EPA closing libraries and destroying documents

[Biology]

I received the following e-letter over the weekend, which I understand is being forwarded among scientists nationwide.
________________________________

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun closing its
nationwide network of scientific libraries, effectively preventing EPA
scientists and the public from accessing vast amounts of data and
information on issues from toxicology to pollution. Several libraries
have already been dismantled, with their contents either destroyed or
shipped to repositories where they are uncataloged and inaccessible.

The scientific information contained in the EPA libraries is essential
to the agency's ability to make fully informed decisions that carry out
its mission of protecting human health and the environment. Members of
Congress have asked the EPA to cease and desist dismantling these
libraries.

Please call EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson at [phone] either
today or Monday and tell him how much scientists rely on data and
literature. Urge him to immediately halt the dismantling of the library
system until Congress approves the EPA budget and all materials are
readily available online.

Sincerely,

Michael Halpern
National Field Organizer
Scientific Integrity Program
_______________________________________

[aquart]

1. What is the matter with these insane people?

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. It's time to wake up and smell the corruption.

Those of us who have been following the rules to make a living have been taken. Think about how Dick Cheney sold himself as a rugged individualist. A self-made man, my ass. It was a lie. None of them are rugged individualists. They are predators on society and now they're trying to destroy the evidence.

[Jcrowley]

26. Spot on

N/T

[warrens]

31. A cheap, ideological, stupid belief system

God wants you to be rich and greedy and rape the land. It's yours, fuck it up as much as you want and anyone who tries to stop you is the enemy. So they put rich thugs in charge of scientists, and brutalize them. Watch them all resign next month.

[CrispyQ]

2. This is such a disgrace.

Bushco does not care about "protecting human health and the environment," only profits.


k&r

[ananda]

3. The answer is in your question.

They are truly insane.

[april]

4. and the reason???

We must all get involved w/ this !!!

[glitch]

8. They are going for their own "Year Zero"

And all the criminals get a clean slate. I bet dismantling EPA is one of Cheney's pet projects.

[symbolman]

5. When will they hang us

for believing the world is NOT FLAT?

The NEW Dark Ages.

Thanks for the alert, Jesus, almost worse than the Nazis, making them look Quaint.

[theHandpuppet]

6. hatrack and I posted about this back in September

He on the Environment Forum; by myself as an alert on General Discussion. See: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2260928

From the lack of response to either of our threads, I deduced not many gave a damn. :shrug:

[w4rma]

10. We weren't able to do anything about it then. But in exactly 1 month, we can. (nt)

[theHandpuppet]

11. I beg to differ, w4rma

Don't underestimate the power of DU. There are literally thousands of lurkers out there, including politcos, journalists and media folks, etc. who, I suspect, scan the front page or "greatest" pages of DU for stories. When threads such as this get sufficient recommendations, this raises the possibility that the topic will be spotted and the controversy (aka even more Bush atrocities) exposed to the world at large.

I sometimes get disheartened to see what kind of threads folks consider "greatest" material. For instance, there is a thread currently running on GD which shows a humorous picture of a defaced sign on the GWB Parkway. Does that really deserve more than three times the recommendations for the "greatest" page than this thread about the EPA shutting down libraries and destroying documents? Just because I enjoy a thread (and I got a chuckle from the sign!) does not mean it is IMPORTANT.

Voting topics to the "greatest" page IS a serious form of activism, folks. Please choose wisely.

[butterfly77]

30. I tried but I was too late to recommend...

[Sequoia]

14. I saw it! Thanks.

[Zodiak]

9. Scientist' life's work are in that library

The legacy of thousands of scientists who worked with blood, sweat, and tears to get that data is being trounced upon by politicians. It is shameful.

The good thing is, many other countries have copies of those journals and will continue to house and catalogue them. The stuff done for the US government that was not widely published will be destroyed. But other countries will start their own databases to fil the void. Scientific work will continue with or without the US.

Makes me wonder whether my PhD (which I am getting in just a few months) will be worth the paper it is printed on when my entire life's work can be destroyed because a few politicaians want to cover their ass.

This is Fahrenheit 451.

[Sequoia]

15. What is your course of study?

[Zodiak]

20. Entomology...like mike_c

He's a REAL scientist, though. I am one in-training (only 2 published papers).

[Sequoia]

29. You're on your way. I haven't published anything.

Good luck.

[eliphaslevi]

22. The complete library should be digitized

That way, it can be archived forever on a collection of DVDs.

[Zodiak]

27. I agree

Unfortunately, the way things are now, only journal articles leading back to around 1995 are avilable electronically for 95+% of journals. Plus the searchable archives of abstracts and titles only goes back as far as 1980 for almost all databases (medical goes back to 1966, I believe). There is isn't the money within most journals to do this (most are run out of professors' offices), although it would be no problem for a central archiver to do so provided the will and the funds are present.

What I do know is that to most young scientists, research that occurred before 1980 is a giant black hole that we are not aware of save for a citation in a later text that (egads!) must be retrieved from the library or delivered via interlibrary loan. The handling of past data is still not fully integrated into the scientific community, and it is a problem further exacerbated by events like the EPA shutting down their library. I would say that about 20-40% of the sum total of scientific knownledge is still behind the electronic wall...that number just got bigger (how much I do not know).

I just hope all of the data housed there that isn't in the literature is copied somewhere else. Otherwise, we just lost a lot of information and the fruits of billions of dollars of past expenditures and entire careers.

It won't help anything, though. They only created a vacuum that needs to be filled, preferably by a European institution (like Elsevier Publishing Co.). But it will take time.

[mainegreen]

12. K&R as this is perhaps the most important post here today. nt

[theHandpuppet]

13. Kicking because this is just too important

:kick:

[Mrspeeker]

16. WOW these government agencies really work for the people?

Its time to ask not what can we do for our government, but what can our government do? LOL
I'm going to have to go with nothing except pander to greed.

note* I had to write this fast for fear of outsourcing my writing to Halliburton and its subsidiary's. All my writing is subject to review by the Department of Homeland Security, the CIA, The FBI, The ATF, the Illuminate, the PNAC, and the world banks. Thanks to large corporations and the GREED of a few, I feel so Free in this total democracy!

[Norquist Nemesis]

17. WOW! More on this found at peer.org

http://www.peer.org/news/clips.php

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1201/p02s02-uspo.html
"For a new Democratic Congress facing big environmental issues from global warming to dwindling fisheries, the first step may be keeping the nation's top environmental libraries from closing - and saving their myriad tomes from ending up as recycled cardboard.

To meet a proposed 2007 budget cut, the Environmental Protection Agency has in recent months shuttered regional branches in Chicago, Dallas, and Kansas City, Mo., serving 15 states, and has cut hours and restricted access to four other regional libraries, affecting 16 states. Two additional libraries in the EPA's Washington headquarters closed in October."

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/16142741.htm
WASHINGTON | Shuttering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency library in Kansas City, Kan., this fall represents more erosion of the agency’s effectiveness, Bush administration critics contend.

The EPA says no information will be lost, which some question. Others worry the new reliance on the Internet will reduce public access to materials on subjects from acid rain to wetlands.

The library closings, which also occurred in Dallas and Chicago, give ammunition to environmentalists, scientists, open records supporters and Congress who believe the Bush administration is weakening the EPA. An internal agency memo last summer spelled out plans to close labs, cut senior-level scientists and reduce environmental oversight.

[MountainLaurel]

24. PEER has been doing great work on this

Since the issue first arose.

[civildisoBDence]

18. My uncle worked for EPA, and so does a colleague

They're career employees and wouldn't stand idly by while valuable data was destroyed.

Hopefully there are others in positions of authority who'll make sure data is backed up--which scientists routinely do regardless.

Newsprism

[nealmhughes]

19. This is not a new story, fortunately! It actually broke in February and I blogged about it in

August. A lot of people in the library community know about this. It is just now becoming common knowledge.

http://screechingrats.wordpress.com/2006/08/28/wtf-bushco-incs-epa-to-close-regional-epa-libraries/

Please, let everyone, not just scientists and librarians know about this outrage!

[Mnemosyne]

21. K and R, to keep it out there! n/t

[majorjohn]

23. Why the hell would they do that? n/t

[me b zola]

28. Big business, big corruption, big money

A republican's wet-dream.

[KT2000]

25. Of all the issues on the table

this one should be at the top but for some reason it does not get the attention it deserves.

When the next generation shows an even higher increase in brain damage in children - aka autism, learning disabilities, behavioral disorders, low IQ, - the will be the report card for this stunt by bush/cheney.

Contacted my senators to stop this but it does not appear to interest then either. I hear Barbara Boxer is working on this.