Screenshot of the EPA Climate Change website, which was relaunched on 17 March 2021 after President Biden reversed the antiscience policies of the Trump administration. Graphic: EPA
Screenshot of the EPA Climate Change website, which was relaunched on 17 March 2021 after President Biden reversed the antiscience policies of the Trump administration. Graphic: EPA

By Richard Luscombe
20 March 2021

(The Guardian) – Canceled four years ago by a president who considered global warming a hoax, climate crisis information has returned to the website of the US government’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of Joe Biden’s promise to “bring science back”.

The revival of a page dedicated to the climate emergency reverses Donald Trump’s order in 2017 to drop all references to it from government websites, and prioritises the Biden administration’s pledge to “organize and deploy the full capacity of its agencies to combat the climate crisis”.

In a statement, Michael Regan, confirmed by the US Senate last week as the federal agency’s new head, said: “Climate facts are back on the EPA’s website where they should be. Considering the urgency of this crisis, it’s critical that Americans have access to information and resources so that we can all play a role in protecting our environment, our health, and vulnerable communities.”

As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to action on climate change and restoring science, EPA is taking the first step in a relaunch of its climate change website. In the weeks and months to come, EPA will be adding new, updated information on climate change science, impacts, what EPA is doing and what you can do, providing a trustworthy, accurate public resource on climate change issues and solutions. Video: EPA

Trump’s decision to drop the EPA’s climate informational page was just one of many controversial moves that angered environmentalists during his single term of office. He pulled the US out of the Paris climate agreement, rolled back countless environmental regulations and protections, and appointed a scandal-ridden climate change denier, Scott Pruitt, to lead the EPA.

Analysts, however, considered the Orwellian removal from the world wide web of scientifically accepted climate data and information to be especially heinous.

In a Guardian article last October, Michael Mann, one of the world’s most eminent climate experts, likened the following month’s presidential election to “a Tolkienesque battle between good and evil” and said Trump’s re-election would have made it “essentially impossible” to avert a global climate catastrophe.

The EPA’s climate change page relaunched on Thursday, featuring a prominent graphic stating that the agency “is restoring the role of science” in addressing the emergency. “Trustworthy, science-based information is at the foundation of strong, achievable solutions,” Regan said. [more]

‘Climate facts are back’: EPA brings science back to website after Trump purge