The Interior Department has introduced a new filter for research grants. Rather than evaluating grants over the rigor of their procedures or the potential importance of their results, the Ryan Zinke-headed department will now look for something they value much more highly—proposals that support Trump’s positions.

The Interior Department has adopted a new screening process for the discretionary grants it makes to outside groups, instructing staff to ensure those awards “promote the priorities” of the Trump administration.

Proposals are to be checked against a list of priorities created by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. That list includes “Utilizing our natural resources.” and “Generating additional revenues.” Zinke’s list also calls for weakening the Endangered Species Act and chopping regulations on companies that want to extract coal, uranium, timber—and every ounce of natural environment—from federal lands.

Zinke’s proposals don’t just destroy the idea of funding projects based on their merit and potential impact, they distort the whole idea of “science.” This isn’t just filtering out projects that don’t fit their priorities, it’s ensuring that any research done will fit those goals.

It’s building confirmation bias into every act of “research.” In fact, Zinke’s approach so invalidates any results from these studies, that it turns every dollar spent into a waste. Rather than go through the pretense of conducting research to fit pre-determined goals, they might as well just skip it altogether.

Scott Pruitt at the EPA has busily replaced scientists with industry shills on their “scientific advisory boards.” Zinke is putting up a pretense of continuing with scientific research, while corrupting the entire idea. It may also be illegal: