The Trump administration begun the process of removing the climate change page from the website of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tuesday, according to two sources at the organization. This is the latest move in what is seen by some as a campaign to silence dissenting voices on the environment and climate change.Here's what you need to know:
- Sources at the EPA speaking to Reuters said they expect the page could be removed as early as Wednesday, and that administration officials had informed the EPA's communications team to remove the website's climate change page. The page, which remains online at the time of publication, contains links to scientific research on global warming, as well as detailed data on emissions.
- "If the website goes dark, years of work we have done on climate change will disappear," one of the EPA staffers told Reuters. Some employees of the agency are attempting to convince the administration not to press ahead with their plans, but there are contingency efforts underway to save any data being removed.
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- Even before Trump's inauguration, a group of scientists were working on ways of safeguarding all the data contained on the EPA's site, as well as on others. Dozens of hackers, scientists and librarians came together last week to try and archive as much of the data contained on a wide range of government websites as possible.
- The latest move by the Trump administration is part of a sweeping round of gag orders placed on multiple agencies related to science and the environment, with the apparent intention of quieting dissenting voices opposed to Trump's own opinions on climate change.
- Employees at the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and Human Services and the EPA are all reportedly banned from making any public statements, talking to the press, releasing any new research and in some cases even posting to social media accounts. The Department of the Interior, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Energy have all halted or put the brakes on their social media output. Staff at the National Institute of Health were "directed not to send any correspondence to public officials" — including members of Congress.
- A Buzzfeed report suggested that the ban also extended to the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) at the Department of Agriculture, after an email sent by chief of staff told employees that the agency "will not release any public-facing documents." However the USDA subsequently said the email was "released without Departmental direction" and that ARS will be providing updated direction to its staff.