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Wednesday, January 25th, 2017

Trump Administration Imposes Freeze On EPA Grants and Contracts

Author:     Andrew Revkin and Jesse Eisinger
Source:     ProPublica
Publication Date:     Jan. 23, 2017, 9 p.m.
 Link: Trump Administration Imposes Freeze On EPA Grants and Contracts
Stephan:   And here we have the castration of the EPA. Not only are these scientists being gagged, their ability to regulate or even monitor are being hamstrung. This means it will be very difficult to get pollution data; it will be very difficult to know when a crisis i forming until it is too late to personally prepare for it. It means all kinds of corrupt dangerous corporate practices could be going on and you will never know. And it means the the United States will exit the world stage as a leader in climate change remediation.

The Trump administration has imposed a freeze on grants and contracts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a move that could affect a significant part of the agency’s budget allocations and even threaten to disrupt core operations ranging from toxic cleanups to water quality testing, according to records and interviews.

In one email exchange obtained by ProPublica on Monday, an EPA contracting officer concluded a note to a storm water management employee this way:

 “Right now we are in a holding pattern. The new EPA administration has asked that all contract and grant awards be temporarily suspended, effective immediately. Until we receive further clarification, this includes task orders and work assignments.”

Asked about any possible freeze and its implications, EPA officials did not provide an answer.

One EPA employee aware of the freeze said he had never seen anything like it in nearly a decade with the agency. Hiring freezes happened, he said, but freezes on grants and contracts seemed extraordinary. The employee said the freeze appeared to be nationwide, and as of Monday night it was not clear for how […]

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