Four years after it was removed by the Trump Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has relaunched its Climate Change website. The move is the latest one by the Biden-Harris Administration to show that addressing the unfolding climate crisis is a priority for the United States of America.
Back in 2017 – just days after Trump was sworn in – rumors began to circulate that the then-president had requested for the EPA climate change page to be deleted, just as any reference to climate change was removed from the White House website. This was dismissed by official sources, saying the administration was simply reviewing the content.
In April of that year, the website was gone. A report showed that across the first two years of the administration, the number of government pages mentioning climate change decreased by 25 percent. In most cases, the references to climate change were simply removed from the pages – but 136 pages were deleted altogether. That included the original 43 pages from the EPA website.
“Climate facts are back on EPA's website where they should be,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a press statement. “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. Trustworthy, science-based information is at the foundation of strong, achievable solutions.”
An interim climate report by the United Nations has recently shown that the world is nowhere close to slowing down the climate emergency, something that wasn’t helped by Trump taking the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Among his first acts as President, Joe Biden got the US back into the climate accords, as well as signing several executive orders to support the environment and protecting the integrity of scientific research.
With the new website, the EPA hopes to provide a "trustworthy, accurate public resource on climate change issues and solutions.” The agency plan to expand the website significantly in the coming months explaining what they are doing and what role we can all play in the fight against climate change.
“Confronting climate change isn't about sacrifice. It's about opportunity – the biggest one we have to build a better future,” Regan stated in a video showing on the revamped website.
Regan became the 16th head of Environmental Protection Agency after being confirmed by the Senate on March 11. He is the first Black man to lead the agency in its 50-year history.
