EPA to change website to match Trump administration policy
— -- The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday night that its website will be updated to match the Trump administration's views on issues like climate change and specific policies like the Clean Power Plan.
The climate change website used to house extensive information on climate science and efforts to combat climate change.
But if you search for that info on the current EPA website it directs you to a page that says "this site is being updated" with a link to a version of the site archived on January 19.
Scientists, activists and journalists have been working to preserve information from the EPA and other agency websites amid concerns that research and data could be taken down. Reports began circulating earlier this week that the agency would shut down its website that provides access to raw data this weekend, but the EPA tweeted that the site will stay up.
The original climate change page on the EPA website featured weather data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration, graphics showing the impact of climate change on different parts of the country and information on what the EPA and individuals can do to combat climate change.
The EPA said in a press release that the site was outdated and no longer in line with administration policy, though it will follow the procedures to archive information on the site.
"As EPA renews its commitment to human health and clean air, land, and water, our website needs to reflect the views of the leadership of the agency," EPA spokesman J.P. Freire said in a statement.
The statement said that policy-related pages like the Clean Power Plan would be changed first, but in regards to information about climate change said only that "content related to climate and regulation is also under review."
Information on the EPA's website has been used to call out inconsistent statements made by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who has said that he had doubt that carbon dioxide emitted by human activity was a primary cause of climate change.
