I am not surprised President Biden has to start from scratch when it comes to finding qualified scientists to staff all the agencies. During the Trump years, there were labs closed and the destination of the records from those buildings have yet to be stated as present and accounted for or simply missing without a trace. I would not be surprised if the hatred of science exhibited by Trump lead to the mass destruction of reports and even unfinished studies.
Scientists left the USA and some went to Europe. I am sure by now some are citizens, either dually or changing completely, to another country. It was a fairly substantial agenda to close all the scientific agencies, except those that produced good press for him, namely "The Space Force." But, other than that there were scientists simply put out of a career in the USA government because of Trump's hatred for them.
So, welcome a new leader to the Climate Crisis leader, Allison Crimmins, who is familiar with government and the Climate Crisis. I am hopeful there will be a significant change including new staff coming under the new leadership. I am sure Ms. Crimmins could consider inviting scientists back to their old jobs if they are around and want to continue to practice in government.
By Jeff Tollefson
US President Joe Biden’s administration (click here) has appointed a new director to lead the nation’s next major climate assessment, finalizing the roster of its federal climate team and marking the end of a turbulent period in the office that coordinates work on global warming.
By law, the US government must complete a national climate assessment every four years, reviewing the latest science and highlighting the local and regional impacts of climate change — with the goal of helping individuals, businesses and state and local officials to make decisions about how to curb emissions and adapt to global warming. The most recent such report was finalized in 2018.
Work on the next report — the fifth National Climate Assessment — began last year, under the administration of former US president Donald Trump, whose industry-friendly policies were often at odds with efforts to limit climate change. In November 2020, Trump officials appointed a climate-change denier to head the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), which produces the assessments and coordinates climate activities across 13 federal agencies. Many experts feared that the move was intended to influence the report.
Since Biden took office in January, his administration has been assembling its own team of specialists to work on it. The latest is Allison Crimmins, who has worked on climate issues for the past decade at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and was appointed this week to head the fifth assessment. She joins Mike Kuperberg, an environmental toxicologist at the US Department of Energy, who was restored as head of the USGCRP in May. Together, they will attempt to put the report back on track: it is a year behind schedule after delays in appointing authors and defining its scope.
“We want to put this out in a timely manner,” says Crimmins, who also worked on the fourth assessment. “But I think the most important part is ensuring the quality and the scientific integrity of this report.”...
