Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's administration of public lands and the environment has been compared to a "siege on science" by the Union of Concerned Scientists./DOI

Under Ryan Zinke the Interior Department has been conducting a "siege on science," according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, which wants the next Congress to do a better job of monitoring what the department is doing and require it to take climate change seriously and plan for coping with its impacts.

"By repeatedly and brazenly sidelining science to better serve the oil, gas, and mining industries, Secretary Zinke and his team are selling out our shared natural and cultural heritage, putting people and wildlife at risk, and failing to safeguard our future from the ravages of climate change," reads a closing section of the report. "The damage from Secretary Zinke’s policies is mounting. They have caused harm to public lands, public health and safety, and the country’s wildlife and habitats. Left unchecked, the effects will take decades to repair, and yet the consequences of climate change are already upon us. We have no time to lose."

The report comes against a two-year backdrop of increasing impacts from climate change, President Trump's move to shrink both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by a combined 1 million acres, politicizing research grant awards, censorship of department scientists, and limiting scientific review, the 38-page document said.

It also points out that Secretary Zinke's deputy, David Bernhardt, worked as a lobbyist for mining and oil industries before joining the Trump administration and that the secretary "has filled other top DOI positions with individuals who have either lobbied for the coal and oil industries or worked for Zinke’s campaigns or political action committees." Citing information from the "Department of Influence" website that has chronicled the secretary's moves, the report points out that:

* Press Secretary Heather Swift worked at Mercury and the DCI Group, both of which lobbied on behalf of Peabody Coal and Exxon Mobil.

* Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Kate MacGregor pushed for the development of pipelines in national parks and other priorities of the oil and gas industry.

* Fossil fuel proponent Todd Wynn, a steadfast denier of climate change, is now director of intergovernmental and external affairs.

"Government leaders should draw on the best available science for decision-making, especially leaders of federal agencies whose policies affect millions of people and vast swaths of the nation’s landscape," the report's authors wrote. "Secretary Zinke’s DOI has instead stifled politically inconvenient research, put industry interests ahead of public health, and undermined science-based rules and regulations. The department has established a clear pattern of suppressing science and scientific evidence, particularly when they run counter to the interests and priorities of the coal, gas, and oil industries."

The report drew concern from various organizations, including the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks.

"The Union of Concerned Scientist's report is very alarming not only from the point of view of health and welfare of our citizenry, but also from the point of view of our critical ecosystems - many of which are contained partly or wholly within units of the National Park System," said Phil Francis, who chairs the group's executive council. "To not be proactive and risk their protection and well-being makes little sense, especially when considering the consequences."

The Union of Concerned Scientists also criticized the Interior Department for "covering up bad news," such as a study authored in part by the National Park Service's chief climate scientist that said national parks were bearing greater impacts from climate change than other land areas. That National Park Service Twitter account on climate change has largely fallen silent, the report adds, and some reports that mentioned climate change as a driver were edited to remove such references.

"Amid these retreats in research and priorities, the department has made several moves that are almost certain to increase global warming emissions. In particular, the DOI has made it easier for oil and gas companies to release more heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. These gases include methane, the primary component of natural gas and a potent greenhouse gas that has more than 80 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period," the authors wrote.

At the National Parks Conservation Association, Legislative Director Ani Kame’enui said the organization has been concerned for months about Secretary Zinke's tack, specifically about his "decisions that harm national parks, their wildlife and our cultural and natural resources, including the removal of science in the management of national park lands."

"By taking the science out of park management, our parks will be more vulnerable to damage from development, pollution and activities that mar their natural and cultural resources," she added in an email. "We have and will continue to call on him to change course and act on his responsibility to steward our public lands."

A survey the Union of Concerned Scientists took of more than 63,000 scientists in 16 government agencies found that many National Park Service scientists felt that the Trump administration's political bent was impacting their ability to "make science-based decisions."

“There has definitely been a chill on climate research and climate change awareness,” one NPS scientist said in responding to the survey. “Although there have been few published prohibitions to point to, there is uncertainty about what forms of retaliation might take place if the powers-that-be are unhappy with you.”