Strengthening Scientific Integrity at the Department of the Interior

The Union of Concerned Scientists argues that the US Department of the Interior has seen a spike in the marginalization and politicization of science since 2017. The report outlines a roadmap to strengthen scientific integrity by increasing scientific capacity, protecting communication rights, amending formal integrity policies, and addressing conflicts of interest among political appointees.

• Since 2017, there has been an increase in instances where scientific evidence has been marginalized or politicized, often in direct violation of the agency's own policies, leading to the censorship of scientists and the ignoring of scientific reports.
• The Department of the Interior has a shortage of scientific expertise, with scientists identifying limited staff capacity as a primary obstacle to achieving the agency's science-based mission.
• Political interference has affected specific scientific communications and studies, such as the 2017 request for scientists to remove a sentence linking climate change to sea level rise in a United States Geological Survey memo.
• The report identifies a systemic conflict of interest, noting that most political appointees at the Department of the Interior since early 2017 were previously lobbyists for the oil and gas industry, which the department is tasked with regulating.
• The current scientific integrity policy is deficient because it lacks provisions to prevent the political suppression or delay of scientific information, does not guarantee scientists the final right of review for their work, and lacks a formal process for resolving differing scientific opinions.
• The document recommends the rescission of several orders and memos that it claims undermine science, including Secretarial Order 3360 and Secretarial Order 3369, as well as a memo allowing the use of neonicotinoid pesticides despite evidence of high mortality rates in bees.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2020). Strengthening Scientific Integrity at the Department of the Interior. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-08/doi-fact-sheet-roadmap-for-science.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Strengthening Scientific Integrity at the Department of the Interior. 2020. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-08/doi-fact-sheet-roadmap-for-science.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Strengthening Scientific Integrity at the Department of the Interior |date=August 2020 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-08/doi-fact-sheet-roadmap-for-science.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2020strengthening, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Strengthening Scientific Integrity at the Department of the Interior}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2020}, month = aug, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-08/doi-fact-sheet-roadmap-for-science.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }