Thursday, April 06, 2017

EPA Watchdog Could Spark Internal Clash Over Pruitt’s Climate Denial

Did Scott Pruitt's recent climate denial cross a red line and violate the scientific integrity rules of the Environmental Protection Agency? That's a question now being reviewed by an agency watchdog with a long record of pushing for credibility and transparency in government science. The agency turned that matter over to Francesca Grifo after the Sierra Club demanded an investigation of Pruitt for publicly questioning carbon dioxide's role in global warming last month. Grifo is a holdover from the Obama administration who in 2013 became the agency's first scientific integrity official. Before that, she spent eight years with the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), an advocacy group that is now squarely at odds with the Trump administration on climate change and other issues. At UCS, Grifo advocated for stronger scientific integrity policies, testifying before Congress and writing papers accusing the George W. Bush administration of interfering with science and peddling uncertainties over the causes of climate change. Now Grifo, who is not a political appointee, is tasked with investigating her boss on the issue...more

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