state dept anylist resigns climate change

“They are clearly not going to address the climate change issue at all there and my voice is far more useful outside the agency than in it,” Clement said.

The rule was later reinstated by a San Francisco judge. Interior moved to delay the rule until 2019, citing its burdensome nature to the fossil fuel industry. Then Clement said he saw that the Interior had made a final decision Wednesday not to defend the Obama-era Methane Rule. Where does he get off saying this about the dedicated career staff?” “That (speech) was the buzz in the building all week long. “That’s absurd to say the civil service should be loyal to him when so many people are dedicated to the job and the country,” Clement said. “There’s too many ways in the present process for someone who doesn’t want to get (a regulatory action) done to put it in a holding pattern.”Ĭlement said Zinke “lost a lot of respect” that day.Ĭantwell: Zinke's comments about Interior employees' loyalty a 'cheap shot' “I got 30% of the crew that’s not loyal to the flag,” Zinke said, according to the Associated Press. The first was the news that Zinke had said last week at a speech to an oil industry group that he didn’t believe a third of Interior employees were “loyal to the flag.” “I was reassigned to an accounting office in the department that collects the royalty checks from the oil and gas and the fossil fuel interests,” Clement told CNN at the time.Ĭlement said there were a number of final straws that ultimately lead him to feeling like he could no longer do “anything good from within the agency.” Then he was reassigned without notice to be a senior adviser at the department’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue – a position he labels an accounting job. Until July, he was the director of the Office of Policy Analysis. We look forward to working with the Office of Special Counsel to address any questions they might have about this matter.”įor the majority of the time that Clement was at Interior, he studied the impact of rising sea levels on Native American tribes in Alaska.

Reached for comment, an Interior spokesperson said: “The Department does not comment on ongoing matters such as whistleblower complaints. “The checkmarks in the cons column just kept adding up,” Clement added. I felt strongly about serving in the civil service, and it’s really hard to leave, but Secretary (Ryan) Zinke is really acting against all of the issues that are important to the health and safety of Americans and natural resources, he told CNN. The battle over science in the Trump administration (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Justin Sullivan/Getty Images President Donald Trump's proposed budget for 2018 seeks to cut the EPA's budget by 31 percent from $8.1 billion to $5.7 billion. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) logo is displayed on a door at its headquarters on Main Washington, DC.

State dept anylist resigns climate change