President Donald Trump’s Administration has ordered a freeze on some Environmental Protection Agency grants and contracts, as the department braces for more dramatic changes going forward.
The administration wants to take a look at carbon emission rules that limit the amount of greenhouse gases allowed from power plants, and reportedly chopped $193 million in climate programs.
Meanwhile, the administration has also temporarily silenced the EPA, banning its employees from posting or blogging from government accounts.
The move causing concern among many environmentalists, locally.
An expert in climate change said he’s worried what these restrictions will mean for scientists who rely heavily upon the agency’s data and what it could potentially mean for national security.
“This is exactly what we were concerned about in the beginning,” Wenonah Hauter, of Food and Water Watch said. “It’s a war on the EPA.”
Trump’s administration said the move will allow them to align the EPA’s public statements with the president’s.
Penn State’s Earth System Science Center Director, Michael Mann said the implications are far-reaching.
“We rely upon the widespread availability of data, including data that’s produced by government agencies, such as NASA or NOAA, and there is indication and certainly a fear within the scientific community that this administration may be taking down the website, may be getting rid of key data sets, which scientists rely on,” Mann said. “If that disappears, it’s really going to leave us uncompetitive.”
In fiscal year 2016, Penn State received $1.6 million from EPA research.
The university said they’re working to learn more about the recent developments before making any statements.
Mann fears what this could mean for national security.
“Our national security community has spoken very clearly about the fact that the greatest security threat we face in the years ahead is human caused climate change because it is an increasing conflict, it’s increasing stress and competition for food and water and land,” Mann said.
A Trump transition source said the freeze will not impact all EPA grants. The $4.1 billion the agency gives to states to implement clean water and clean air regulations won’t be touched, but other discretionary grants will be frozen for review.
Nothing will be decided until the senate confirms who will lead the EPA.
