As mentioned before in a Blasting News article about President Trump's executive order for drilling in Atlantic and Arctic areas, it happened on the eve of the People's Climate Change march which took place over the weekend.
At the same time, the Environmental Protection Agency's website also appeared to take this opportunity to remove all information related to climate change from their site. Their reasoning for this was in order to reflect the approach of the new leadership, which has a more skeptical view of climate change science than mass consensus would convey.
EPA site change creates path for fossil fuel companies
Blasting News reported on an executive order signed by President Trump last month which talked about the EPA director's role in going after climate change science. That article points out that Pruitt was given the power to review former President Obama's Clean Air Act, with the intent to dismantle it. Judging from the details of that order and Scott Pruitt's history in trying to take down the epa entirely, it's likely that the new changes to the website are more proof that the new EPA director is looking to rewrite the EPA's climate science data. The reasons for which many assume to be that they want to empower fossil fuel companies which have been rewriting their own science in order to confuse public opinion and make a better case for their industry.
As a side note, among the many billionaires that Trump has put in cabinet positions, Rex Tillerson, his Secretary of State, was formerly the CEO of Exxon Mobile and one of the companies that has made their own effort to change that data.
Furthering Republican agenda to deny climate change
In January after the inauguration, the White House's official website also made similar changes where they removed any mention of the words climate change which many saw as a foreshadowing of things to come.
Various reports say that environmental groups were dismayed by these changes and said that they were a sad reflection of the administration's priorities. But these aren't just the administration's priorities because, for years, Republicans have been determined to label climate change a hoax and berated the Obama administration for its climate change policies.
Now that Donald Trump is president, they have very little to say about the issue.
With these steps toward removing references to climate change, the administration confirms the fears that environmentalists predicted under a Trump White House. When forced to answer why they would go against climate science, Scott Pruitt said that the administration is still interested in protecting clean air, clean water and reducing pollution, but that they're not going to allow that to prevent job growth and will lift restrictions on those industries that have been known to be mass polluters, so that they can create more jobs. Currently, it is unknown whether Congress will have a final say on the EPA's approach or not.
