The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) canceled speaking appearances of three agency scientists who were scheduled to discuss aspects of global warming at a Rhode Island press conference, according to a Monday report from The New York Times.
The three scientists can attend but not speak at the State of the Narragansett Bay and Watershed program in Rhode Island, EPA spokesman John Konkus confirmed to reporters. He did not elaborate on why they were prevented from speaking about contributions they made in a report on climate change.
The Narragansett Bay Estuary Program is funded through the EPA’s $26 million National Estuary Program, which funds 28 state-based estuaries and delivers about $600,000 to the program.
TheNYT’s report implied the move bolsters claims that the EPA silences government scientists from speaking publicly or conducting work on global warming. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has been openly belligerent toward those who view fighting climate change as the EPA’s primary mission.
“It’s definitely a blatant example of the scientific censorship we all suspected was going to start being enforced at E.P.A,” John King, a climate scientist at the University of Rhode Island, told NYT reporters, adding that the agency’s decision to “stifle discussions” is in keeping with Pruitt’s skeptical position on global warming.
Autumn Oczkowski, a research ecologist at the EPA’s National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory Atlantic Ecology División in Rhode Island, was supposed to give the keynote address at the news conference.
Oczkowski’s colleagues – Rose Martin, a postdoctoral fellow at the agency, and consultant Emily Shumchenia – were scheduled to talk during an afternoon panel called “The Present and Future Biological Implications of Climate Change.”
Rhode Island scientists who work at the regional lab said EPA officials spent several days earlier this month in the state office reviewing the lab’s work. The agenda and speaker lineup were emailed to attendees Oct. 4.
Pruitt suggested earlier this month that he would issue a directive to “ensure the independence and transparency and objectivity with respect to the scientific advice that we’re getting at the agency.” The directive is meant to address potential conflicts of interest among EPA scientific advisers.
The EPA chief added that many EPA advisers benefit from generous agency-funded research grants, which he says may affect their objectivity. Pruitt, who has sued the agency he now leads nearly a dozen times, believes that his upcoming directive will address the issue.
“Next week we’re going to fix that,” he said.
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