Scientists at USGS facing renewed scrutiny on research presentations

WASHINGTON — Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey must now submit their presentation titles for review by the Interior Department to get approval to attend two major conferences, and they will have to identify how their research relates to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s priorities. In guidelines posted on the agency’s internal website this week and obtained by The Washington Post, the USGS’s Office of Administration told employees they will have to provide a detailed “attendee justification” when applying for travel approval for the annual meetings of the American Geophysical Union in Washington and the Geological Society of America in Indianapolis later this year. Interior spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort said Thursday that budget limitations mean the department “can only afford to send people who have a meaningful role at the conference. ... If taxpayer dollars are being spent to send someone to a conference, we’d like some degree of confidence that their attendance will advance the department’s priorities,” she said.

Zinke has detailed 10 priorities since joining the Trump administration in March 2017, including “create a conservation stewardship legacy second only to Teddy Roosevelt,” “sustainably develop our energy and natural resources,” “protect our people and the border,” and “strike a regulatory balance.”

But Chip Groat, who served as USGS director under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, called the new protocol unusual and “inappropriate.”

“Someone from another part of Interior might not understand the fine points of why this science is important,” he said Wednesday. “They’re making some judgment about the type and quality of science the USGS is presenting.”

Bruce Babbitt, interior secretary during the Clinton administration, used stronger language: “It’s a form of censorship.”

Conference attendance by federal employees has been under scrutiny since 2012.