I think it's also important to point out that public sector science is terribly underfunded and so vulnerable to political fuckery, i.e. a newly-elected or appointed official taking drastic measures to cut off publicly funded research in ways that just be happen to make it easier for corporations to get away with pollution. In all the publicly funded labs I worked for, it was a nightmare to procure new but necessary equipment/gear because of 1) not enough funding and 2) bureaucratic BS that's so clearly just a way to reduce how much money/support is being doled out, no different than other forms of means testing.