The Trump Administration has been quietly removing content from federal websites — here's the before and after by Hilary Brueck on Jan 11, 2018, 10:54 AM Advertisement
 The Trump Administration is quietly changing things on .gov websites — and a group of academics and non-profits is keeping track. The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI) released a new report on Wednesday that details how references to our changing climate and greenhouse gases have been erased from federal webpages since President Donald Trump took office. But new side-by-side comparisons from EDGI provide a kind of virtual trip back in time to the web before Trump took office, shedding light on the subtle ways that the administration is making it harder to track down information about climate change and alternative energy sources online. However, the group also said that climate research and data does not seem to be getting totally scrapped from online government archives, and federally funded reporting on climate change continues. In November, the administration signed off on a report from federal scientists saying that "there is no convincing alternative explanation" for the "continuing, rapid, human-caused warming of the global atmosphere and ocean." Nonetheless, these snapshots reveal what's missing from the updated federal websites: SEE ALSO: The Trump administration is removing Florida from its offshore drilling plan because the state is 'obviously unique' — and other coastal states are furious Some of the changes on the web mirror federal policy shifts since Trump took office. For example, The Bureau of Land Management says 'clean and renewable energy' isn't a priority anymore.  The BLM website used to say that the agency was focused on "energy for today and tomorrow" and "leading the way in allowing for orderly, environmentally responsible development" of sun, wind, and geothermal energy sources. You can see the old page here, thanks to the Wayback Machine. Today, the same page says the US favors an "all of the above" energy approach: "The BLM supports the America First Energy Plan, which includes oil and gas, coal, strategic minerals, and renewable energy resources such as wind, geothermal and solar," the website reads. The top priority listed on the BLM website now is "making America safe through energy independence."
Some content has been completely scrapped from official sites. This old part of the Environmental Protection Agency's website no longer exists:  The deleted content isn't just educational. Vital information that state officials and experts could use to respond to flooding, hurricanes, and other natural disasters is no longer easily accessible on the web, EDGI says. For example, plans the EPA drew up for "climate change adaptation" — including advice about how to prepare for flooding and get protection from toxic chemical exposure —are much harder to find now. Most of these things are still available on archived federal pages. (You can access the old version of the page shown above here.) But not everything is still in those records.
Some educational materials have been taken down completely, like this old EPA page for kids:  "Of all agencies, the EPA has removed the most climate web content," the EDGI report says.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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