A scientistaccused the Trump administration of demoting him for speaking out about climate change and saidhe cannot remain quiet about anadministration that "chooses silence over science."

Joel Clement was the former director of the Interior Department's Office of Policy Analysis underthe Obama administration and advised on Arctic issues. When hewas recently reassigned to work in an "accounting office" atthe agency's Office of Natural Resources and Revenue, Clement published Wednesday.

In his piece, Clement said he believes the reassignment is retaliation for"speaking out publicly about the dangers that climate change poses to Alaska Native communities."

(MORE:)

In 2013, Clement authorized that warned the Arctic is warming faster than any other region on Earth, with impacts including "rapid coastal erosion threatening villages and facilities, loss of wildlife habitat, ecosystem instability ... and unpredictable impacts on subsistence activities and critical social needs."

Clement wrote in the op-ed that he tried to convey the same message to the current administration but was met withreassignment to a position that does not suit his qualifications.

"It is clear to me that the administration was so uncomfortable with this work, and my disclosures, that I was reassigned with the intent to coerce me into leaving the federal government," he wrote.

Clement said he decided to become a whistleblower because "putting citizens in harm’s way isn’t the president’s right."

"Silencing civil servants, stifling science, squandering taxpayer money and spurning communities in the face of imminent danger have never made America great," he added.

On Wednesday, Clement filed a complaint and a disclosure ofinformation with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

"Now that I have filed with the Office of Special Counsel, it is my hope that it will do a thorough investigation into the Interior Department’s actions," he wrote. "Our country protects those who seek to inform others about dangers to American lives. The threat to these Alaska Native communities is not theoretical. This is not a policy debate. Retaliation against me for those disclosures is unlawful."

Clement said Interior Secretarybefore Congress in June that the department would use reassignments as part of its effort to eliminate employees.

"The only reasonable inference from that testimony is that he expects people to quit in response to undesirable transfers. Some of my colleagues are being relocated across the country, at taxpayer expense, to serve in equally ill-fitting jobs," he wrote.

According to Zinke's testimony, the Trump administration plans to eliminate 4,000 jobs in the department.

"To accomplish this, the department will rely on a combination of attrition, reassignmentsand separation incentives. Actual attrition rates and acceptance of separation incentives will determine the need for further action to reduce staffing," Zinke told Congress in his testimony.

"Let’s be honest. The Trump administration didn’t think my years of science and policy experience were better suited to accounts receivable. It sidelined me in the hope that I would be quiet or quit," Clement wrote in his op-ed. "Born and raised in Maine, I was taught to work hard and speak truth to power. Trump and Zinke might kick me out of my office, but they can’t keep me from speaking out. They might refuse to respond to the reality of climate change, but their abuse of power cannot go unanswered."

MORE ON WEATHER.COM:Glaciers Then and Now

Pedersen Glacier is photographed from Aialik Bay in Alaska in 1909. (USGS/ U.S. Grant)