WASHINGTON — The latest sign the U.S. government is back in the fight against climate change? The EPA just resurrected a website chock full of data, background and science about global warming that the Trump administration had deleted.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s dedicated climate change portal had gone dormant under Trump, though some information and data were still maintained across other EPA web pages. Now, the climate page is back, complete with the proclamation “An EPA Priority” at the top and links to emissions data, efficiency program info and other climate resources.
“Climate facts are back on EPA’s website where they should be,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in an emailed statement.
Regan cast the website’s revival as part of a broader effort to ensure EPA decisions are grounded in sound science. “Trustworthy, science-based information is at the foundation of strong, achievable solutions,” he said.
Under Trump, some information about climate change vanished from federal government websites altogether, with other resources ultimately rewritten as part of the former administration’s shift in focus toward cultivating U.S. oil, gas and coal development. The revisions even prompted government scientists and researchers to frantically copy climate data from websites, for fear they’d be purged.
