Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled government may be moving to control state-produced scientific research and tamp down emphasis on climate, according to a new report.
The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal contains an item that would dissolve the science services bureau within the Department of Natural Resources and transfer the scientists to other programs.
The move would give the state’s business-friendly DNR chief more control over research priorities and output. The Journal reports that this proposal is the latest in a long line of moves by the Walker administration to suppress climate science and related priorities.
“This is just part of the continued effort to discourage the use of science or evidence in this administration’s decision-making,” Sen. Jon Erpenbach, a Middleton Democrat on the budget committee, told the Wisconsin State Journal.
“Gov. Walker and legislative Republicans don’t want science to get in the way of their politics.”
Source: ecowatch.com
