What’s Going on at EPA.gov with the Trump Administration?

What’s going on at epa.gov?

 

While working as a science education writer, I generated scores of lessons for kids and teachers. Occasionally, I referred readers to a website for more information.

Respecting the industry norm, I would generally identify a .gov or .edu site—the conventional wisdom being that these sites, unlike .com sites, would have accurate information and no advertising. The “no advertising” part of the rationale is still probably true. The “accurate information” part, not so sure…

…at least as it relates to some sites on some topics.

Specifically the website of the Environmental Protection Agency.

See the image above? That’s what you‘ll find when you go to epa.gov/climatechange.

A year and a half after Trump took office: Nothing.

This administration’s fleeting relationship with the truth is well known. Mr. Trump and Administrator Pruitt’s anti-science attitudes are infamous. But censorship? That’s another matter altogether.

In the March 8 issue of Time Magazine, Laginee Barron writes, “Throughout the Trump administration’s first year in office, the Environmental Protection Agency has been quietly scrubbing mentions of climate change and tweaking related language on its website.”

Government censorship. That’s what we’re talking about.

Here’s just one of the consequences:

Suppose you’re a science teacher in say, Montana, or any state. You assign your students to find out what the EPA is doing to address climate change in your state. Eagerly, they point their browsers to epa.gov/climatechange.

Before Trump’s inauguration, they would find “A Student’s Guide to Global Climate Change” at the site — a colorful page with links to activities and content on the topic. Not today.

Today they would find an alarming-looking screen and links to archived information. Thinking that old information may be better than no information, your students might click on the link to the “EPA’s snapshot website as of January 19, 2017.” There, they’ll find a scary red banner announcing that the site is not current, but reflects the website as it existed the day Donald Trump was inaugurated.

Below the banner is what looks like a normal landing page. Seeing it is eerie — like seeing the past masquerading as the present.

Imagining myself a curious middle or high school student, I enter “climate change” in the search window. In a second, links to 11,000 documents appear.

Adding “Montana” as a filter, reduces the links to 1,160. Eventually, I find a link to an article with relevant information. I click on the link and find bright images and content. So alluring are they that I have to stop and remind myself of the truth: the information is outdated, not reliable. A figment. A ghost. I would have to look somewhere else.

Would I find current information elsewhere? Of course. That’s not the point. That I would have to look somewhere other than a .gov site, that I could not rely on a .gov site — that is the point.

Turning the EPA into a politically-driven entity is chilling. Censoring information about a topic more than 95% of the world’s scientists agree upon is not forgivable. Using a .gov website to thwart access to accurate, up-to-date information is a travesty.

We may be in bigger trouble than we thought.

14 thoughts on “What’s Going on at EPA.gov with the Trump Administration?”

  1. I’m sure that there is much information which is denied the general public, or is made harder to find. We must never forget the value of a free press and the need for easy access to information.

  2. Good point. Shining a light on the fact that censorship is in process is not something that has grabbed my attention given the myriad of political transgressions that have permeated the news otherwise. With the governant’s intrusion at this level, the disease of this administration spreads at a more insidious pace.

  3. Good point. Shining a light on the fact that censorship is in process is not something that has grabbed my attention given the myriad of political transgressions that have permeated the news otherwise. With the governant’s intrusion at this level, the disease of this administration spreads at a more insidious pace.

  5. We are unquestionably in great peril, the effort to curtail the access to and flow of information about climate change reaches across executive branch departments and agencies…

    For example, Zinke at Interior instructed Park Service rangers and scientists in Glacier National Park not to meet with reporters working on a story about climate change…News reports point to suspended programs dealing with climate change at the Department of Agriculture…and on and on…

    Trump’s world view, or lack of one, permeates the leadership and direction of these government departments…Hopefully, their influence is of limited duration…

  6. Chilling, indeed. What’s next? Deleting any mention of evolution on the National Science Foundation website because it might offend Creationists?

    2. Thanks for the story! What a good idea to actually try using the site. It’s an appalling state of affairs.

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