The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reversed course Thursday, renewing its subscription to one of the largest environmental publications, E&E News, after canceling it abruptly in July.
The announcement came from one of the EPA’s unions, which said employees saw the cancelation “as anti-transparency, anti-science, and part of a years-long campaign by the Trump administration to discredit critical journalism as ‘fake news’ and stymie coverage of the union’s work to support employees following a bruising contract negotiation process,” the American Federal of Government Employees Council said in a statement.
EPA had subscribed to E&E since 1988, AFGE said, offering all employees access to the news service which covers the agency and related government offices alongside a wide variety of environmental issues.
The deal will only provide E&E access to AFGE’s 7,500 members, about half of the agency’s workforce.
EPA did not respond to request for comment Thursday. It had said in July it was canceling the subscription effective immediately due to the cost.
“Over the next two years, EPA would have spent $382,425 to receive” various E&E newsletters, Associate Deputy Administrator Doug Benevento wrote in an email at the time. The agency added that the money would be spent “in other higher priority areas.”
