By Juliet Eilperin
and Chris Mooney
President Trump on Wednesday
nominated Sam Clovis, a former college professor and talk radio host who has
challenged the scientific consensus that human activity has been the primary
driver of climate change, to serve in the Agriculture Department’s top
scientific post.
“Dr. Clovis was one of the
first people through the door at USDA in January and has become a trusted
advisor and steady hand as we continue to work for the people of agriculture,”
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a statement Wednesday evening. “He
looks at every problem with a critical eye, relying on sound science and data,
and will be the facilitator and integrator we need. Dr. Clovis has served this
nation proudly since he was a very young man, and I am happy he is continuing
to serve.”
Clovis, whose expected
nomination has been previously reported by The Washington Post and several
other outlets, is a former economics professor at Morningside College in Sioux
City, Iowa, who served as one of Trump’s first campaign policy advisers. In a 2014
interview with Iowa Public Radio, he said he was “extremely skeptical”
about climate change and added that “a lot of the science is junk science.”
“It’s not proven; I don’t
think there’s any substantive information available to me that doesn’t raise as
many questions as it does answers,” Clovis said in the interview. “So I’m a
skeptic.”
This position represents a
departure from the scientific consensus. In its most recent report,
the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that
it is “extremely likely” that, since the 1950s, humans and their greenhouse gas
emissions have been the “dominant cause” of the planet’s warming trend.
Neither USDA nor Clovis
responded to inquiries earlier this week about the prospect of his appointment,
and his views on climate science.
Clovis — who started at USDA
as a senior White House adviser just after Trump was inaugurated —
possesses a B.S. in political science, an MBA degree and a doctorate in public
administration, according to the White House. The post for which he is being
nominated, the Agriculture Department’s undersecretary for research, education
and economics, has traditionally
been occupied by a string of individuals with advanced degrees in science
or medicine.
The overall portfolio that
would be managed by Clovis, if he is confirmed by the Senate, is worth
about $ 3 billion, with $ 2 billion devoted to research and $ 1 billion to
education, according to Catherine Woteki, a nutrition scientist who held the
job before Clovis. The person holding the position administers the Agricultural
Research Service, the Economic Research Service, the National Agricultural
Statistics Service, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
The undersecretary also serves
as the USDA’s chief scientist. The 2008 farm
bill specifies that appointees to the post should be chosen “from
among distinguished scientists with specialized training or significant
experience in agricultural research, education, and economics.” The measure
noted that the job is “responsible for the coordination of the research, education,
and extension activities of the Department.”
“There’s a huge amount of
science that goes into the setting up of the programs, implementation of
various policies, and the chief scientist role is to coordinate those policies
across the entire department and to represent agricultural science in the
decision making that goes on with other departments and is coordinated with the
white house science office,” said Woteki.
Furthermore, the Agriculture
Department’s chief scientist is also tasked with administering its policies to
ensure “scientific integrity” in the department, which means examining whether
any abuses or misuses of science may have occurred in the agency.
Climate change is a major
issue in the agricultural sector, as shifts in both temperatures and
precipitation have a major impact on food production. Agricultural operations
also rank as a major emitter of greenhouse gases linked to climate change,
because of methane emissions from livestock and carbon emissions
from heavy farm equipment.
Under the Obama administration
the Agriculture Department had elevated the issue of climate change, seeking to
curb agricultural emissions as well as help farmers adapt to changing
conditions by creating regional “climate
hubs” across the United States. Then-Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
sought to enlist farmers, ranchers and forest owners in the effort to capture
and store carbon nationwide.
Since Trump took office, the
agency has shifted the description of some of these efforts. On Wednesday, for
example, the department’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture
announced nine grants totaling more than $8 million “to study and develop new
approaches for the agriculture sector to adapt to and mitigate the effects of
changing environmental conditions.” But the same press release noted that four
of them were directed toward “climate outreach and extension” and another five
were focused on “climate and land use.”
Clovis, an Iowa political
activist who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2014, has emphasized his
military and foreign policy experience in the past. During the 2016
presidential race Clovis
advised Trump on Russia and other matters.
In the 2014 Iowa Public
Radio Interview, Clovis outlined his credentials for public service.
“I think that if you look at
my experience … 25 years in the military, and the various jobs and
opportunities I had while serving the nation, my experience as a business man,
and my academic preparation … my experience in a variety of other fields,
including homeland security, foreign policy, national security policy, creating
jobs and all those things,” Clovis said.
The White House announcement
of his nomination emphasizes his military background, noting, “After graduating
from the [U.S. Air Force] Academy, Mr. Clovis spent 25 years serving in the Air
Force. He retired as the Inspector General of the North American Aerospace
Defense Command and the United States Space Command and was a command
pilot.”
The position for which Clovis
has been appointed ranks among “the most critical” science and technology
roles in the federal government, according to a 2008
report by the National Academy of Sciences. The position requires Senate
confirmation.
The Trump administration has
been slow to fill top Senate-confirmed science jobs — only 10 out of 45 across
the government had a nominee prior to the Clovis appointment, according
to a Post analysis that is based on that same NAS report. Clovis makes 11.
