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Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s High-School Friend Holding Up Climate Research, Say Scientists

Funding held up while interior secretary’s football teammate does political review of it.

U.S. scientists say they believe funding for their research is being help up due to a Trump administration rule that means projects have to be reviewed by a high-school football teammate of the U.S. interior secretary. At the start of 2018, Secretary Ryan Zinke announced that scientific funding above $50,000 must undergo additional reviews to make sure spending “better align[s] with the administration’s priorities.” Steve Howke, one of Zinke’s high-school football teammates, oversees this review, according to The Guardian. Until Zinke appointed him as a senior adviser, Howke spent his entire career working in credit unions and has no science background. “It does pose problems when you’re wanting to continue your research,” said Renee McPherson, a University of Oklahoma environmental researcher who focuses on explaining extreme weather. “[Our stakeholders] want answers sooner rather than later, especially if they’re undergoing severe drought conditions right now or they just had extensive flooding.”