including our contractors and employees at our labs, comprise the backbone of DOE (Department of Energy) and the important work our department does to benefit the American people. We are going to respect the professional and scientific integrity and independence of our employees at our labs and across our department.
We will be forthcoming with all publically-available information with the transition team. We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team. (emphasis in the email)
While the president-elect has professed ambivalence in regards to whether humanity is driving climate change, his cabinet appointments and vows to role back environmental regulations and policies have left many in the science community rattled.
Indeed, some have begun compiling independent archives of government climate data.
As the Guardian's Oliver Milman pointed out on Monday, "Trump has assembled a transition team in which at least nine senior members deny basic scientific understanding that the planet is warming due to the burning of carbon and other human activity. These include the transition heads of all the key agencies responsible for either monitoring or dealing with climate change."
In addition, his nominees to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, and now--with Tuesday's appointment of Texas Governor Rick Perry--the Department of Energy, are all unabashed climate change deniers.
Resisting what is widely feared to be a "climate purge" of government employees who have studied global warming and other environmental policies under U.S. President Barack Obama, the Department of Energy (DOE) confirmed Tuesday that it would not be releasing individual names to President-elect Donald Trump's transition team.
"There is major concern amongst my members," Jeff Eagan, president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) chapter at the DOE's Washington headquarters, told the Washington Post. "I have received lots of calls, emails, messages expressing shock and dismay."
The outcry was in response to an internal memo, made public last week, in which the transition team submitted 65 questions to the DOE--a number of which sought specific information on "employees and contractors who attended United Nations climate meetings, along with those who helped develop the Obama administration's social cost of carbon metrics, used to estimate and justify the climate benefits of new rules," as Bloomberg reported at the time.
But the DOE isn't rolling over.
In an emailed statement sent to news outlets, department spokesperson Eben Burnham-Snyder responded to the request, saying that the "questions asked left many in our workforce unsettled."
Burnham-Snyder continued:
Our career workforce, including our contractors and employees at our labs, comprise the backbone of DOE (Department of Energy) and the important work our department does to benefit the American people. We are going to respect the professional and scientific integrity and independence of our employees at our labs and across our department.
We will be forthcoming with all publically-available information with the transition team. We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team. (emphasis in the email)
While the president-elect has professed ambivalence in regards to whether humanity is driving climate change, his cabinet appointments and vows to role back environmental regulations and policies have left many in the science community rattled.
Indeed, some have begun compiling independent archives of government climate data.
As the Guardian's Oliver Milman pointed out on Monday, "Trump has assembled a transition team in which at least nine senior members deny basic scientific understanding that the planet is warming due to the burning of carbon and other human activity. These include the transition heads of all the key agencies responsible for either monitoring or dealing with climate change."
In addition, his nominees to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, and now--with Tuesday's appointment of Texas Governor Rick Perry--the Department of Energy, are all unabashed climate change deniers.