OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Biden makes shift from Trump on science | Court strikes down part of rule easing pollution standard implementation

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IT’S SCIENCE: President Biden is taking steps to restore scientific integrity to government actions after several controversies in which advocates say science was sidestepped or ignored by the Trump administration.

Biden this week created a task force to review agency scientific integrity policies. He’s also requiring that all federal research agencies have a chief science officer, and that all agencies have a scientific integrity official. 

The steps come after the Trump administration was mired in several controversies, including accusations its COVID-19 policies didn’t always follow science.

The New York Times reported in September that federal guidance stating it wasn’t necessary to test people without COVID-19 symptoms wasn’t written by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists, and was posted online despite objections from government scientists. Politico reported that politically appointed aides have also sought to review and change CDC reports. 

Separately, a recent inspector general investigation found that the White House pushed for a correction of a National Weather Service (NWS) tweet that contradicted then-President Trump’s assertion that Hurricane Dorian in 2019 was endangering Alabama.

Much more broadly, Trump was criticized for refuting science that humans are contributing to climate change.

Biden has sought to send a signal that his government will listen to scientists on the need to fight climate change and other issues.

In his first week in office, the president directed the top official in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to start the scientific integrity task force. It is to review and publish findings on the effectiveness of scientific integrity policies at government agencies.

Chief science officers required by Biden to serve within federal research agencies will oversee the implementation of the policies impacting research that is funded, conducted or overseen by each individual agency.

For both research and other agencies, the new requirement that each as a science integrity official will ensure someone is overseeing implementation of policies and helping to settle disputes from a scientific perspective.

The memo requiring that agencies have a scientific integrity official says it is being done “because science, facts, and evidence are vital to addressing policy and programmatic issues across the Federal Government.”

Joel Clement, a former Interior Department official and whistleblower who believes he was reassigned due to his work on climate change, said he was particularly optimistic that the new administration and its policies would prevent political interference in the grant process. 

“I think we’re all celebrating because of how low the executive branch sank during the Trump years, but of course, as always there’s more that has to be done to really get scientific integrity right,” said Clement, who is now a senior fellow at Harvard.

Read more on the administration’s initiatives here. 

IN THE OZONE ZONE: A federal court in Washington, D.C., on Friday sided with environmentalists and struck down provisions relaxing requirements for areas that are not in compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) air pollution standards. 

A panel of three judges on the United States Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C., vacated several portions of a rule governing how standards for the pollutant ozone are implemented in areas that have levels beyond the safety standard set by the EPA. 

The three judges were appointed by former Presidents Carter, Clinton and Trump.

Seth Johnson, an attorney with Earthjustice who worked on the case, celebrated it as a health win for the approximately 122 million people who live in the affected areas, called nonattainment areas. 

“This is an important decision for making sure that pollution reductions are real, that they’re not just things that are happening on paper, that they’re things that are going to have an impact in the real world and that’s going to benefit people who live, work and breathe in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone,” Johnson said. 

One of the provisions that was struck allowed polluters to interchange the emission of one of the types of the gases that can form ozone for a different pollutant that’s also a precursor to ozone. 

Another provision allowed nonattainment areas to show that actions they have taken were projected to meet emission reduction goals, rather than that they were actually meeting them. 

Read more about the ruling here.

HOT TAKES: Twenty-six Republican senators wrote to President Biden on Thursday to express their displeasure with his recent actions on fossil fuels, including revoking a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and pausing the issuance of new oil and gas leases on public lands and waters. They also requested to meet with him.

“Your actions will have grave consequences for our constituents, and taking these actions on your very first week as President, with no input from those of us who represent these hard working Americans is counter to the desires of the American people who want practical, bipartisan solutions to our nation’s challenges, and who want policies that support working families,” they wrote. 

ON TAP NEXT WEEK:

On Tuesday:

• Agriculture Secretary nominee Tom Vilsack will have a confirmation hearing at the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee

On Wednesday:

• EPA Administrator nominee Michael Regan will have a confirmation hearing at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
• The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to examine data on global climate trends from energy related sectors, focusing on progress in addressing climate change

WHAT WE’RE READING:

Biden faces pressures to speed clean energy permitting without undercutting reviews, The Washington Examiner reports

Biden wants an all-electric federal fleet. The question is: How will he achieve it? The Washington Post asks

With 287 staffers gone, should Biden return BLM to D.C.? E&E News asks