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Amid the growing push by the Trump administration to block lawsuits against fossil fuel companies, conservative organizations are filing dozens of open records requests at public universities–the latest strategy in a decades-long campaign to discredit climate scientists. “I have never seen this many open records requests in such a short time,” said Lauren Kurtz, CSLDF executive director. “There is a very concerted effort to derail the state climate litigation cases going on.”

Industry allies are now coming after the scientists behind attribution studies. The campaign is designed to dig up information to tarnish scientists’ reputations and, “in the process, intimidate researchers into silence,” said Christopher Marchesano, CSLDF attorney.

An unprecedented culture of fear and apprehension has taken hold of the climate science community, argues Chris Marchesano, in-house counsel at CSLDF. "The number of scientists who come to us and face reprisals, censorship, or have questions about their fundamental rights continues to grow."

The Trump administration has shut down websites like climate.gov and other climate data projects. Academics, journalists, and nonprofit organizations are working to document and, in many cases, rebuild what has been lost.

President Trump's latest attack on NASEM represents an “escalation on the scientific and legal communities and a desperate attempt to erase the reality that man-made climate change is impacting the daily lives of all Americans,” said Chris Marchesano, CSLDF staff attorney. “Ultimately, the administration’s efforts to censor scientific consensus will not only fail, but be viewed as a shameful chapter in this nation’s history.”

Drinking water expert Elin Warn Betanzo is suing the EPA after it dismissed her from an advisory committee for signing a declaration of dissent. Her case raises a bigger question — one that reaches all the way to your kitchen sink: what happens to the rest of us when the government tells its own scientists to stay quiet?

At the second annual Attribution Science and Climate Law conference, CSLDF and others discussed "Defending Science in the Current Political Climate" and how climate researchers have faced lawsuits, aggressive open‑records requests, and proposals to dismantle federal research programs.

Drinking water expert Elin Warn Betanzo is suing the Trump administration for its “zero-tolerance policy” towards dissent. In a federal lawsuit filed on June 22, she accuses the EPA of violating her First Amendment rights by suspending and later removing her from an EPA advisory committee.

“The Trump EPA is using their zero-tolerance policy to intimidate EPA scientists from doing their jobs to protect Americans. So this is my story, but it’s also the story of many others,” said Warn Betanzo.

Former EPA advisor Elin Warn Betanzo is suing the Environmental Protection Agency for its "zero-tolerance" policy toward dissent and for violating her First Amendment rights by firing her after she publicly criticized agency leadership.

“Today I am continuing my fight for safe water by suing the Trump administration for violating my First Amendment right to free speech,” Warn Betanzo said. “The administration fired me and my EPA colleagues to scare public servants into silence. I’ve fought for safe drinking water before, and I will not be intimidated.”

“When I joined the NDWAC, I committed to protecting public health and safe drinking water,” said drinking water expert Elin Warn Betanzo. “I’m fighting for the rights of all government employees and the safety of our drinking water.”