Comer didn’t reference Trump by accident. Since his first term, the once-and-future president has attacked environmental science at every opportunity, suppressing information about how human activity causes climate change and opposing scientists’ suggestions on the regulation of common chemicals known as PFAS linked to infertility and cancer. Dr. Kyla Bennett, director of science policy at the activist group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), saw the writing on the wall almost as soon as Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. She believes this scrutiny of scientists reflects overt anti-science sentiments — and the American public will pay a terrible price.
Bennett heard stories from EPA employees across the country during Trump’s first term, detailing how their contributions to scientific knowledge were politicized and ignored. She warned that “every single employee” at the EPA is “at risk” right now. Having worked at the EPA for almost 10 years as wetlands enforcement coordinator in New England, Bennett understands EPA workers’ plight viscerally as well as intellectually. Perhaps that’s why she is unapologetically frank when speaking on behalf of government scientists, especially about the millions of American voters who share Trump’s hostility to science.