A group of Environmental Protection Agency employees on Monday published a declaration of dissent from the agency’s policies under the Trump administration, saying they “undermine the EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment”. More than 170 EPA employees put their names to the document, with about 100 more signing anonymously out of fear of retaliation, according to Jeremy Berg, a former editor-in-chief of Science magazine who is not an EPA employee but was among non-EPA scientists or academics to also sign. The latter figure includes 20 Nobel laureates. The letter represents rare public criticism from agency employees who could face blowback for speaking out against a weakening of funding and federal support for climate, environmental and health science. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health made a similar move earlier in June.

Other water and climate research funding news:

• Los Angeles Times: Trump administration shuts down U.S. website on climate change
• E&E News by Politico: Website for top US climate reports goes dark
• Audubon: Blog: Investing in the West’s water future: Why Congress must fully fund the WaterSMART program
• The Hill: NOAA to discontinue some weather data, but delays cutoff