Ledyard King

USATODAY

WASHINGTON – A Trump Administration directive ordering employees at the Environmental Protection Agency to halt external communications and posts on social media fueled news reports Tuesday that a number of other agencies were issuing similar gag orders to their workers.

But while the EPA confirmed it was freezing such activity as well as new contracts and grants, administration officials spent much of Tuesday tamping down conspiratorial rumors of wide-spread media blackouts.

White House Spokesman Sean Spicer said he was aware of the news reports but not familiar with any broad edict.

“We’re looking into it,” he told reporters during the daily White House briefing Tuesday. “I don’t think it’s any surprise that when there’s an administration turnover that we’re going to review the policies.”

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The agencies reportedly affected in some measure included Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But spokespeople for those agencies called the reports overblown or flatly refuted them.

“Contrary to erroneous media reports, HHS and its agencies continue to communicate fully about its work through all of its regular communication channels with the public, the media and other relevant audiences,” according to a statement from the agency. “There is no directive to do otherwise.”

That was in response to a Huffington Post story that officials at some smaller agencies within HHS had been told not to send “any correspondence to public officials” according to memos obtained by the online news site.

And BuzzFeed reported that some Agriculture employees have been told not to publicly share summaries of scientific papers or tweeting through its official site.

A spokeswoman for the USDA had yet to return a call for comment Tuesday afternoon. But according to a Reuters report, the agency said an internal email sent to workers calling for a suspension of “public-facing documents” at its Agricultural Research Service was flawed and new guidance would be issued to replace it.

Only the EPA did not dispute the reports. But a statement from the agency said it “fully intends to continue to provide information to the public. A fresh look at public affairs and communications processes is common practice for any new Administration, and a short pause in activities allows for this assessment.”

Political opponents pounced on the administration.

“This administration is launching direct attacks on truth and transparency in our gov’t. Very troubling -- and honestly, anti-democratic,” Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., tweeted.

More alarming to state regulators is the temporary suspension of EPA grants and contracts.

The abrupt move to suspend funding posed “significant concern” for some states that are already having to cope with incremental aid from Washington since Congress has yet to pass a 2017 budget, said Alexandra Dapolito Dunn, executive director and general counsel of the Environmental Council of the States.

ECOS is the association representing state environmental agencies.

“States were immediately concerned that they would be having to make cuts in staff ... because the money flow is already sporadic,” she said. “I received phone calls from all over the country from states of all political stripes.”

Environmental groups also registered their anger.

“President Trump's move to freeze all communications and EPA grant programs on the first day of his job should be a major red flag for all Americans at the start of a new administration,” said Liz Perera, climate change policy director for the Sierra Club. “The EPA was created to ensure that all Americans can enjoy clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and have their health protected from environmental and climate threats. Trump's action puts American lives and communities at risk.”

Myron Ebell, headed the EPA transition team for the Trump administration, told ProPublica Monday the move was not unprecedented.

“They’re trying to freeze things to make sure nothing happens they don’t want to have happen, so any regulations going forward, contracts, grants, hires, they want to make sure to look at them first,” Ebell said. “This may be a little wider than some previous administrations, but it’s very similar to what others have done.”

Trump’s choice to run the EPA, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, has yet to be confirmed by the Senate.

Reports of the EPA directive came days after the Interior Department temporarily shut down its Twitter site after a National Park Service employee retweeted side-by-side photos of the crowds that gathered in 2009 on the National Mall for President Barack Obama’s first inaugural and the apparently much smaller crowd that came to witness Trump’s swearing-in Friday.

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“All bureaus and the department have been directed by incoming administration to shut down Twitter platforms immediately until further notice," said an email circulated to Park Service employees Friday afternoon that was obtained and reported by The Washington Post.

Spicer told reporters Friday that the move to suspend the account was done because the employee had "inappropriately violated their own social media policies.”

As a result, Spicer said, “there was guidance that was put out to the department to act in compliance with the rules that were set forth.”

The agency's Twitter site is back up.

The Park Service's Badlands National Park posted several tweets Tuesday that made a forceful case about the hazards of climate change, but those tweets were deleted by the end of the day,