污染工厂不受美国环境保护署的检查。美国地质调查局气候科学中心的领导职位空缺。美国农业部对农民重要的环境问题的研究尚未完成。

联邦数据显示，在前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的领导下，几个机构中从事环境研究、执法和其他工作的科学家人数大幅下降。资深员工表示，在他们认为敌视科学、依赖工业的政府的压力下，许多人退休、辞职或跳槽到其他机构。

这给乔·拜登总统带来了挑战，他必须重建一支枯竭和士气低落的劳动力队伍，以兑现应对气候变化、保护环境和减少对贫困和少数民族社区影响过大的污染的承诺。

“要消除特朗普政府造成的损害需要很长时间，”前环保局执法官员凯拉·贝内特(Kyla Bennett)说，她现在负责监管机构“环境责任公共雇员”的科学政策。班尼特说，随着特朗普政府缩减法规和削弱气候工作，许多科学家离开了，留给机构的经验更少，工作积压和未完成的研究。

就业数据显示，美国环境保护署失去了670多个科学职位，研究人为气候变化和自然灾害的美国地质调查局失去了150个，鱼类和野生动物服务局失去了231个。

在特朗普政府将工作从华盛顿特区转移到堪萨斯城后，美国农业部2019财年超过三分之一的工作人员(近200人)离开了该机构的经济研究处及其国家粮食和农业研究所。

发言人马特·赫里克(Matt Herrick)说:“有经验的员工流失很深。”他提供的数据显示，在某一点上，流失更深。“我们失去了太多美国最好的经济学家和农业科学家。”

代表研究服务工作者的工会代理副主席劳拉·多德森说，从事作物、湿地丧失、气候政策和土壤保护等工作的专家已经走了。

科学失业的调查结果是基于通过公共记录请求向倡导团体关心科学家联盟发布的工资记录和美国农业部的自然减员数据。

不是所有的机构都在特朗普手下看到了下降，美国地质调查局和环保局的科学工作流失比他早。根据预算文件，在过去的20年里，环境保护局失去了3500多名员工，占其劳动力的22%。在美国地质勘探局，自2000年以来，有1230个科学岗位流失，降幅为17%。

保守派传统基金会高级研究员达伦·巴克斯特说，总统任期的先后顺序会有所不同。在特朗普的领导下，环境保护局强调清理超级基金场所，并远离气候变化。

“这并不意味着做了什么不正当的事，”巴克斯特说。“联邦政府公务员队伍中将会有意识形态人士，一些人不想在特朗普政府工作。”

但那些在特朗普执政期间经历过削减的人表示，他的政府带来了一些新东西:对机构亲行业议程的强烈政治压力，以及阻挠合法科学的意愿。

监督美国地质勘探局的内政部监察长办公室2018年的一项调查发现，特朗普手下被指派新职责的16名员工认为，他们的举动是对气候变化、能源和节能工作的报复。环保局科学咨询委员会前主任克里斯托弗·扎尔巴(Christopher Zarba)表示，政府取消或阻止了一些知识渊博的科学家进入向环保局提供从空气污染到有毒化学品等一切建议的委员会，以利于行业内部人士。

“解雇专家是非常有意的，因为他们阻碍了联邦资源的自由工业利用，”前内政部气候科学家乔尔·克莱门特(Joel Clement)说，他在2017年辞职，并在被重新分配到一个会计办公室后提交了一份仍未解决的举报者投诉。克莱门特现在是哈佛大学和关注科学家联盟的高级研究员。

科学家表示，联邦环境研究可能会因失去有经验的科学家而受阻多年。

“我们只是没有发布那么多报告；我们没有进行太多的研究，因为没有足够的工作人员来完成这项工作，”美国农业部的多德森说，他从事生物技术问题，包括转基因种子。

特朗普政府表示，搬迁到堪萨斯城是为了省钱。但多德森认为，这是为了摆脱职业科学家，他指出，当时代理白宫办公厅主任米克·马尔瓦尼(Mick Mulvaney)吹嘘说，此举通过鼓励科学家辞职，帮助精简政府。

“这意味着阻碍科学机构的工作，”多德森说。

达拉斯执法部门的环境工程师和工会代表陈家说，在环境保护局，剩余的员工承担了更多的工作，几乎没有时间来培训新员工。

环保局的数据显示，特朗普执政期间，该机构的检查和合规性监测下降了28%。新的民事执行案件下降了20%以上。在此期间，刑事案件有所增加，尽管被指控的被告人数大幅下降。

近200名科学家离开了环保局的研究与发展办公室，包括丹·科斯塔(Dan Costa)，他在2018年之前一直领导气候和能源研究项目，当时他说，特朗普政府显然不重视科学家或气候研究。

“我们有一个大的靶心，”科斯塔说。“人们不能使用‘气候’这个词"

环保局没有回答关于员工流失的电子邮件问题。FWS周五没有回应置评请求。

罗宾·欧玛利说，美国地质调查局的主要领导职位在地区气候科学中心空缺，研究资助的批准被推迟。他在该机构工作了38年，2019年退休，担任科罗拉多州该中心的主任。

“我们几乎无能为力，”欧玛利说。“这是一场士气灾难，也是一场作战灾难。”

科学家说，在帮助应对落基山脉日益激烈的野火的研究中，以及在对面临栖息地丧失的候鸟的研究中，出现了一些延误。

美国地质勘探局发言人拒绝回答有关研究延迟和失业的问题，但表示招聘决定正在向前推进。

虽然拜登承诺将气候科学作为重中之重，但科学家表示，雇佣和培训新员工需要时间。

费城环境保护局律师乔伊斯·豪威尔说，与此同时，起诉污染者的专家越来越少。她补充说，这种影响可能会持续数年，因为调查和起诉违规行为需要很长时间。

“你只是没有那么多环境案件，你不会起诉所有人，”豪威尔说。

———

韦伯来自密歇根州的芬顿，布朗来自蒙大拿州的比林斯。​

Biden environmental challenge: Filling vacant scientist jobs

Polluting factories go uninspected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Leadership positions sit vacant at the U.S. Geological Survey's climate science centers. And U.S. Department of Agriculture research into environmental issues important to farmers is unfinished.

The ranks of scientists who carry out environmental research, enforcement and other jobs fell in several agencies — sharply in some — under former President Donald Trump, federal data shows. Veteran staffers say many retired, quit or moved to other agencies amid pressure from an administration they regarded as hostile to science and beholden to industry.

That poses a challenge for President Joe Biden, who must rebuild a depleted and demoralized work force to make good on promises to tackle climate change, protect the environment and reduce pollution that disproportionately affects poor and minority communities.

“It’s going to take a long time to undo the damage that the Trump administration has done,” said Kyla Bennett, a former EPA enforcement official who now directs science policy for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a watchdog group. Bennett said many scientists left as Trump's administration rolled back regulations and undercut climate work, leaving agencies with less experience, a work backlog and unfinished research.

Employment data shows more than 670 science jobs lost at the EPA, 150 at the U.S. Geological Survey, which researches human-caused climate change and natural hazards, and 231 at the Fish and Wildlife Service.

At the USDA, more than one-third of staff members — almost 200 people — left the agency's Economic Research Service and its National Institute of Food and Agriculture in Fiscal Year 2019, after the Trump administration moved their jobs from Washington, D.C., to Kansas City.

“The loss of experienced staff was deep," said spokesman Matt Herrick, who provided figures showing even deeper losses at one point. "We lost too many of the nation’s best economists and agricultural scientists.”

Gone are specialists working on such things as crops, wetland loss, climate policy and soil conservation, said Laura Dodson, acting vice president of the union representing research service workers.

The findings on science job losses are based on payroll records released to the advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists through a public records request and on USDA attrition data.

Not all agencies saw drops under Trump, and the drain of science jobs from USGS and EPA pre-dated him. The EPA lost more than 3,500 employees — 22% of its workforce — over the past two decades, according to budget documents. At the USGS, 1,230 science jobs were lost since 2000, a 17% drop.

Priorities change from one presidency to the next, said Daren Bakst, senior fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation. Under Trump, the EPA emphasized cleanups of Superfund sites and shifted away from climate change.

“It doesn't mean anything improper's been done,” said Bakst. “There's going to be ideological people within the federal government civil service, and some didn't want to work in the Trump administration.”

But those who experienced cuts under Trump say his administration brought something new: intense political pressure on agencies in the way of its pro-industry agenda, and willingness to thwart legitimate science.

A 2018 Office of Inspector General investigation at the Department of Interior, which oversees USGS, found that 16 employees assigned new duties under Trump viewed their moves as retribution for work on climate change, energy and conservation. And the administration removed or blocked some knowledgeable scientists from boards that advise the EPA about everything from air pollution to toxic chemicals in favor of industry insiders, said Christopher Zarba, former director of the EPA's Science Advisory Board.

"It's very intentional, to get rid of experts because they stand in the way of unfettered industrial use of federal resources,” said Joel Clement, a former Interior Department climate scientist who resigned in 2017 and filed a still-pending whistleblower complaint following his reassignment to an accounting office. Clement is now a senior research fellow at Harvard University and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Scientists say federal environmental research could be hobbled for years by the loss of experienced scientists.

“We’re just not putting out as many reports; we’re not putting out as much research because there’s not enough staff to get it done,” said the USDA’s Dodson, who works on biotechnology issues, including genetically modified seeds.

The Trump administration said the relocation to Kansas City was to save money. But Dodson believes it was designed to get rid of career scientists, noting that then-acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney bragged the move helped streamline government by encouraging scientists to quit.

“This was meant to hinder the work of a scientific agency,” Dodson said.

At the EPA, remaining staff are taking on more work, leaving little time to train newer employees, said Justin Chen, an environmental engineer and union representative in the Dallas enforcement division.

Inspections and compliance monitoring by the agency fell 28% under Trump, EPA figures show. New civil enforcement cases fell more than 20%. Criminal cases increased over that period, although the number of defendants charged dropped sharply.

Almost 200 scientists left the EPA's Office of Research and Development, including Dan Costa, who headed the climate and energy research program until 2018, when he said it became clear the Trump administration did not value scientists or climate research.

“We had a big bullseye on us,” said Costa. “People couldn't use the word ‘climate.’”

The EPA did not answer emailed questions about staff losses. FWS did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Key U.S. Geological Survey leadership posts went unfilled at regional climate science centers and approval of research grants was delayed, said Robin O’Malley, who spent 38 years with the agency and retired in 2019 as director of the center in Colorado.

“We could barely do anything," O'Malley said. “It's been a morale disaster and an operational disaster."

Some delays occurred in research to help deal with increasingly intense wildfires in the Rocky Mountains, and in studies of migratory birds facing habitat losses, scientists said.

A USGS spokesman declined to answer questions about research delays and job losses but said hiring decisions are moving forward.

While Biden has promised to make climate science a top priority, scientists say it will take time to hire and train new staff.

Meantime, there are fewer experts to build criminal cases against polluters, said Joyce Howell, an EPA attorney in Philadelphia. The effects could be felt for years, she added, because it takes a long time to investigate and prosecute violations.

“You just don’t have as many environmental cases, you don’t prosecute everyone,” Howell said.

———

Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan, and Brown from Billings, Montana.