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Great new story on the huge gaps in federal science capacity that the Biden Team inherits, and what that means for the nation's ability to protect people from environmental threats. Here's some key points from the story and @UCSUSA analysis... https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-climate-climate-change-environment-d144eeab286de4cff4428b04b75f4489
Here's the scientist deficit data on @EPA, @NASA, @NSF, @USGS, @USFWS, @usedgov, and @BOEM_DOI. It is clear that science agencies fared very differently under Trump. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/federal-brain-drain
Look at that spread. Agencies like @NSF and @NASA maintained the level of scientific experts they had pre-Trump, while places like @EPA and @usedgov's Institute of Educational Services lost greater percentages of their scientific staff.
Note the raw numbers. Since 2017, the @EPA has experienced a net loss of 672 scientific staff and the @USFWS has lost 231. These are huge losses in agencies that were already capacity strained in meeting their missions to protect public health and the environment before Trump.
We also can hone in on the jobs with the greatest losses. At the EPA, the biggest drops came from environmental engineering and environmental protection specialists.
We can also zoom in by office. @EPA lost the most people in their Office of Research and Development, and gained some in places like their Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
What does this mean for EPA? Some insights from @UCSJacob ( @UCSUSA scientist and former EPA'er who left in 2016): https://blog.ucsusa.org/jacob-carter/hundreds-of-scientists-lost-at-the-epa-during-past-four-years
The Biden administration has work to do when it comes to rebuilding the scientific capacity needed across the government to repair Trump damage AND address all the scientific challenges our nation now faces. This issue must be a priority. https://blog.ucsusa.org/taryn-mackinney/federal-agencies-have-lost-hundreds-of-scientists-since-2017-what-comes-next
