(National Sentinel) Downsizing: More than 700 people have left the Environmental Protection Agency since President Donald J. Trump took office, putting the agency well on pace to meet the administration’s goal of cutting the agency’s personnel to Reagan-era levels, The New York Times reported.
Long considered to be a bastion of liberal scientific thought, conservatives are seeing the wave of departures as a positive thing, both for the agency and for the administration in general.
But the Times framed its story in a different way, characterizing the departures as harmful to “science.”
“Within the agency, science in particular is taking a hard hit. More than 27 percent of those who left this year were scientists, including 34 biologists and microbiologists; 19 chemists; 81 environmental engineers and environmental scientists; and more than a dozen toxicologists, life scientists and geologists,” the paper reported.
“Employees say the exodus has left the agency depleted of decades of knowledge about protecting the nation’s air and water,” it continued.
“Many also said they saw the departures as part of a more worrisome trend of muting government scientists, cutting research budgets and making it more difficult for academic scientists to serve on advisory boards.”
Trump named former Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt to head up the EPA. Both he and Pruitt have cast doubts about much of the EPA’s global warming and climate change findings, especially as they relate to human activity.
Also, during his time as Oklahoma’s AG, Pruitt sued the EPA over many of its heavy-handed regulations during the Obama years.
Supporters of the administration say the exodus is ultimately a good thing for the agency and the country as a whole.
“EPA administrator Scott Pruitt is achieving what President Trump appointed him to do. He is draining the swamp,” writes James Delingpole at Breitbart.
Delingpole, a frequent critic of the human-caused climate change theory, noted further that “the EPA has always had less to do with protecting the environment – Colorado gold mine, anyone? – than it does with killing business.”
Advertising disclaimer: Click here
What are your thoughts?