Florida Gov. Rick Scott [
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Florida state employee has been reprimanded and told not to come
to work after Gov. Rick Scott’s (R) administration banned the use of
the terms “climate change” and “global warming.”
Earlier this month, reports said that officials in the Scott
administration
ordered Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
administrators not to use the terms in documents or meetings because
they asserted that the climate science behind global warming was not
a “true fact.”
According to the Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER), Scott’s ban
claimed its
first victim earlier this month.
A
press release from PEER said that Barton Bibler, who works as
DEP Land Management Plan Coordinator, had attended a Florida Coastal
Managers Forum and took notes when attendees discussed climate
change.
“Mr. Bibler’s official notes on this meeting reflected all of
that discussion. He was directed to remove any hot button issues,
especially explicit references to climate change, and then was
given a letter of reprimand for supposedly misrepresenting that
the ‘official meeting agenda included climate change,’” the
statement noted. “As he was given the reprimand on March 9th, Mr.
Bibler was told to not return to work for two days which would be
charged against his personal leave time.”
Before he was allowed to return to work, DEP required that that
Bibler’s doctor complete a “Medical Release Form,” and evaluate him
for an unspecified “medical condition and behavior.”
“Bart Bibler has fallen through a professional looking glass in a
Florida where the words ‘climate change’ may not be uttered, or even
worse, written down,” PEER Director Jerry Phillips explained. “If
anyone needs mental health screening it is Governor Rick Scott and
other officials telling state workers to pretend that climate change
and sea-level rise do not exist.”
PEER has called on the DEP Office of Inspector General to
investigate the department for mishandling Bibler’s reprimand.
“Not just the employees but the citizens of Florida should demand
a full investigation into what the heck is going on inside DEP and
whether we can expect more cases like this,” Phillips insisted.
“Under Governor Scott, the Department of Environmental Protection
functions like a gulag where those in servitude who show any spark
of honesty are simply made to disappear.”
It was not immediately clear when, if ever, Bibler would be
allowed to return to work.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/gov-ricks-scott-anti-science-purge-begins-state-employee-banned-for-uttering-climate-change/