Trump has shown little respect for U.S. science. So why are some parts thriving?
1 min readImage: Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call. Article by Jeffrey Mervis.
Disastrous. Damaging. Catastrophic. Those are just some of the more polite terms that many U.S. scientists use to describe the policies of President Donald Trump. His handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, his repeated public dismissals of scientific expertise, and his disdain for evidence have prompted many researchers to label him the most antiscience president in living memory. […]
Given candidate Trump’s rhetoric opposing government regulation, his affection for fossil fuels, and his denial of climate change, it’s no surprise that EPA has often disregarded science in devising environmental policy. Its approach to regulating particulate air pollution—often called PM2.5 (particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter)—contains all the hallmarks of that approach, including appointing people tied to polluting industries to key posts, excluding experts from advisory roles, and using questionable methods to tip the scales when balancing benefits against costs. […]