The Environmental Protection Agency has removed references to fossil fuels, the main cause of global warming, from a popular online page explaining the causes of climate change. Scientists currently only refer to natural phenomena, even though they have calculated that almost all of the warming is due to human activity.
In the past few days and weeks, the EPA has changed some, but not all, of its climate change webpages, de-emphasizing and even removing references to the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, which scientists say is by far the cause of climate change. The website mentions changes in the Earth’s orbit, solar activity, Earth’s reflectivity, volcanoes, and natural carbon dioxide changes, but does not mention the burning of fossil fuels. Seven scientists and three former EPA officials told The Associated Press that this is misleading and harmful.
“It’s completely wrong now,” said University of California climate scientist Daniel Swain, noting that the climate change impacts, risks and indicators on the EPA site are now broken links. “We knew this was a tool that a lot of educators and a lot of people were using. In fact, it was one of the most well-designed and easily accessible climate change information websites in the United States.”
Earlier this year, the Trump administration removed the country’s climate assessment from government websites.
“It’s outrageous that our government is withholding information and lying,” said Jane Lubchenco, a former Obama National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration administrator and oceanographer from Oregon. “People have a right to know the truth about matters that affect their health and safety, and governments have a responsibility to tell the truth.”
The same EPA page, saved by the Internet’s wayback machine, states: “Since the Industrial Revolution, large amounts of carbon dioxide and other substances have been released into the atmosphere, changing the Earth’s climate. Natural phenomena, such as changes in solar energy and volcanic eruptions, also affect the Earth’s climate. But they do not explain the warming we have observed over the past century.”
“Natural processes have always influenced the Earth’s climate and can explain climate change before the industrial revolution of the 1700s. However, recent climate change cannot be explained by natural causes alone.”
“Unlike the previous administration, the Trump EPA is not focused on left-wing political objectives, but rather on promoting the restoration of American greatness while protecting human health and the environment,” EPA spokeswoman Bridget Hirsch said in an email. “As such, this agency will no longer take marching orders from the climate change cult. Additionally, for all the pearl clutchers out there, the website is archived and available to the public.”
When you click (Explore Climate Change Resources) in EPA, you receive an error message that says, “This XML file does not appear to have style information associated with it.”
“We can refuse to talk about this issue, but that doesn’t make it go away. We’re seeing it. Everyone’s seeing it,” said former Republican Gov. Christy Todd Whitman, who served as EPA administrator under George W. Bush.
“Frankly, we look ridiculous,” Whitman said in an interview with The Associated Press. “The rest of the world understands this is happening and is taking steps…and we’re just going backwards. We’re pushing ourselves back into the Stone Age.”
Democratic EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy accused current EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin of being “a wolf in sheep’s clothing, actively provoking attempts to protect our health, welfare, and precious natural resources.”
According to Swain and other scientists, nearly 100% of the warming the world is currently experiencing is due to human activity, without which temperatures would have declined until the Industrial Revolution. The EPA said natural causes “may be causing negligible warming or cooling at this time.”
Marcia McNutt, a geophysicist and president of the National Academy of Sciences, said there is consensus among experts at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) about the causes of climate change.
“Numerous NASEMs have confirmed that the climate is changing as a result of human activity,” McNutt said. “The Environmental Protection Agency recognizes that natural causes alone cannot explain current climate change. It is important that the public is informed with all the facts.”
“Ignoring fossil fuel pollution as a driver of the climate change we’ve been experiencing is like pretending that cigarettes don’t cause lung cancer,” said Jeremy Simmons, a former EPA climate adviser and current senior adviser to the Environmental Protection Network, a group of former EPA employees.
Borenstein writes for The Associated Press. Michael Phillis contributed to this report.
