A scientists’ union, out of concern for employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has established a hotline for them to use to report political meddling.
As Quartz reports, the Center for Science Democracy at the Union of Concerned Science in Cambridge, Massachusetts, established the hotline because of concerns among NOAA scientists about who Trump will pick to head the agency.
The concerns have arisen following Trump’s pick of former Texas governor Rick Perry, who has denied climate change, to head the Department of Energy, and his selection of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who doesn’t believe the science of climate change is certain, to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
Trump himself has called climate change “fiction,” but as Quartz reports, the most ominous sign for scientists include the Trump transition team’s request for the Department of Energy to release the names of all employees and contractors who attended annual global climate talks hosted by the United Nations within the last five years, the names of scientists who have worked on climate change, and the professional memberships of lab workers. The Trump team later denied that the request was made and withdrew the demand.
Scientists are also collaborating on ways to preserve existing government data and scientific information that confirm climate change on independent servers
Outgoing EPA director Gina McCarthy says it won’t be easy for Trump’s administration to undo all the work her agency has done during the past eight years, because it will be required by the Clean Air Act to establish a scientific foundation for any new law that undoes regulations in existence that curb carbon dioxide emissions, Quartz reports.
