[Vision2020] Fwd: Don't let Trump censor scientists (signature needed)

Wed Aug 16 18:48:51 PDT 2017

[image: CREDO action]
*Tell the inspector general of the Department of the Interior: Investigate
the censoring of government scientists and experts
<https://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_doi?t=2&akid=24547%2E4637676%2E8bMdDc>*

*The petition to the inspector general of the Department of the Interior
reads:*
*"Censoring experts for doing their jobs is an abuse of authority. Launch
an investigation into Interior Department Secretary Zinke's arbitrary
reassignment of Joel Clement and 50 other senior officials and scientists."*

Add your name:
[image: Sign the petition ►]
<https://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_doi?t=3&akid=24547%2E4637676%2E8bMdDc>

Dear Ted,
[image: Stand up for science]
<https://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_doi?t=4&akid=24547%2E4637676%2E8bMdDc>

Joel Clement was the top climate change scientist at the Department of the
Interior until last month. That's when Trump's department chief quietly
banished him to an accounting job, where he processes royalty payments from
fossil fuel companies.

Clement is one of about *50 scientists and senior officials* quietly
removed from their posts at the Department of the Interior in July. He
believes he was punished for speaking out about the climate risks facing
Alaska Native villages.

*Censoring scientists will not solve the climate crisis – but Donald Trump
is much more interested in covering it up.* Banned from doing his job,
Clement filed a whistleblower complaint and called for an investigation.1

*Tell the inspector general of the Department of the Interior: Investigate
the reassignment of top officials and scientists. Click here to sign the
petition.
<https://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_doi?t=5&akid=24547%2E4637676%2E8bMdDc>*

Before he was demoted, Clement coordinated the federal response to Alaska
Native communities threatened by climate change. In a region that is
warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, these communities are
located on melting permafrost.2 A major storm could flood them away
entirely or cause major loss of life.

Clement was helping these communities prepare. Some want to relocate now,
and others need emergency evacuation plans. Now the federal government has
abandoned them, and as Clement points out, they are not the only Americans
at risk:

"Right now Alaska Native villages are on the front lines, but every coastal
city, the deserts of the Southwest, the farms of the Midwest that are
getting these frequent and almost biblical deluges, these are direct
impacts on the health and safety of Americans and our economic prosperity."3

*Systematically eliminating the government's expertise on climate change is
not only foolish, it is dangerously irresponsible.* As temperatures
increase, so will the dangerous impacts of climate change – flooding,
catastrophic storms, heat waves and droughts. We need our scientists to
help us understand how to prevent and respond to these threats.

Unfortunately, helping out oil and coal companies is a far bigger priority
for federal agencies under Trump's authority. *Instead of helping us
prepare, they are retaliating against anyone who acknowledges the risks we
face.*

Joel Clement's story is part of a broader pattern. Trump has appointed
anti-science ideologues and industry lobbyists to key agency roles, revoked
environmental safety regulations, removed climate information from
government websites, censored scientists from speaking up and reduced
public access to data. This administration is at war with reality, and our
future will be the casualty.4

*Tell the inspector general of the Department of the Interior: Investigate
the reassignment of top officials and scientists. Click here to sign the
petition.
<https://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_doi?t=6&akid=24547%2E4637676%2E8bMdDc>*

Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke actually admitted that
reassignments are part of his plan to downsize – in other words, he hopes
that staff will resign because of their new jobs.5 Trump's government is
intentionally pushing out senior scientists and officials by making their
jobs intolerable.

Fortunately, federal employees like Joel Clement who speak up about health
and safety risks are protected under whistleblower laws. While his
complaint is being investigated, he has no intention of going anywhere.

And now, eight Democratic senators have called for an investigation into
Zinke’s decision to reassign Clement and other officials.6 If we join them,
we can add pressure and publicity to Clement's case, making it harder for
the Trump administration to quietly sweep scientists under the rug.

*Tell the inspector general of the Department of the Interior: Investigate
the reassignment of top officials and scientists. Click the link below to
sign the petition:*

*https://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_doi?t=8&akid=24547%2E4637676%2E8bMdDc
<https://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_doi?t=7&akid=24547%2E4637676%2E8bMdDc>*

*Thanks* for fighting back,

Brandy Doyle, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets
<http://act.credoaction.com/go/109?t=9&akid=24547%2E4637676%2E8bMdDc>

Add your name:
[image: Sign the petition ►]
<https://act.credoaction.com/sign/investigate_doi?t=10&akid=24547%2E4637676%2E8bMdDc>

*References:*

   1. Joel Clement, "I’m a scientist. I’m blowing the whistle on the Trump
   administration.
   <https://act.credoaction.com/go/14730?t=11&akid=24547%2E4637676%2E8bMdDc>"
   The Washington Post, July 19, 2017.
   2. Ibid.
   3. Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, "Meet the senior federal official
   blowing the whistle on Trump's suppression of climate science
   <https://act.credoaction.com/go/15297?t=12&akid=24547%2E4637676%2E8bMdDc>,"
   Democracy Now!, Aug. 8, 2017.
   4. Jacob Carter, et al., "Sidelining science since day one: how the
   Trump administration has harmed public health and safety in its first six
   months
   <http://act.credoaction.com/go/15298?t=13&akid=24547%2E4637676%2E8bMdDc>,"
   Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, July
   2017.
   5. Lisa Rein, "Interior chief wants to shed 4,000 employees in
   department shake-up
   <https://act.credoaction.com/go/15299?t=14&akid=24547%2E4637676%2E8bMdDc>,"
   The Washington Post, June 21, 2017.
   6. Juliet Eilperin, "Senate Democrats call for an investigation of
   climate scientist whistleblower complaint
   <https://act.credoaction.com/go/15300?t=15&akid=24547%2E4637676%2E8bMdDc>,"
   The Washington Post, July 24, 2017.

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