“The Environmental Protection Agency is reminding employees not to engage with members of the media, sending a memorandum this week instructing them to deflect any press inquiries.
Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which made the media policy memo public, said the policy was hypocritical.
“Is EPA transparent, or is it still opaque?” Whitehouse said. “There should be an unambiguous policy that EPA scientists and other specialists should be able to answer a question from a member of the public or from a media outlet.””