A Pulitzer Prize-winning news site claims the Trump administration scrubbed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) website of content identifying “carbon pollution” as the cause global warming.
InsideClimate News, the outlet known for its reporting on ExxonMobil’s global warming stance, tweeted:
Scrubbed EPA website no longer mentions carbon pollution as a cause of climate change. https://t.co/ztIG1Znp3M
— InsideClimate News (@insideclimate) February 3, 2017
Link between CO2 & climate change has been scrubbed from EPA's website, other climate "propaganda" in the crosshairs https://t.co/ztIG1Znp3M
— InsideClimate News (@insideclimate) February 4, 2017
Well, that’s not true.
The revamped EPA website has an entire section on climate change, discussing its causes and projected future impacts. In fact, the website explicitly says “human activities have contributed substantially to climate change by adding CO2 and other heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere.”
“These greenhouse gas emissions have increased the greenhouse effect and caused Earth’s surface temperature to rise,” reads EPA website. “The primary human activity affecting the amount and rate of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.”
While the website doesn’t explicitly say “carbon pollution” — a frequently used Obama administration talking point, and also not a scientific term — it has an entire section on carbon dioxide’s impact on the climate.
So, what could InsideClimate News referring to? The news site reprinted an article by Climate Central, amplifying concerns of environmental activists that the EPA’s new website no longer mentions former President Obama’s “Climate Action Plan,” including a single reference to “carbon pollution.”
Climate Central reported “the partnerships page also no longer mentions carbon pollution as a cause of climate change,” and that “[r]emoving the commitment to the United Nations process also came with removing a statement linking greenhouse gas emissions to climate change.”
Climate Central’s report is really only about one part of EPA.gov that went from being called “Federal Partner Collaboration” to “EPA Adaptation Collaboration.” There’s still plenty of talk about global warming and its human component on the EPA’s website.
But you wouldn’t get that impression based on InsideClimate’s tweet.
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