EPA to Shut Down Libraries, End Access to Public Materials, Original Collections

From a PEER press release:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving ahead this summer to shut down libraries, end public access to research materials and box up unique collections on the assumption that Congress will not reverse President Bush’s proposed budget reductions, according to agency documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). At the same time, EPA’s own scientists are stepping up protests against closures on the grounds that it will make their work more difficult by impeding research, enforcement and emergency response capabilities.

PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch calls the move “positively Orwellian,” and I don’t disagree. This is a travesty.

See the letter of protest signed by representatives for 10,000 EPA scientists and researchers

Hat-tip to Terre

About JW Randolph

Raised on the banks of the Tennessee River, JW's work to create progress in his home state and throughout Appalachia has been featured on the Rachel Maddow Show, The Daily Kos and Grist. He served first as Appalachian Voices’ Legislative Associate and then Tennessee director until leaving to pursue a career in medicine in 2012.