"Federal scientists at EPA, the Interior Department and other agencies are reporting political interference with their work, requests to remove 'climate change' from research and declining staff levels, a new survey of government employees said.

Overall, 50 percent of scientists questioned on average across 16 agencies — also including the Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture — agreed this year that "consideration of political interests" hindered science-based decisions, said the analysis from the Union of Concerned Scientists and Iowa State University's Center for Survey Statistics and Methodology.

'In many of the critical science agencies — especially the agencies that handle environmental regulation — scientists reported that they are having trouble doing their jobs because of political interference, staff reductions and a lack of qualified leadership,' said Jacob Carter, a research scientist with the Center for Science and Democracy at UCS and a co-author of 'Science Under Trump.'"

Christa Marshall and Sean Reilly report for Greenwire August 14, 2018. [2]