“By doing this, we will ensure America’s continued global leadership in scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs. And that is essential, not only for our economic prosperity, but for the progress of all humanity.” – President Barack Obama
The new administration has moved on several fronts to restore the importance and influence of hard science in public policy since President Obama took office less than 50 days ago.
Having signed a memorandum to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy “to develop a strategy for restoring scientific integrity to government decision-making,” and declared that scientific policy decisions must be “based on facts, not ideology,” Obama has set the tone for his adminisitration’s approach.
Backing words with action, his first week in office saw an order to the EPA to review California’s application to regulate greenhouse gases, which had been rejected by Bush, and an order to the DOT to implement the fuel efficiency standards passed last year, which were never put into place by Bush’s transportation department.
Obama has overturned Bush’s 2001 order banning new stem cell lines, and $500 million will go towards green job training from the stimulus as part of a plan to get 25% of our energy from renewable resources by 2025.
While some are questioning the president’s ability to fix the economy and make a commitment to increasing funding for scientific research, I’m optimistic this kind of investment will pay off many times over. I’m still holding out hope for a “Manhattan Project” for solar energy.
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