UCS Condemns Trump Transition Team Effort to Target DOE Employees Focused on Climate

Statement by Ken Kimmell, President of the Union of Concerned Scientists

Published Dec 9, 2016

WASHINGTON (December 9, 2016)—The Trump transition team’s pursuit of the names of Department of Energy employees involved in work on climate change is unacceptable, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

 Below is a statement by Ken Kimmell, President of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

 “The Union of Concerned Scientists strongly condemns the effort by the President-elect’s transition team to seek the names of federal employees who have conducted climate research and worked on issues such as the social cost of carbon. We cannot imagine any legitimate purpose to this inquiry. It seems designed to intimidate those federal workers and make them think twice about working for the federal government. At a minimum, targeting employees because of their work is likely to subvert the federal government’s efforts to address the impacts of climate change.

“This action should not be viewed in isolation. The Trump transition team is teeming with individuals with a proven history of attacking climate scientists and undermining climate science. Several transition team members now overseeing federal agencies have harassed scientists based on their research and have long signaled a desire to dismantle federal climate science research. Over the past few years, Congress has increasingly singled out specific government employees when their work is politically inconvenient.

“Creating lists of employees smacks of McCarthyism and should cease immediately. And Department of Energy employees should resist complying with any demands that would compromise the independence of the agency’s experts.”