White House Plan to Vet Grants Puts Climate Science in Jeopardy

The Trump administration proposed sweeping changes last week to federal science funding, a move that would give agencies more power to align grantmaking with White House priorities. Climate experts say it would stymie research in the field.

Michael Gerrard, an expert in climate change and law at Columbia Law School, called the proposal “a frontal assault on the scientific enterprise and an aggressive retreat from US scientific leadership.”

“I would think that any kind of climate-related research, or renewable energy-related research, would be vulnerable,” Gerrard said, because the proposal “gives the White House a grab bag of rationales to cancel ...