The Trump administration has shut down a federal website that reports show, had presented congressionally mandated reports and research on climate change.
The president’s latest action has drawn rebukes from scientists who said it will hinder the nation’s efforts to prepare for worsening droughts, floods and heat waves.
The U.S. Global Change Research Program’s website, globalchange.gov, was taken down along with all five versions of the National Climate Assessment report and extensive information on how global warming is affecting the country.
“They’re public documents. It’s scientific censorship at its worst,” said Peter Gleick, a California water and climate scientist who was one of the authors of the first National Climate Assessment in 2000. “This is the modern version of book burning.”
The climate reports were required by Congress, and there will still be alternative ways of finding them even without the website, Gleick said. “But this information will be harder and harder for the American public to find.” The White House didn’t immediately provide comments about the removal of the website.
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It will be recalled that In May, Trump signed an executive order saying that his administration is committed to “restoring a gold standard for science to ensure that federally funded research is transparent, rigorous,” and that federal decisions are informed by “the most credible, reliable, and impartial scientific evidence available.”
The president cited an example relating to climate science, saying federal agencies previously used a “worst-case scenario” of warming “based on highly unlikely assumptions.”
The U.S. Global Change Research Program was established under a 1990 law, which also mandated that climate assessments be prepared every four years. In April, however, the Trump administration dismissed hundreds of scientists and other experts who had begun to write the latest National Climate Assessment report.
“This is scientific information that the American taxpayers paid for, and it’s their right to have it,” said Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University who was an author of four previous versions of the climate assessment report. “It’s information that I, as a scientist, can say is absolutely critical to making good decisions for the future, whether you’re a farmer, a homeowner, a business owner, a city manager, or anyone really who wants to ensure a safe and resilient future for themselves and for their children.”
Story was adapted from Los Angeles Times.
