Scientist says EPA staff pressured her to change testimony to Congress

A Minnesota scientist who leads an Environmental Protection Agency scientific advisory board says she was pressured by the agency's chief of staff to change her testimony before Congress to downplay the Trump administration's decision not to reappoint half of the board's members. Emails show that EPA Chief of Staff Ryan Jackson asked Deborah Swackhamer, an environmental chemist who recently retired from the University of Minnesota, to stick to the agency's stance that the decision on appointments had not yet been made. Now Democratic leaders of the House Science Committee have asked EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins to investigate Jackson's actions, which they say were "inappropriate and may have violated federal regulations" that ensure a citizen's right to communicate with Congress....more