The last time Donald Trump was president, his administration withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, removed information about climate change from agency websites and buried the findings of federal scientists. As Trump prepares to return to office, the nonprofit Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, which provides free legal and educational support to researchers who face harassment and intimidation on the job, is preparing for a high-stakes, long-term battle to protect scientists. struggle.
Last week, I sat down with Lauren Kurtz, executive director of New York Lawyers, to ask about their preparations.
master: Have you seen an increase in demand for the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund’s services since the election?
Kurtz: Yes, we have responded to the growing number of scientists reaching out for help. Leading up to the election we typically hear from a scientist every week, which already puts us on track to break the record for the most scientists helped in a year. Now, after the election, we hear from three or four scientists every week. (Example questions: What radical activities can federal scientists do without risking their jobs; How to deal with potential job redistribution in a second Trump administration; What are the risks of publishing papers and other work related to climate attribution research ?
master: What are the areas of greatest concern that you hear?
Kurtz: We've been talking to current and former federal climate scientists about their predictions for the next administration's biggest issues. The main areas of discussion so far are: the Trump administration’s plans to make it easier to fire federal employees, including federal scientists; the Trump administration’s potential to close departments/reassign scientists/relocate scientists to unfavorable offices or similar ; the possibility of the Trump administration censoring scientific reports or misrepresenting scientific findings (which actually happened last time) — and possible actions to challenge those actions. We've done a lot of legal research and we're just getting started.
master: Does your organization have the resources to deal with what’s coming?
Kurtz: As demand has increased we will need another attorney. We are working to raise funds accordingly and although I hope we can raise the funds needed to meet this occasion, any donations are welcome.
master: How are the situations scientists face now different than they did four years ago during the first Trump administration?
Kurtz: The Trump administration is likely to be smarter about achieving its goals than it was in 2016. sex. For example, in October 2020, the Trump administration issued an executive order to remove protections for civil servants deemed disloyal to the president and to encourage expressions of allegiance to the president in hiring. This job is called “Schedule F” because that's the name of the new employment category created by the executive order. Since the work was done during his term, it took a while for them to be implemented, so there was no real effect. I think we can expect them to do it very early in the semester, which means it might actually be implemented. I think the other thing that's different is that for the first time, they're violating a lot of norms that we collectively view as laws, but aren't actually illegal. This time around, they're probably going to be more aggressive, and I actually think they're going to break more laws, in which case it might be easier to challenge those illegal actions.
master: Can you give us an example of a climate scientist that you helped during the first Trump administration?
Kurtz: Well, about 80-90% of the scientists we represent don't want their stories published. But one person who does is Dr. Virginia Burkett, a climate scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey [U.S. Geological Survey]Serves as chair of a key White House panel responsible for managing the administration's major multi-agency climate programs. Between 2017 and 2020, Dr. Burkett was demoted and then fired in retaliation for attempts by political appointees to downplay and misrepresent the scale and impact of climate change. Dr Burkett has since resumed his senior role. An article in Nature has the full story.
read: Michael Mann defeats his detractors. But climate scientists are still under attack.
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