Ranking Member Lofgren Sends Letter to OSTP Director Kratsios after Dismissal of Climate Assessment Scientists
(Washington, DC) – Today, Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) sent a letter to Director Michael Kratsios of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) regarding the dismissal of hundreds of scientists working on the forthcoming National Climate Assessment (NCA).
In the letter, Ranking Member Lofgren wrote, “This decision encapsulates many of the ongoing themes of this Administration – it sets the stage for a violation of the law, it guts federal scientific capabilities, and it gives the Trump Administration yet another opportunity to pretend it can close its eyes to the reality of climate change, as agencies across the government make decisions that prioritize the fossil fuel industry over the Americans who will be harmed by worsening extreme weather and environmental contamination.”
The Ranking Member continued, “In your confirmation hearing, you told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation that furthering American innovation requires the United States to ‘continue to provide for the American citizenry, to enhance our national security, to imprint the future with American character and improve the welfare of all mankind.’ All four of these objectives fail if the NCA is canceled or bastardized with climate denialism. The welfare of Americans, and of all mankind, depends on a clear-eyed understanding of the disastrous public health, environmental, and financial consequences of worsening climate change. The storms and rising sea levels that endanger coastal communities and industries also impact billions of dollars’ worth of civilian and military installations that are integral to our national security, including utilities, water treatment plants, and military bases. Allowing anti-science politicization to stymie the federal government’s climate science work leaves us ill equipped to participate in international climate negotiations, rejecting the opportunity to ‘imprint the future’ with America’s characteristic scientific leadership.”
Read the letter here.
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