St. Helena – Today, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04) blasted unelected billionaire Elon Musk for ordering the Department of Agriculture to waste a decade of research by abruptly firing two smoke exposure researchers at UC Davis, leaving the largest wine producing region without anyone to continue this important research.
“When wildfires rip through our communities, smoke exposure can destroy millions of dollars of grapes. That’s why I lead a bipartisan group of members every year to secure federal research funds at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service to fund smoke exposure research,” said Thompson. “A better understanding and faster detection process for identifying grapes exposed to smoke is critical for growers’ ability to limit their losses after a fire.
“In firing the only two smoke exposure researchers in our region, Elon Musk and his Republican enablers are not only throwing out a decade of research progress, they are making it harder for our agriculture producers to recover after wildfires strike. The only waste, fraud, and abuse here is that losing this research is a waste, Musk is a government efficiency fraud, and our growers are being abused by this non-transparent process to cripple critical federal services.”
BACKGROUND
In the FY24 appropriations bill, Congressman Thompson secured $5 million in funding for ongoing work in the Mitigating the Adverse Consequences of Wildfire Smoke of Wine Grapes program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, this research is now halted by these firings. It would allow industry representatives to collaborate with land grant university researchers in West Coast states to research what causes the grapes to be damaged by smoke and how to best mitigate this damage. This research would provide for better testing and prediction of risk, thereby reducing the uncertainty for producers in fire-prone areas.
In addition, in 2023, Congressman Thompson helped secure $1.2 million for the University of California, Davis, to conduct smoke exposure research. The funding was to purchase two pieces of equipment that are essential for grape smoke exposure research. Congressman Thompson secured this funding in the 2023 appropriations government funding bill.
In an Executive Order entitled “Implementing The President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative,” President Trump directed Agencies to significantly reduce the number of federal workers. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is working with government departments and agencies to remove staff and cut federal services.
