Monumental Disaster at the Department of the Interior

[aurora]

blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/monumental-disaster-at-the-department-of-the-interior/

This is a tough time to be a federal scientist—or any civil servant in the federal government. The Trump administration is clamping down on science, denying dangerous climate change and hollowing out the workforces of the agencies charged with protecting American health, safety and natural resources.

At the Department of the Interior (DOI), with its mission to conserve and manage America’s natural and cultural resources, the Trump administration’s political appointees are stumbling over one another to earn accolades for disabling agency operations. I should know; I was one of dozens of senior executives targeted by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke for reassignment in a staff purge just six months into the new administration...

[aurora]

Here is the link to the UCS report it mentions:

www.ucsusa.org/our-work/center-science-and-democracy/science-under-siege-department-interior-2018#.XAfoU_1lAgY

(I haven't read most of it yet)

[wise_rita]

Semi-related, but DoI has a kick ass Instagram. For now...

[Bernadine]

I wish our Commissioner would just be confirmed already. I'm sure he's going to make a lot of changes, and I just want to get it over with.

[litebright]

I feel like this is basically happening in every department, some even more than others.

But there was a WaPo article the other day about how Mulvaney is making the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau toothless.

"One year after Mulvaney's arrival, he and his political aides have constrained the agency from within, achieving what conservatives on Capitol Hill had for years been unable to do, according to agency data and interviews with career officials."

Linking to it in the Chicago Tribune:

www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-mulvaney-cfpb-limits-20181205-story.html

I feel like the worst stuff won't even come out until the next D administration. God only knows what we're going to find out about the shambles that EPA and State are in, or Education.

[mrspez07]

And then there is this:
www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/20/national-parks-america-overcrowding-crisis-tourism-visitation-solutions

Not new to most of us, but it’s stayed with me since I read it last week.