'Damning' report details Interior Department's anti-science practices and policies, writes dismissed Interior executive

The Trump administration is "clamping down on science, denying dangerous climate change and hollowing out the workforces of the agencies charged with protecting American health, safety and natural resources," according to Joel Clement in an opinion piece for Scientific American magazine. Clement was one of dozens of senior executive targeted by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke for reassignment six months after Trump's inauguration.

Clement alleges that Zinke and his staff have consistently tried to undermine scientists while promoting the interests of coal, oil and natural gas. Clement may be suffering from sour grapes, but a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, for which he is now a senior fellow, documents some of Interior's most egregious practices.

The report, which Clement calls "damning" and "required reading for anyone who values public lands, wildlife, cultural heritage, and health and safety," describes a laundry list of anti-science policies and practices such as "suppression of science, denial of climate change, the silencing and intimidation of agency staff, and attacks on science-based laws that help protect our nation’s world-class wildlife and habitats," Clement writes. You can read the report here.