January 14, 2025
3 min read
Two open letters from scientists and science advocacy groups reflect a growing anxiety about the future of federal science under President-elect Trump
President-elect Donald Trump is greeted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on stage during a campaign event at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, on August 23, 2024.
Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images
CLIMATEWIRE | More than 50,000 scientists and their supporters have signed an open letter asking Congress to safeguard federal research and scientific jobs ahead of the incoming Trump administration.
The Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit science advocacy organization, spearheaded and published the letter Monday morning. The document points to concerns that President-elect Donald Trump may eliminate or reorganize federal science agencies, reduce staff, and attack regulations aimed at protecting public health and the environment.
“The Trump administration’s current agenda promises to eviscerate the protections that Americans count on and support: clean air and water; safe food and medicine; products that won’t harm us; and protection from extreme weather and other damaging effects of climate change,” the letter stated. “Without strong federal science, people will suffer, and historically marginalized communities will continue to bear the burden of these harms.”
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The letter also asked members of Congress to “oppose anti-science nominees to any federal agency who do not agree on the record to follow and/or implement a scientific integrity policy in their agency.”
Also on Monday, 28 organizations submitted a letter to members of the Senate asking them to vote against political nominees who don’t have appropriate qualifications, exhibit conflicts of interest, fail to recognize the scientific consensus on issues relevant to the agency, or have a record of disregarding scientific integrity.
Signers included public health and medical associations, environmental organizations and science advocacy groups, the Union of Concerned Scientists among them.
“The decisions you make about nominees will determine whether agencies use the substantial scientific expertise of government employees and advisors to safeguard public health and economic stability, or whether bias and misinformation block effective responses,” the letter said.
Trump was “re-elected by a resounding mandate from the American people to change the status quo in Washington,” said Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump transition, in an email to POLITICO’s E&E News. “That’s why he has chosen brilliant and highly-respected outsiders to serve in his Administration, and he will continue to stand behind them as they fight against all those who seek to derail the MAGA Agenda.”
The letters reflect a growing anxiety among scientists and science advocates about the future of federal research under Trump. Experts have raised concerns that the incoming administration may downsize federal agencies, shift or curtail their research priorities, censor scientists and alter or destroy federal datasets.
Trump has consistently disavowed the seriousness of climate change and pledged to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement for a second time. He’s also recently tapped a number of political nominees known for denying mainstream science on subjects related to public health and the environment.
Some of Trump’s picks for the new administration include key authors of Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation. The document calls for dramatic reorganizations of some federal science agencies, like NOAA and EPA, and says that “the “Biden Administration’s climate fanaticism will need a whole-of-government unwinding.” Some nominations have raised concerns that the policy plan may influence Trump’s priorities after taking office.
“The first 100 days of the Trump administration will be absolutely essential for taking action that can save science that saves lives,” the UCS letter to Congress states. “This is a critical time to show the administration that members of Congress of both parties are united in championing the science that helps protect the communities they represent.”
Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.
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