Donald Trump is not pulling any punches when it comes his apparent disbelief in climate change, as the president reportedly told the Environmental Protection Agency to remove its climate change page from its website. The Donald has had a complicated history with the subject, as he has flip-flopped on it (of course), going as far as to call it a hoax conducted by China.
The order reportedly came on Tuesday, as two agency employees notified Reuters. The EPA’s climate change page contains links to information about scientific global warming research, along with data on carbon dioxide emissions. An EPA staffer said the action could have ramifications that could be felt for years saying: “If the website goes dark, years of work we have done on climate change will disappear.”
Trump’s battle against climate change has been brewing for some time. He once called it a Chinese hoax to affect U.S. manufacturing, which China denied. And his appointment of Scott Pruitt to EPA head, someone who had sued the organization several times as an attorney general, only meant there was an uphill battle ahead. But the latest move looks to be a concerted effort to curb global warming research. Trump may be playing hardball to get it done, as he has put a freeze on several EPA grants and contracts to states, which CNN reported may be more than a budget cut:
“A “wish list” for the EPA targets regulations such as those carbon emission rules that limit the amount of greenhouse gases allowed from power plants, and chopping $193 million in climate programs. The plan further calls for a change in how the EPA uses science, and calls for the agency to stop funding scientific research, over conflicts-of-interest concerns that the regulator should not also be involved with funding the science behind the regulations.”
But the research may not entirely be expunged. Myron Ebell, who helped with the Trump EPA transition, said the pages may go down but feels confident the information and links will still be available.
Although he may be putting a strong hold on government agencies, some are fighting back. Some National Park Services Twitter accounts got into some hot water after trolling Trump for his inauguration size, but they are not done yet, as they went rogue and tweeted out several climate change facts after being told to stop. Push back is definitely happening, though it may not last long.