CDC Climate Scientist to File Whistleblower Complaint

The former chief of the Climate and Health Program (CHP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), George Luber, plans to file a whistleblower complaint. According to E&E News, Luber alleges that the CDC sidelined him because he expressed concerns about the agency moving funds from climate change programs to other programs. The CHP was established in 2009 under the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) at CDC. Shortly after President Trump’s inauguration, CDC canceled a conference on climate change, which was later revived by private funding. Luber had raised concerns about the incident when it happened. In 2017, CHP was merged with the asthma program at NCEH during a reorganization that intended to “streamline critical activities and allow greater collaboration between subject matter experts.” Luber warned that the merger would cause the $10 million allocated by Congress for the climate program to be used for asthma work. In 2018, Luber was appointed the acting chief of the Asthma and Community Health Branch for a brief period before he was placed on administrative leave due to “troubling allegations” of improper timekeeping and failing to get approval for teaching a class at Emory University. Luber is currently still employed by the CDC and holds his official title, but he is not allowed at his former office unsupervised and works from home five days a week. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PE...
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news