Trump administration puts gag order on Dept. of Agriculture researchers

The Trump administration is putting a gag on the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its 2,000 scientists, with an order that forbids the public sharing of information and scientific papers produced by the USDA's main research arm.

"Starting immediately and until further notice, the Agricultural Research Service will not release any public-facing documents," Sharon Drumm, chief of staff at ARS, wrote in a department-wide email obtained by Buzzfeed News.

"This includes but is not limited to news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds and social media content," Drumm wrote.

The Department of Agriculture gag comes at the same time as an administration-imposed media blackout at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, forbidding press releases, updates on blogs or posts the the EPA's social media accounts.

Denis Hayes, president of the Bullitt Foundation. Denis and Gail Hayes wrote an influential book, "Cowed: The Hidden Impact of 93 million cows on America's Health. The book has helped prompt U.S. Department of Agriculture to do research on how to reduce methane emissions from the country's bovine population. The Trump administration has just put a gag on release of USDA research. less Denis Hayes, president of the Bullitt Foundation. Denis and Gail Hayes wrote an influential book, "Cowed: The Hidden Impact of 93 million cows on America's Health. The book has helped prompt U.S. ... more Photo: JORDAN STEAD, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: JORDAN STEAD, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Trump administration puts gag order on Dept. of Agriculture researchers 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

The Trump administration has also imposed a freeze on grants and contracts at the EPA.

The Department of Agriculture is not in the vortex of environmental controversy, although it is overseer of the U.S. Forest Service and has seen 30 years of controversy over logging in the Tongass National Forest of Southeast Alaska.

Its research does include genetically modified foods -- subject to a nationwide labeling battle -- as well as the impact of pesticides.

Under Obama, the USDA did move into research on how to cut down on the release of methane from cattle. The increased emphasis was inspired, in part, by Denis and Gail Hayes' book "Cowed: The Hidden Impact of 93 Million Cows on America's Health." Denis Hayes is president of the Bullitt Foundation.

President Trump has nominated ex-Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue as the next Secretary of Agriculture.

Perdue is another administration appointee to have poo-poohed climate change.

In a 2014 National Review article, he wrote: "It's becoming a running joke among the public.and liberals have lost all credibility when it comes to climate science because their arguments have become so ridiculous and so obviously disconnected from reality."

Not everybody is laughing.

As President Trump took office, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its latest climate data.

The year 2016 was the hottest experienced by the Earth in 130 years of record keeping, with particular accelerated global warming in the Arctic. It was the third consecutive record breaking year.

An estimated 97 percent of the world's climate scientists believe fossil fuels are an influence or major influence in the warming of the Earth.