The Department of Energy announced Tuesday that it will not turn over to Donald Trump's transition team the names of its staff members who worked on climate change issues, the department told Politico.
President-elect Trump's transition team submitted 74 questions to the department last week. Two of those questions asked for the names of staff that worked on climate policy for President Barack Obama's administration.
"We will be forthcoming with all publicly available information with the transition team. We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team," Department of Energy spokesman Eben Burnham-Snyder said in an email, according to Politico.
"We are going to respect the professional and scientific integrity and independence of our employees at our labs and across our department," Burnham-Snyder added.
"There is major concern among my members," Jeff Eagan, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said, according to The Washington Post.
Eagan has worked at the Department of Energy for 17 years, and said in his role as a union representative, "I have received lots of calls, emails, messages expressing shock and dismay."
The Post reported that members of Congress praised the department's decision.
"This looks like a scare tactic to intimidate federal employees who are simply doing their jobs and following the facts," said Maryland Democratic Rep. Elijah E. Cummings.
Trump addressed climate change on "Fox News Sunday." "I'm still open-minded. Nobody really knows," he told Chris Wallace.
The incoming president chose Scott Pruitt, who has said he believes in the debate about climate change, to run the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt, Oklahoma's attorney general, has led lawsuits against Obama's climate change policies, according to The New York Times.
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