> On Monday, news broke that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now barred from communicating with the public

No, an "an internal email sent to staff at [the USDA's] Agricultural Research Service unit this week calling for a suspension of 'public-facing documents, including news releases and photos, WAS FLAWED AND...NEW GUIDANCE WOULD BE ISSUED TO REPLACE IT" [1] (emphasis mine).

From what I can tell, Popular Science got this drivel from this Buzzfeed article [2].

EDIT: Pardon me, got the EPA and USDA confused.

[1] http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-usda-idUSKBN1582...

[2] https://www.buzzfeed.com/dinograndoni/trump-usda?utm_term=.q...