Think Progress reports:

There is a “culture of fear, censorship, and suppression” within the Trump administration that is impeding government scientists from doing their best work, former Interior Department policy director and scientist turned whistleblower Joel Clement warned on Wednesday.

Speaking to lawmakers on the House Science Committee, scientific experts spoke about the need for stronger rules to support the integrity of their research and ensure that political agendas don’t dictate or interfere with the data.

“There is not Democratic science, there is not Republican science, there is just science,” said Michael Halpern, deputy director for the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Halpern pointed to instances under current and previous administrations, including under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, of scientific assessments being either watered down or language softened. He pointed to past research on lead in school lunchboxes and on the impact of fracking on drinking water.

But the scientists said that under President Donald Trump, political interference had reached a new level. [Continue reading…]