Ruth Urdahl

Jamestown

Eliminating the police and fire departments and building inspectors may reduce a city’s budget, but at what cost??

The same can be said about plan to eliminate federal departments, including the Department of Energy, proposed by white supremacist Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief advisor. The 110,000 employees at the $30 billion agency are responsible for far more than oil, gas, and wind energy.

Their portfolio also deals with everything nuclear-power plants, nuclear waste disposal, protocol for safe transport of plutonium and nuclear weaponry, and tracking of nations’ nuclear capabilities around the world and physical involvement in safe disposal of weapons of mass destruction in rogue nations like Syria.

That responsibility was of utmost concern for President Obama, leading him to name a nuclear physicist as head of the department. Trump named Rick Perry, former governor of Texas, an oil state, who advocated elimination of the department when he was a contender for the presidency.

President Obama, like presidents before him, asked his department heads to prepare manuals and seminars to inform the incoming administration of the duties, ensuring a smooth transition. The day after the election, after a year’s preparation, the Dept. of Energy expected the arrival of 30 to 40 persons to arrive for briefing, based on the number coming the day after Obama’s election. None came!! Ever!! (Federal law prohibits political appointments from one administration to make contact with a person hired by the new administration after inauguration day.) Many years of knowledge capital is lost forever.

It is akin to a room full of unattended kindergartners turned loose with knives, matches, grenades, and loaded handguns!!

A well-researched “must read” article by Michael Lewis entitled “Why the Scariest Nuclear Threat May Be Coming from Inside the White House” appeared in Vanity Fair July 26 and can be found on the internet.

Though this administration de-bunks science, most informed people realize the value of shared scientific information. My son, Kevin Urdahl, MD, PhD, heads a tuberculosis research lab at the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Seattle and collaborates with TB researchers overseas. Recognizing the importance of face-to-face sharing, the Gates Foundation has twice funded 3 day seminars of TB researchers from around the world, which Dr. Urdahl and a collegiate from England co-facilitated.