** Trump's anti-science agenda is hurting Biden's climate goals
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Monday, August 2, 2021
The Biden administration has put climate action front and center, Photo: Joe Biden ([link removed])

Government agencies from the Department of Agriculture to the Interior Department saw climate scientists quit in droves under former president ([link removed]) Donald Trump ([link removed]) , according to the New York Times. And they aren’t coming back.

“It’s easy and quick to leave government, not so quick for government to regain the talent,” said Juliette Hart, who left her job with the United States Geological Survey after being pressured to downplay climate change in her research.

That’s going to make it hard for the Biden administration to meet its ambitious climate goals, according to the Times’ reporters. They spoke to current federal employees who said recruitment is lagging because government jobs are no longer seen as insulated from politics.

“My students have told me, I believe in what E.P.A.’s trying to do, but I’m worried that the outcomes of my work will be dictated by the political leaders and not by what the science actually says,” said Stan Meiburg, a former Environmental Protection Agency scientist who now teaches sustainability at Wake Forest University.


** Haaland pledges support for "hard-hit energy communities"
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Interior Secretary Deb Haaland says she and President Biden won’t leave the communities that helped keep our lights on behind as the country moves toward renewable energy.

She pledged her support to coal communities over the weekend ([link removed]) in an op-ed published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, in which she touted the Biden administration’s investments in programs meant to clean up the environment and retool traditional energy economies.

“This is personal to me, because I know what it’s like to grow up in a community that’s left behind when mines are closed,” Haaland wrote.

She cited a $16 billion investment the Biden administration is proposing ([link removed]) to clean up communities affected by coal and oil and gas development, as well as a grant program to stabilize coal-producing communities, which made over $45 million available to Western states and tribes this year ([link removed]) .
Quick hits


** Moab wants to stop marketing itself to tourists
NPR ([link removed])
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** Advocates ask federal officials to restore protections for gray wolves
Associated Press ([link removed])
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** Brain drain slows down Biden's climate agenda
New York Times ([link removed])
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** Opinion: Biden's infrastructure plan will help energy communities
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ([link removed])
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** Golden eagles are struggling in the West
Associated Press ([link removed])
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** Opinion: Tracy Stone-Manning's treatment was unwarranted and unfair
The Hill ([link removed])
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** Surveying the Bootleg Fire's devastation
New York Times ([link removed])
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** Bill to protect historic Japanese internment camp passes US House
CPR news ([link removed])
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Quote of the day
The truth always finds oxygen, and Stone-Manning’s tireless work on behalf of all Montanans will as well.”
— Becky Edwards, Bozeman Daily Chronicle ([link removed])
Picture this


** @B ([link removed]) LMUtah ([link removed])
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Our amazingly talented photographer, Bob Wick, retires in just a few days. Bob has been responsible for some of the most iconic photos of public lands managed by the @BLMNational ([link removed]) , especially as he captured the diversity and beauty of #Utah ([link removed]) . 📍Valley of the Gods

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