US environmental agency silences employees on climate change. The Guardian

Democratic senators to hold press conference about leaked email that reveals EPA gagged staff from speaking on issue

Amid intensifying scrutiny of its failure to act on climate change, the US environmental protection agency (EPA) has ordered employees not to talk to internal auditors, Congress or the media, according to a leaked email released yesterday by green campaigners.

The EPA has refused repeated requests from Congress to explain its December denial of California's request to regulate greenhouse gas emissions - a move that overruled the agency's own career scientists.

Three Democratic senators have scheduled a press conference today to discuss the controversy.

On June 16, after an email from the campaign group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer), the EPA told its enforcement officials not to answer questions on the issue - even those from the agency's in-house auditors.

"If you are contacted directly by the [auditors'] office or [congressional investigators] requesting information of any kind … please do not respond to questions or make any statements," the email said.

Enforcement officials were told to refer all questions to specific EPA representatives.

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