Trump administration attacks on science extend far beyond climate, loom large in WV

Diffenbaugh is among the many expert voices behind the scientific consensus that led to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 finding that greenhouse gases threaten public health.

“The research was strong at the time of the endangerment finding and has only become more strong and more definitive in the intervening years,� Diffenbaugh said.

But the EPA on July 29 announced it plans to undo that finding, contradicting years of climate science by claiming in its published proposal to do so that “the balance of climate change as a whole appears to skew substantially more than previously recognized by the EPA in the direction of net benefits.�

The EPA’s 2009 “endangerment finding� now targeted by the Trump administration has provided the legal underpinning for the agency’s standards for greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA is proposing to remove all greenhouse gas standards for light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and heavy-duty engines.

The EPA's proposed rule cites a new Department of Energy report to claim that "extreme weather events have not demonstrably increased relative to historical highs."

But scientists have said the DOE report relies on climate disinformation, cherry picking data to undermine climate science established through decades of peer-reviewed research.

Many studies have shown that extreme weather events have become more common.

“So we now have clear evidence [since the EPA’s 2009 finding] that many aspects of our economy are impacted by climate change, and that, in fact, the climate change that's already happened has had socioeconomic impacts,� Diffenbaugh said.

The U.S. experienced one inflation-adjusted billion-dollar disaster every four months in the 1980s, according to the most recent congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment, released in 2023 and removed from its original website under the Trump administration. The assessment found that disaster frequency had escalated to one every three weeks on average.

Nearly a quarter of West Virginia’s billion-dollar disasters from 1980 to 2024 (11 out of 45; 24%) came in just the last five years of that span, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine announced last week they would review the latest scientific evidence on whether greenhouse gas emissions are expected to endanger public health and welfare in the U.S., a move cheered by critics of the Trump administration brushing aside established climate science. The NASEM are private, nonprofit, congressionally chartered institutions that give independent analysis to guide public policy in science, engineering and medicine. The study will be self-funded by the National Academy of Sciences, a break from the usual setup of federal agencies or Congress requesting and sponsoring the academies’ studies.

But the Trump administration’s attacks on science have extended far beyond its planned endangerment finding repeal.

The administration has made deep cuts to scientific research funding through federal agencies, slashed those agencies’ workforces and shut down independent science committees.

A February 2025 editorial by Nature — a weekly international journal that publishes peer-reviewed research — noted that Trump executive orders had canceled or frozen tens of billions of dollars in funding for research and international assistance while green-lighting thousands of layoffs.

“Federal agencies and universities are in turmoil. Thousands of researchers are in limbo as they wait for a thaw on a highly questionable funding freeze. And around the world, millions of grant recipients of US assistance programmes have been abandoned,� Nature observed in the editorial. “It is hard to put into words the extent of the damage being done to the US research enterprise, which is of almost incalculable value to both the nation itself and the wider world.�

The cuts have stifled projects at West Virginia University, which has advocated for restoration of federal research funding.

Philip Price, a retired research scientist who worked 33 years for chemical manufacturing giants Union Carbide and Dow, expects West Virginia to be more adversely affected by the Trump administration’s science cuts than many other states given the Mountain State’s older population and high dependence on federal dollars.

“Cuts to scientific programs, safety regulatory agencies and longer-range research will directly affect West Virginians,� Price said. “Some of these effects will be felt before the end of this year, others will be felt for years to come.�

'So much uncertainty'

Ming Lei, WVU Research Office interim vice president, WVU Health Sciences Center Office of Research and Graduate Education senior associate vice president and WVU School of Medicine vice dean of research, said budget reductions in research and student aid will impact university education and research missions.

In an email through a university spokesperson, Lei reported last week that 17 WVU projects have had funding canceled, suspended or terminated or have received a stop-work order, including some multi-institution projects on which WVU was a partner. The funding sources include state and foundation grants as well as grants from federal agencies such as the EPA, U.S. Department of Education and National Endowment for the Humanities, according to Lei.

“With so much uncertainty, we will not speculate on potential job effects,� Lei said in response to a question seeking what WVU research or financial positions were at risk due to federal government cuts to funding or staff at federal agencies.

In June, the WVU Research Office said it developed a “decision tree� for engaging with congressional delegates on research matters, giving priority to items “affecting the university as a whole� like student aid and funding from major agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

The WVU Research Office said its decision tree was a response to “the severe recommended federal funding reductions to science agencies.�

In May, the office reported that university faculty, students, WVU Extension agents, administrators and others had made 14 trips to Washington since February to advocate for federal funding for WVU research with members of the state’s congressional delegation.

“Most of the federal funding WVU receives goes to staff and student salaries, so not only does it drive the University’s research effort, it also stays local,� Sheena Murphy, WVU associate vice president for research development, said in a statement at the time.

“The research we are doing now will benefit future generations,� Lei said, “and we are hopeful the support will be continued.�

Spokespeople for the four members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation, who are all Republicans — Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, Sen. Jim Justice, Rep. Carol Miller and Rep. Riley Moore — did not respond to requests for comment.

Marshall University communications director Leah Payne said she wasn’t aware of cuts or reductions in grants to Marshall or its researchers.

'Further erosion of an already damaged public trust'

Many of the Trump administration’s moves feared to be most dangerous have been implemented by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a long history of views not backed by science. Kennedy has promoted what health experts call dangerous misinformation about vaccines.

As HHS secretary, Kennedy’s rhetoric has turned into action.

In June, Kennedy dismissed all 17 voting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Established in 1964, the committee has advised the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on science-based vaccine recommendations.

In an article published by the New England Journal of Medicine on July 30, the dismissed members of the committee said it was unclear whether projects to monitor vaccine safety would continue and whether data provided would be reliable, timely or actionable.

“This lack of coordination is likely to cause confusion for providers and the public, vaccine-administration errors, decreased uptake of vaccines, and further erosion of an already damaged public trust,� the former committee members wrote.

The former committee members said private insurers may not keep paying for some vaccines that fall off neglected committee vaccination schedules.

Last week, HHS announced the termination of 22 investments in developing vaccines using mRNA technology employed in COVID-19 vaccines that researchers have eyed as a promising option for treating cancer. Kennedy claimed in a statement HHS was “shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate.�

When accounting for excess deaths, a measure of the pandemic’s mortality impact, COVID-19 vaccinations prevented an estimated 19.8 million deaths during the first year of COVID-19 vaccination programs, according to a study published in 2022 in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. 

In 2021, Kennedy asked the Food and Drug Administration, another agency he now oversees, to revoke its emergency use authorization of COVID vaccines, via a petition from antivaccine advocacy group Children’s Health Fund. Kennedy founded the group and was the group’s board chair at the time. The petition claimed the risks of the vaccines exceeded the benefits.

Price predicted new policy and funding changes would immediately affect vaccine availability for children and older people, and that U.S. terminations of new vaccine development on common viral and bacterial diseases would impact West Virginians’ health.

'The worst EO yet for American science'

Trump issued an executive order last week that would give control over grants to political appointees instead of civil servants that include scientists. The order directs federal agencies to designate an appointee to consider discretionary awards that “demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities.� It bars agencies from issuing calls for researchers to submit applications for grants on specific subjects until agencies implement new review processes.

Price, who has served as a reviewer of chemistry proposals and projects for the National Science Foundation, called the executive order “the worst EO yet for American science.�

He continued, “So a political appointee, with a liberal arts college degree and no chemistry or biology classes since high school, is going to determine the validity of NSF research?�

The Union of Concerned Scientists, a national science advocacy group, released an analysis last month finding that from Jan. 20 to June 30, the Trump administration carried out 402 attacks on science — instances where the group says science has been sidelined or threatened by the federal government.

The Union of Concerned Scientists pointed to Trump administration moves to remove experts from federal agency leadership, halt government data collection and cut scientists out of government decision-making.

The group urged strengthening whistleblower protections for federal scientists, restoring federal advisory committees and opposing the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, a bill cosponsored by Miller which would require congressional approval for major regulations. The legislation has drawn concerns it would block expert agencies from enacting rules rooted in scientific evidence.

Consequences of distrust 

America’s national public health agency, the CDC, is in turmoil that federal worker representatives attribute to what they say has been Kennedy and the Trump administration villainizing them.

Last week, a Georgia man attacked CDC’s Atlanta headquarters, firing more than 180 shots into the campus and killing a police officer. Authorities said the man, who died by suicide, was motivated by his distrust of COVID vaccines.

“[W]hen your own leadership peddles falsehoods, it doesn’t just erode the public trust. It creates the conditions for the kind of violence that we saw [with the shooting],� Yolanda Jacobs, lead health communications specialist at CDC’s Office of the Chief of Staff and president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2883, which represents CDC employees, said during a virtual news conference Monday.

“This is a time to stand in solidarity with our public health workforce, not a moment for the media to exploit a tragedy for political gain,� HHS communications director Andrew Nixon said in an emailed statement.

The safety and well-being of West Virginians is Price’s concern as the Trump administration diminishes U.S. science investment. He expects to see higher infant mortality, lower birth weights, declining enrollment at WVU and Marshall and steeper drug costs.

“Federal funding investments in research,� Lei said, “have implications far beyond the present day.�