Trump Administration Freezes EPA Grant Programs

It was not immediately clear how the action could affect Maryland programs. The grant lockdown follows reports that Trump intends to cut $815 million from the EPA’s budget, destroying not only the ability to fund research, but to enforce existing standards.

When asked who would protect the environment during a 2015 interview, Trump famously stated: “We’ll be fine with the environment, we can leave a little bit, but you can’t destroy businesses”. Anticipating this exact event, a grassroots “data rescue” effort by independent programmers and archivists has downloaded and stored some of the most critical data sets from the EPA’s website, as well as from other federal agencies that deal with environmental issues.

“We’re looking at scrubbing it up a bit, putting a little freshener on it, and getting it back up to the public”, said Ericksen, who is now a Republican state lawmaker in Washington.

Erich Pica, the president of Friends of the Earth, a network of environmental organisations, condemned Trump’s move in a statement sent to Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

President Trump has nominated Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the EPA. The next such event is taking place at New York University on February 4. But he said they are reviewing “editorial” content on the EPA’s website.

White House officials have said the moves are common, similar to those taken by past administrations, but increasingly it appears Trump’s version of taking stock goes beyond his predecessors’. He said aides were looking into the circumstances. Following those reports, The Times emailed questions to staff at EPA Region 5 offices in Chicago.

Incoming media requests will be carefully screened.

The ban includes the issuing of press releases, blogs, messages on Twitter and Facebook posts, according to information leaked to several media organisations.

“It’s certainly the case that every administration tries to control information, but I think that what we’re seeing here is much more sweeping than has ever been done before”, said Andrew Light, a distinguished senior fellow in the Global Climate Program at the nonpartisan World Resources Institute, according to NPR. However the USDA subsequently said the email was “released without Departmental direction” and that ARS will be providing updated direction to its staff.

GeekWire confirmed that a memo barring the release of public-facing documents, including summaries of scientific papers, and USDA social media posts, was sent out to USDA employees.

The federal agency is no longer talking to the media.

“What we’re seeing today is a serous escalation on the Trump administration’s war on science and facts”, Weiss said.