According to emails sent to EPA staff, all incoming media requests would be “screened” by the administration, while the administration banned press releases, blog updates, and posts to agency social media accounts.
After an anonymous source notified an official on Capitol Hill with concerns of the agency freeze, ProPublica confirmed that the new administration had taken such actions.
The source from the Hill told the Huffington Post that anonymous contact from an agency staffer was rather odd.
“I will say it’s pretty unusual for us to get these kinds of anonymous contacts from people at the agency, which makes me think it’s unusual,” they said.
Myron Ebell, who ran the agency during Mr Trump’s transition, confirmed the freeze, but noted that was not out of the ordinary for a new administration.
“They’re trying to freeze things to make sure nothing happens they don’t want to have happen,” he said, “so any regulations going forward, contracts, grants, hires, they want to make sure to look at them first”
“This may be a little wider than some previous administrations, but it’s very similar to what others have done.”
Donald Trump says that ‘environmentalism is out of control’
However, advocates worry that the freeze could hurt scientific research that is currently underway.
“Any effort to stop a scientific agency from responding to congressional, federal, state and local inquiries has a chilling effect,” Bob Cord, director of public affairs at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, told the Huffington Post.
The Senate has not officially confirmed Mr Trump’s pick to head the EPA, Scott Pruitt, who has drawn significant criticism for his position on environmental issues.