Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
The U.S. Energy Department refused to comply with a request sent by President-elect Donald Trump seeking the names of agency scientists who have worked on climate change, Reuters reported on Tuesday. The real-estate mogul’s transition team specifically asked for the answers to 74 questions, including the names of people who worked on the issue, as well as which professional societies current laboratory workers belong to. The memo also asked for the names of contractors and employees who’ve been to the annual global climate talks hosted by the United Nations over the past five years. “Our career workforce, including our contractors and employees at our labs, comprise the backbone of [the Energy Department] and the important work our department does to benefit the American people,” said department spokesman Eben Burnham-Snyder. “We are going to respect the professional and scientific integrity and independence of our employees at our labs and across our department... We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team.” The request, he said, “unsettled” the department’s workforce.