Science

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will no longer defend a policy that blocked scientists from serving on its committees if they receive agency funding for their research."

"More than half the members of a panel considering changes to the nation’s blueprint for healthy eating have ties to the food industry"

"Plans to map the entire ocean floor by 2030 are going ahead despite the challenges of the coronavirus crisis, officials leading the project said, with almost a fifth covered so far."

"President Trump’s Saturday night remark that he asked officials to “slow the [coronavirus] testing down" sparked harsh rebukes from experts and frustration from his own staffers, who say it undercuts their efforts to reassure Americans as the disease surges around the country."

"The Trump administration declared a victory over air pollution in Sheboygan, Wisconsin this week—a timely win given recent polls showing that voters view environmental protection to be President Trump's greatest vulnerability." "By redrawing a line on a map to exclude a monitor with higher pollution readings, the administration has given the appearance of reducing pollution in Sheboygan."

"Senior officials within the Commerce Department have ducked two of three investigations into a controversial National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) statement issued during 2019’s Hurricane Dorian in which they played a leading role."

"A high-ranking agency official jumped at the chance to discuss the department initiative with Steve Milloy, a zealous science denier."

"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration faced political pressure from the Commerce Department to support President Donald Trump’s claims last year that Hurricane Dorian could strike Alabama, an independent group concluded in a report released Monday."

"EPA published a proposal in the Federal Register yesterday that critics described as an assault on minority communities coping with the public health legacy of structural racism."

"Efforts to undermine climate change science in the federal government, once orchestrated largely by President Trump’s political appointees, are now increasingly driven by midlevel managers trying to protect their jobs and budgets and wary of the scrutiny of senior officials, according to interviews and newly revealed reports and surveys."