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The Trump administration has frozen grants and contracts by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to ProPublica, and blocked employees from providing updates on this change via social media. This could have big effects on the agency's budget and severely undercut its efforts.
In an email obtained by ProPublica, one EPA contractor writes that: "The new EPA administration has asked that all contract and grant awards be temporarily suspended, effective immediately. Until we receive further clarification, this includes task orders and work assignments."
Also, employees have been banned from providing updates to reporters or on social media. The internal memo specifies that no press releases will go out to external audiences, there will be "no blog messages" and media requests will be carefully screened. (Interestingly, the Department of Energy, a fellow federal agency, recently released new guidelines that specifically protects contractors and ensures that they can state their personal opinions.)
Source: The Verge
takyon: Here are some related stories happening at the same time:
USDA scrambles to ease concerns after researchers were ordered to stop publishing news releases, other documents
USDA disavows gag-order emailed to scientific research unit
Commerce nominee Ross promises to protect "peer-reviewed research" at NOAA
CDC postpones climate conference ahead of Trump takeover
Badlands National Park goes rogue with climate-change tweets
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday January 25 2017, @02:52PM
The new nominee also intends to gut the EPA, so I don't see how this is anything other than Trump doing exactly what he was planning to do all along regardless of what the Democrats have to say about it. No sophisticated political maneuvering here, just "If you won't let me hire the person I want to to gut the EPA, I'm just going to do it myself. Heads I win, tails you lose."
Also, what exactly do you mean by "running wild"? Exactly what is the EPA doing that is totally outrageous or shouldn't be happening? What percentage of its budget goes to those activities?
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Wednesday January 25 2017, @03:25PM
Can't you see? The clue's even in the bloody name! They're agents protecting the environment. And there are few things wilder than the environment. I saw it once, it was all dirty. It's disgusting, I don't even want to talk about it.
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