EPA to end updates to climate emissions database after suspending its creator – Washington Examiner
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced it will stop updating its widely used greenhouse gas emissions database following the suspension of its creator, Wesley Ingwersen, who criticized the Trump administration’s environmental policies.The database, one of the most viewed government data sets, will be transferred to Stanford University, where Ingwersen will continue his work. Two private companies will support this transition, with a commitment to keep the database publicly accessible adn free. However, experts express concern that moving the database to the private sector could undermine its credibility and present setbacks for corporate climate action and reporting. Ingwersen, formerly with the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, will remain on federal payroll until september 30 as the agency phases out parts of its research division under the current administration.
EPA to end updates to climate emissions database after suspending its creator
The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it would no longer upload research to a database related to greenhouse gas emissions, this move comes a month after its creator was suspended for criticizing the Trump administration.
The database is one of the most viewed in the government, and will now be housed at Stanford University as its creator, Wesley Ingwersen, is leaving the EPA to continue his work there, according to a New York Times report.
Ingwersen was among the hundreds of EPA employees suspended earlier this year after writing a letter stating that President Donald Trump’s policies “undermine the E.P.A. mission of protecting human health and the environment.”
Two private companies will now support Stanford’s work. All parties have agreed to continue making the database free to the public, as it was at the EPA.
Damien Lieber, a senior manager at ENGIE Impact, an environmental consulting firm, said the EPA’s discontinuation of support for the database was “a major setback for corporate climate action and reporting.”
Dr. Paul Anastas, who served as the agency’s assistant research and development administrator under former President Barack Obama, said he was worried that moving the database to the private sector could undermine its credibility.
“Throughout our history, the most reliable data has come from the public sector, whether it is on food safety, health, economics, or the environment,” Anastas said. “Moving data to the private sector with private motivations such as profit, power, market share, or competitive advantage makes the data less trustworthy and therefore less valuable.”
The database was the third most viewed database of the federal government’s 281,000 public data sets.
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Ingwersen worked at the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, which the Trump administration has said it will end. He previously accepted a buyout offered as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to cut costs and thousands of federal jobs.
He will remain on the federal payroll through Sept. 30
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