Latest news with #U.S.GlobalChangeResearchProgram
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Local activists undeterred after report shows Trump administration removed environmental data
A new report shows how environmental information has been deleted since President Donald Trump was inaugurated, but local activists refuse to let the changes impact how they operate. 'With every stroke of the pen and deletion, Trump can try to eliminate environmental and climate justice from his administration, but he won't erase our communities,' Ashley Williams, executive director of Just Transition Northwest Indiana, said in a statement. 'We are a testament that the fight will continue because everyone should have access to a clean, healthy environment and a better quality of life.' The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative released a 55-page report detailing how the Trump administration has altered the availability of environmental information in the last six months. Information about environmental justice and climate change have disappeared from federal websites, according to the organization. 'The pace and severity of this administration's attacks on environmental information in its first six months have been far worse than in the first Trump administration,' Izzy Pacenza, lead author of the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative study, said in a news release. The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative's website governance team monitored more than 4,000 federal environmental pages to find changes for the report. According to its data, the organization found 70% more website changes in Trump's first 100 days in office in 2025 compared to during his first term in 2017. The organization is monitoring 20% of the webpages it tracked for changes during the first Trump administration. Information about climate change has been altered and removed, including from the U.S. Global Change Research Program website and informational resources from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website. Climate change information remains 'virtually unaltered' on the Environmental Protection Agency's website, according to the report. 'The Trump administration's changes to public information are part of a broader agenda to reshape the form and function of the federal government,' according to the report. Changes relating to environmental justice and diversity, equity and inclusion have been made most frequently, according to the report. Information about environmental racism has been 'entirely excised' from federal websites, according to the report. Environmental racism is the intentional pollution and waste facilities in communities primarily made up of people of color, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Those communities are disproportionately exposed to fumes, toxic dust, ash, soot and other pollutants, according to the NRDC. Gary was one of the communities visited by EPA officials in 2022 due to its history of heavy industry and proximity to five Superfund sites. At the time, residents were encouraged to keep tabs on environmental data. Removing language about environmental racism denies facts and generates misinformation, as well as undermines the collective ability to address issues. 'Trustworthy information is critical for a functioning democracy,' Gretchen Gehrke, study lead author, said in a news release. 'These removals reflect a broad deregulatory agenda by this administration to disavow the intersecting issues of environmental justice and climate change.' Carolyn McCrady, member of Gary Advocates for Responsible Development, responded to the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative Study's findings, calling federal cuts relentless, ruthless and lawless, especially for communities of color. 'While (they are) depriving organizations, cities and states of the funds needed to repair environmental damage, they are also destroying the laws that provided protection since the inception of the EPA,' McCrady said in a text. 'But the assault will only strengthen the resolve of people to fight to protect and preserve the very foundation of life in these targeted communities. No one is giving up.' Earlier this year, in Indiana, Gov. Mike Braun signed two executive orders that target the environment, including one to make state regulations consistent with national ones and one prohibiting the use of the phrase 'environmental justice' in permitting, enforcement and grant decisions. '…the concept of 'environmental justice' has become increasingly politicized and has often led to the introduction of subjective, non-scientific factors into environmental policy and regulation…' according to one executive order. Northwest Indiana activists previously told the Post-Tribune that Braun's executive orders were concerning, and targeting environmental justice would be harmful for the public health and wellbeing of region communities. In July, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a plan to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding at an Indianapolis auto dealership, which Braun and other Indiana officials supported in person. The 2009 Endangerment Finding found six greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare of current and future generations. The American Lung Association announced in April that Hoosiers are breathing some of the nation's most polluted air in its 'State of the Air' report. The Indianapolis metro area ranked at the 54th worst in the nation for ozone pollution and 21st worst for particle pollution. In Northwest Indiana, the American Lung Association gave Lake County failing grades in three categories: ozone pollution, 24-hour particle pollution and annual particle pollution. Porter County only received a passing grade for annual particle pollution. Ozone and particle pollution can cause premature death and other health effects, including asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, preterm birth and impaired cognitive function, according to the American Lung Association. The organization also found particle pollution can cause lung cancer. 'Indiana ranks as the worst state for pollution,' Williams said. 'Northwest Indiana is the epicenter of these emissions. This reality is getting worse with each rollback, each attack on those most vulnerable.'
Los Angeles Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Energy secretary says Trump administration may alter past National Climate Assessments
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said this week the Trump administration plans to review and potentially alter the nation's climate science reports. In a Tuesday appearance on CNN's The Source, Wright told CNN host Kaitlan Collins the National Climate Assessments have been removed from government websites 'because we're reviewing them.' 'We will come out with updated reports on those and with comments on those,' Wright said. The National Climate Assessments are mandated by Congress and have been released five times since 2000. The federal reports, prepared by hundreds of volunteer scientists, are subject to extensive peer review and provide detail on how climate change is affecting each region of the United States so far, plus the latest scientific forecasts. Wright accused the previous reports of being politically biased, stating that they 'are not fair assessments of the data.' 'When you get into departments and look at stuff that's there and you find stuff that's objectionable, you want to fix it,' he said. His statements came after the Trump administration in April dismissed more than 400 experts who had already started work on the sixth National Climate Assessment, due for publication in late 2027 or early 2028. The administration in July also removed the website of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which housed the reports. The move marks the latest escalation in the Trump administration's efforts to downplay climate science. The president and Department of Energy in recent months have championed fossil fuel production and slashed funding and incentives for renewable energy projects. This week, the DOE posted an image of coal on the social media site X alongside the words, 'She's an icon, she's a legend, and she is the moment.' Meanwhile, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed looser regulations for polluting sectors such as power plants and vehicles. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin in March proclaimed the administration was 'driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion.' In his CNN appearance, Wright said the previous climate change assessments — including the 2018 report prepared during Trump's first term — were not 'a reasonable representation of broad climate science.' 'They have been more politically driven to hype up a real issue, but an issue that's just nowhere near the world's greatest challenge,' he said of climate change. 'Nobody's who's a credible economist or scientist believes that it is, except a few activists and alarmists.' Environmental experts were concerned by Wright's comments. 'Secretary Wright just confirmed our worst fears — that this administration plans to not just bury the scientific evidence but replace it with outright lies to downplay the worsening climate crisis and evade responsibility for addressing it,' said Rachel Cleetus, policy director for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, who was among the authors dismissed by the administration. 'This is one more alarming example of the Trump administration's ongoing and highly-politicized effort to obfuscate scientific truth to further its dangerous and deadly pro-fossil fuel agenda,' Cleetus said. The DOE last week also released its own climate report, commissioned by Wright, that questions the severity of climate change. 'Both models and experience suggest that [carbon dioxide]-induced warming might be less damaging economically than commonly believed, and excessively aggressive mitigation policies could prove more detrimental than beneficial,' the report says. Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, noted in a post on X that the previous National Climate Assessments were authored by hundreds of scientists who were leading domain experts in their fields. 'This would mark an extraordinary, unprecedented, and alarming level of interference in what has historically been a fair and systematic process,' Swain said of the possibility that previous reports could be altered. The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Hindu
03-07-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
Websites hosting major U.S. climate reports taken down
Websites that displayed legally mandated U.S. national climate assessments seem to have disappeared, making it harder for state and local governments and the public to learn what to expect in their backyards from a warming world. Scientists said the peer-reviewed authoritative reports save money and lives. Websites for the national assessments and the U.S. Global Change Research Program were down Monday and Tuesday with no links, notes or referrals elsewhere. The White House, which was responsible for the assessments, said the information will be housed within NASA to comply with the law, but gave no further details. Searches for the assessments on NASA websites did not turn them up. NASA did not respond to requests for information. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which coordinated the information in the assessments, did not respond to repeated inquiries. "It's critical for decision makers across the country to know what the science in the National Climate Assessment is. That is the most reliable and well-reviewed source of information about climate that exists for the United States," said University of Arizona climate scientist Kathy Jacobs, who coordinated the 2014 version of the report. 'It's a sad day for the United States if it is true that the National Climate Assessment is no longer available," Jacobs said. "This is evidence of serious tampering with the facts and with people's access to information, and it actually may increase the risk of people being harmed by climate-related impacts.' Harvard climate scientist John Holdren, who was President Obama's science advisor and whose office directed the assessments, said after the 2014 edition he visited governors, mayors and other local officials who told him how useful the 841-page report was. It helped them decide whether to raise roads, build seawalls and even move hospital generators from basements to roofs, he said. 'This is a government resource paid for by the taxpayer to provide the information that really is the primary source of information for any city, state or federal agency who's trying to prepare for the impacts of a changing climate,' said Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, who has been a volunteer author for several editions of the report. Copies of past reports are still squirreled away in NOAA's library. NASA's open science data repository includes dead links to the assessment site. The most recent report, issued in 2023, included an interactive atlas that zoomed down to the county level. It found that climate change is affecting people's security, health and livelihoods in every corner of the country in different ways, with minority and Native American communities often disproportionately at risk. The 1990 Global Change Research Act requires a national climate assessment every four years and directs the president to establish an interagency United States Global Change Research Program. In the spring, the Trump administration told the volunteer authors of the next climate assessment that their services weren't needed and ended the contract with the private firm that helps coordinate the website and report. Additionally, NOAA's main website was recently forwarded to a different NOAA website. Social media and blogs at NOAA and NASA about climate impacts for the general public were cut or eliminated. 'It's part of a horrifying big picture,' Holdren said. 'It's just an appalling whole demolition of science infrastructure.' The national assessments are more useful than international climate reports put out by the United Nations every seven or so years because they are more localised and more detailed, Hayhoe and Jacobs said. The national reports are not only peer reviewed by other scientists, but examined for accuracy by the National Academy of Sciences, federal agencies, the staff and the public. Hiding the reports would be censoring science, Jacobs said. And it's dangerous for the country, Hayhoe said, comparing it to steering a car on a curving road by only looking through the rearview mirror: "And now, more than ever, we need to be looking ahead to do everything it takes to make it around that curve safely. It's like our windshield's being painted over.'
Los Angeles Times
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Letters to the Editor: Trump's suppression of climate change science will have devastating long-term effects
To the editor: Of all the elements of the current administration that concern me, I find the most pernicious to be the push to suppress objective science regarding climate change ('Trump administration shuts down U.S. website on climate change,' July 1). From the scrubbing of any mention of climate change from countless government websites to draconian cuts to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA research budgets to the summary dismissal in April of more than 400 experts preparing a congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment report — and to this latest closure of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's website — President Trump doesn't just stop at modifying near-term energy policies. He chooses instead to bury the very data that we need to inform our long-term strategies for protecting our planet and ensuring that it will be a habitable home for our children and grandchildren. We need to demand that our Congress push back on this and ensure that objective science data continues to guide our national climate policy. Chad Edwards, Altadena
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Trump administration shutters major federal climate website
A major federal climate website has been shut down by the Trump administration, multiple agencies have confirmed with ABC News. The website of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which hosts numerous climate change reports and resources, including the comprehensive and often cited National Climate Assessments, is no longer operational, according to a NASA spokesperson. MORE: Hurricane season is here and meteorologists are losing a vital tool for forecasting them The U.S. Global Change Research Program's website was taken offline, along with all five editions of the National Climate Assessment and a wide range of information detailing how human-amplified climate change is impacting the United States. Although the National Climate Assessment is required by Congress, in April, the Trump administration announced it was canceling funding for the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which coordinates the federally mandated report that's published every four years. All the authors working on the upcoming Sixth National Climate Assessment, set for release in 2028, were also dismissed. The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), comprising 15 federal member agencies, was managed by the White House through the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. NASA will now take over, Victoria LaCivita, communications director at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told ABC News. "All preexisting reports will be hosted on the NASA website, ensuring compliance with statutorily required reporting," LaCivita said, referring ABC News to NASA for more information. A NASA spokesperson wrote in response to an ABC News inquiry, "The USCGRP website is no longer active. All preexisting reports will be hosted on the NASA website, ensuring continuity of reporting." Since mid-April, a small yellow banner has appeared at the top of the U.S. Global Change Research Program homepage, informing visitors that: "The operations and structure of the USGCRP are currently under review." The Internet Archive has not recorded the website as being active since Monday morning. The Fifth National Climate Assessment, a breakdown of the latest in climate science coming from 14 different federal agencies released in November 2023, is the most recent version of these reports and provides a detailed, peer-reviewed snapshot of climate change's present and future impacts in the U.S., along with recommendations for adaptation and mitigation strategies. In addition, the U.S. Global Change Research Program site provided a wide range of educational resources, including interactive webpages, videos and podcasts that explained the far-reaching impacts of climate change in an easy-to-understand manner, even for the public. For example, late last year, a first-of-its-kind interagency website on sea level rise was launched by the U.S. Interagency Task Force on Sea Level Change and hosted on the domain. For the first time, the public had access to a centralized, comprehensive online resource offering the latest research on sea level change, along with an interactive database that allowed users to explore how sea levels have changed over recent decades. As of Tuesday, references to the Fifth National Climate Assessment and various climate change impacts could still be found on other government websites, such as those of the USDA and EPA. And all of the National Climate Assessments remained available for public download, archived in NOAA's Institutional Repository (IR). MORE: USDA orders removal of climate change mentions from public websites Last week, NOAA announced that another federal climate-focused website, was also being shut down, saying, "In compliance with Executive Order 14303, 'Restoring Gold Standard Science,' NOAA is relocating all research products from to in an effort to centralize and consolidate resources." The agency wrote that future research products previously housed on the climate-focused website will now be under the domain and its affiliated websites. The agency posted its final updates to and its related social media account on Friday. Although much of this information may end up on various other federal agency websites, many climate scientists are voicing their concern and disappointment, stating that these actions are making it more challenging to find climate change information. Craig McLean, former assistant administrator of NOAA research, told ABC News that these decisions "create a gap in both the availability of and the opportunity to use valuable information that is essential to everyday life for the public and decision-makers alike." Haley Crim, a former NOAA employee who worked at the agency's Climate Program Office, said in a Bluesky post, "The National Climate Assessment, and all special reports and past assessments, are now offline. Federal climate science is being systematically erased." MORE: USDA orders removal of climate change mentions from public websites Crim elaborated that this is "not an organized attack like what happened with the DEI executive order. It's the culmination of expired contracts, decisions about individual products, lack of staffing and resources, and refusal to protect climate information.' "Every day is a trainwreck for climate science. Stay aware of what is happening, and speak out!" wrote Zach Labe, a former NOAA climate scientist who now works at Climate Central, in a recent Bluesky post. He said he had saved documents in advance of the rumors that the USGCRP program was being targeted. As of this writing, NASA has not provided any details on when and where the reports will be available again or if the new assessment will proceed.
