The Latest: EPA scientists won’t speak on climate report

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The Latest on the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to stop three scientists from presenting at an event about climate change (all times local):

12:15 p.m.

The Environmental Protection Agency says its scientists are not discussing a report that deals in part with climate change because the Rhode Island event is not an EPA conference.

The scientists had been expected to discuss a report on the health of Narragansett Bay, New England’s largest estuary.

Spokeswoman Nancy Grantham said in statement Monday that the agency supports the Narragansett Bay Estuary and has provided the program a $600,000 grant. She added that “EPA scientists are attending, they simply are not presenting; it is not an EPA conference.”

One of the EPA staffers was scheduled to give the keynote at a Monday afternoon session.

Meanwhile, about 30 people outside the meeting protested the EPA’s actions. They carried signs including “Ungag the EPA” and “Science not silence.”

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10:05 a.m.

The Environmental Protection Agency has kept three scientists from appearing at an event in Rhode Island about a report that deals in part with climate change.

The New York Times reports EPA spokesman John Konkus confirmed on Sunday that agency scientists would not be speaking at the event Monday in Providence. Konkus did not provide an explanation.

The event is designed to draw attention to the health of Narragansett Bay, New England’s largest estuary.

A spokesman for Democratic U.S. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island says the event will go on as planned and the report will be released. The report finds that climate change is affecting air and water temperatures, precipitation, sea level and fish.

Reed told The Associated Press in a statement Sunday night that “muzzling EPA scientists won’t do anything to address climate change.”