The Environmental Protection Agency, under the direction of the Trump administration, has removed some of its language noting that climate change is driven by human burning of fossil fuels.
Information noting that humans are the drivers of climate change has been deleted from one of the agency’s webpages titled “Causes of Climate Change” and from another tracking the impact of global warming in the U.S., according to a New York Times report.
The deletions come amid the Trump administration’s efforts to boost oil, gas, and coal in energy production. The burning of those fuel sources is the primary driver of climate change.
President Donald Trump has been consistently dismissive of climate change, calling it a “hoax” and working to kill fossil fuel regulations while making renewable energy initiatives more difficult. Earlier this year, the president ended a tax credit that incentivized car buyers to purchase electric vehicles.
Rachel Cleetus, the senior policy director for the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told the Times that the EPA is “trying to bury the evidence on human-caused climate change” and called the deletions “part of an ongoing attack on science” by the Trump administration.
Currently, the EPA’s website discussing the causes of climate change only includes natural phenomena—like the Earth’s orbital changes and solar activity—as drivers of climate change.
Two previous sections of the site, “Climate Change Indicators” and “Climate Change Impacts and Analysis,” have been removed completely, according to E&E News.
The Independent has requested comment from the EPA.
An archived version of the EPA’s website from October was clear in its messaging about humans and climate change.
“It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land,” the website said in October.
The current website acknowledges that “recent climate changes cannot be explained by natural causes alone,” but does not describe the other contributing factors.
When questioned about the changes by E&E News, an EPA spokesperson gave a Trump-like response referencing the “climate cult.”
“Unlike the previous administration, the Trump EPA is focused on protecting human health and the environment while Powering the Great American Comeback, not left-wing political agendas,” the spokesperson told the outlet. “As such, this agency no longer takes marching orders from the climate cult.”
Not all of the references to human-induced climate change have been removed, however.
In one section of the agency’s site explaining the “basics of climate science,” there remains information noting that climate change since 1950 has largely been driven by human activity.
“Greenhouse gases come from a variety of human activities, including burning fossil fuels for heat and energy, clearing forests, fertilizing crops, storing waste in landfills, raising livestock, and producing some kinds of industrial products,” the webpage said as of Monday.
