Biden Axes 4 Arctic Research Commissioners Appointed By Shitstain; Collective Arctic Experience Zero
The White House on Thursday asked for the resignation of four appointees to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. The move is unprecedented in the commission’s 37-year history, but is paralleled by similar requests from the Biden administration to members of other federal commissions this year. The USARC is an independent federal body that helps shape and coordinate U.S. federal research priorities and goals for the Arctic, including by advising the executive and legislative branches. Jon Harrison, Thomas Emanuel Dans, Julia Nesheiwat, and Michael Newton were appointed by President Donald Trump to four-year terms, but were asked to step down last week. When they did not resign, they were terminated on Friday.
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Critics of the move say the forced resignations set a dangerous precedent for a scientific organization that has previously avoided politicization. But others argue that appointing commissioners without relevant experience, which may have delayed a required report to Congress by several months, also violates the terms of the law and restricts the work of the organization.
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For USARC, four commissioners are to come from academic or research organizations, one appointee is to represent an Arctic Indigenous community, and two industry appointees must be “familiar with the Arctic and representative of the needs and interests of private industry undertaking resource development in the Arctic.” But several of the commissioners selected by the Trump administration appear not to meet the conditions for their appointments. They have industry and academic experience, but frequently not within the Arctic.
Jon Harrison, an industry appointee to the commission, served as senior advisor for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs at the U.S. State Department, but his bio lists no Arctic industry ties. Thomas Emanuel Dans, a financial analyst based in Houston and an industry appointee to the commission, worked on distributing CARES Act funding to the aviation industry in Alaska, according to his bio, although it’s unclear how much of that work took place in the Arctic.
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https://www.arctictoday.com/in-a-surprising-shakeup-biden-ousts-some-trump-appointed-arctic-research-commissioners/
