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KANSAN.COM
NEWS
New EPA won't impede work, researchers say
Associated Press he Eisenhower
Associated Press Supreme Court associate justice Samuel Alito, right, swears in Scott Pruitt as the Environmental Protection Agency administrator in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the White House complex in Washington, Friday. Feb. 17, 2017.
NOLAN BREY
@NolanBrey
university climate change researchers are unsure of
what will come from the Environmental Protection Agency under Trump, but they are confident that their research will continue relatively unimpeded.
Scott Pruitt, who was confirmed Friday as administrator of the EPA, sued the EPA multiple times as attorney general of Oklahoma.
Critics of Pruitt, who often call him a climate change denier, are worried that he will destroy the EPA.
David Braaten, a geography and atmospheric science professor at the University, said University researchers who rely on grants could see that funding taken away or reduced as a result of an EPA run by Pruitt. Likewise, professors who rely on the help of graduate students to enhance productivity are perhaps most at risk.
"Faculty are still free to do their research without external funding," Braaten said. "It's just a lot harder when you teach and have all of the other responsibilities and can't get the help of a graduate student to move things along."
While there are still many unanswered questions, Braaten is worried about the fate of the environmental progress that has already
been made.
"I'm worried that it's going to cause progress that's been made to slow down," Braaten said. "I always show my class the carbon emissions from the U.S., and they've been dropping the last couple of years."
"There is progress being made. It's not tremendous progress, but it's a little bit
The Obama Administration imposed many new environmental measures, such as the Clean Power Plan in 2015, but some believe that not enough progress was made.
"It's a whole body of work," Braaten said. "Not just mine or any other individuals or KU individuals. It's a worldwide body of work, and all the points are directed in the same
of progress," Braaten said. "That could reverse it. I don't really know, but there is a concern that the trend we see now is not going to hold up. That would be unfortunate."
While climate change is often associated with politics, Braaten said that the credibility of research is divorced from politics.
direction but in different ways."
There is progress being made. It's not tremendous progress,but it's a little bit of progress."
David Braaten University professor
"Credibility of research is not determined by any
Moreover, Braaten said that credibility is derived from publishing research.
political wind. It's really your writing papers and putting forth your results. And then it's looked at by your colleagues in the field. If it's good, it's published," Braaten said.
Jordan Sprick, a graduate student from Hiawatha studying electrical engineering, researches for the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS), a science and technology center at the University that seeks to develop new technologies and computer models to study ice sheets.
Sprick is not worried
that the new changes in the EPA will affect CReSIS's work greatly because it is difficult to deny the melting of ice caps.
"The ice caps definitely are melting." Sprick said. "They're losing mass, and the ocean is rising. I personally wouldn't be too worried that anything is really going to change. Maybe a little bit less funding, but whether it's global warming or not, it's happening."
Additionally, Sprick said that, currently, discussions about the EPA are not a common topic within CReSIS.
"I wouldn't say that people are necessarily disheartened around here," Sprick said. "I think they just go about their normal routine and continue their research."
Both Braaten and Sprick agreed that they do not foresee significant recruiting hurdles for environmental studies in the future.
"It's kind of everybody in the same boat. I'm sure not that it would affect our recruiting," Braaten said.
Sprick said that changes in the EPA might even raise interest in environmental research as more people come to learn about its importance.
"I see that the realization that it is important coming about and people doing something about it," Sprick said.
- Edited by Paola Alor
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