Editorial: Chilling wind at Energy Department
U.S. government employees, even those who believe in the science of global climate change, are entitled to the same protections that apply to other Americans.
Editorial: Chilling wind at Energy Department U.S. government employees, even those who believe in the science of global climate change, are entitled to the same protections that apply to other Americans. Check out this story on northjersey.com: http://northjersy.news/2hXFWvK
NorthJersey Published 4:13 p.m. ET Dec. 16, 2016
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been picked by Donald Trump to head the U.S. Department of Energy.(Photo: Harry Cabluck/AP)
U.S. government employees, even those who believe in the science of global climate change, are entitled to the same protections that apply to other Americans. So it is deeply troubling that last week President-elect Donald Trump's transition team sent out an invasive questionnaire to the Energy Department asking agency officials for the names of individuals who had participated in global climate talks over the last five years.
The Energy Department has said it will not comply with the request for release of those names, nor a similar request, according to The Washington Post, of the top 20 salaried employees at the national laboratories that are largely independent but part of the department. Meanwhile, a Trump transition official said Wednesday that "the questionnaire was not authorized or part of our standard protocol."
Whatever it was, it goes against long-established precedents for the transition of power in this country. Certainly, any time a new administration comes into the White House, policies pushed by the previous occupant are likely to be changed, or at least scrutinized. Yet seeking out potential "loyalists," or attempting to place government workers under some ideological microscope, goes against the basic individual freedoms on which this country was built.
Indeed, New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and a fierce defender of policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, was co-author of a letter of protest sent to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who leads Trump's transition team, demanding a thorough explanation of the questionnaire.
"We are concerned that these efforts may be an attempt to apply an ideological 'litmus test' to career civil servants, which runs counter to the principles of a merit-based civil service and the prohibition against discrimination against civil servants on the basis of political affiliation," wrote Pallone and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md.
The questionnaire issued a list of 74 questions for the Energy Department, and asked for the identities of department employees and contractors who had done work on or participated in international climate talks over the last five years, or, on the domestic side, taken part in initiatives meant to cut the nation's carbon output.
During the campaign, Trump went out of his way to remind voters that he was a global warming skeptic, repeatedly calling it "a hoax," while many of his supporters have tried to downplay humankind's contribution to the causes of that warming, despite broad consensus among climate scientists to the contrary.
Also last week, the Trump team announced that another "climate denier," former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, was the choice to lead the Energy Department. Previously, Perry has advocated doing away with the department altogether, in spite of the critical role it plays, in particular, in regard to policy and regulation concerning nuclear energy.
Denying the science of climate change may be a political stance some elected officials can make with conscience and conviction, yet attempting to target employees within the Energy Department who might disagree is plain un-American. Those workers who have studied climate science, and even gone to meetings where findings on the issue are discussed and debated, should not be questioned about their ideology, but praised for diligence and commitment to their work.
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