EPA website buries youth guide to climate change

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has buried a climate change website aimed at kids, the Washington Post reported, citing a public watchdog group.

Last month, the EPA removed several pages from its website — including those related to climate change — as part of an update to “reflect the agency’s new direction under” President Trump and EPA administrator Scott Pruitt.

{mosads}But a snapshot of the agency’s website during the Obama administration is still available online, and the EPA said pages like those relating to climate change are still “under review.”

The children’s site, “A Student’s Guide to Global Climate Change,” is not available either from the snapshot or through the agency’s home page, according to the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative.

The page, which includes videos and pages targeted toward students, still exists online but is effectively buried on the EPA’s website without any links to it. 

The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative has been looking at changes the Trump administration has been making to public science and environmental sites.

“Overhauling and altering information on a significant part of a federal agency website is a substantial task and, especially when it’s not urgent, the potential harms should be seriously considered and justified,” Toly Rinberg, a member of EDGI’s website tracking committee, told The Post.

“If agencies do alter website information, they should do so carefully and transparently, clarifying to the public what exactly is being altered and the effects it may have.”