Trump Has Already Erased Climate Change Policies from the White House Website

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Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:50 pm

Remember the days, like this morning, when the White House website worried about climate change?

Those days are over.

It didn’t take long for the Trump administration to take over the White House website and scrub it of icky climate change mentions in favor of “An America First Energy Plan”.

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“Burdensome regulations” (like those that have saved lives?) have to be rolled back, they tell us. “For too long, we’ve been held back by burdensome regulations on our energy industry.”

No more “harmful” Climate Action Plan and Waters of the U.S. Rule, “President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule. Lifting these restrictions will greatly help American workers, increasing wages by more than $30 billion over the next 7 years.”

Trump will “embrace the shale oil and gas revolution” (?) “to bring jobs and prosperity to millions of Americans.”

They claim they will bring back coal, “The Trump Administration is also committed to clean coal technology, and to reviving America’s coal industry, which has been hurting for too long.”

All of this is to say, yes we need to be responsible even as we deny reality, “Lastly, our need for energy must go hand-in-hand with responsible stewardship of the environment. Protecting clean air and clean water, conserving our natural habitats, and preserving our natural reserves and resources will remain a high priority. President Trump will refocus the EPA on its essential mission of protecting our air and water.”

How will they protect clean air and water without regulations? Regulations do cost companies money, but they also save American lives. Without the regulations, there is no incentive but a moral one for companies to not endanger our water and air. And I think we all know morality doesn’t play well with the boards of too many big corporations.

It’s not as if they were drowning in regulations as it was. For instance, Politico reported in 2015, “Oil and gas companies like to assure the public that pipelines are a safer way to ship their products than railroads or trucks. But government data makes clear there is hardly reason to celebrate. Last year, more than 700 pipeline failures killed 19 people, injured 97 and caused more than $300 million in damage. Two of the past five years have been the worst for combined pipeline-related deaths and injuries since 2000.”

Regulations are meant to save lives and protect the planet. Yes they can be “burdensome” but then, so can not killing people apparently. That’s no excuse not to do it, and even though the modern day Republican Party sells the prosperity gospel to excuse their anti-people, pro-corporate stances, businesses can and do run well while also being good citizens.

Nostalgic already for Obama who said on June 25, 2013, “Someday, our children, and our children’s children, will look at us in the eye and they’ll ask us, did we do all that we could when we had the chance to deal with this problem and leave them a cleaner, safe, more stable world?â€

Here’s what the White House website used to look like just hours ago:

“The Obama administration is taking action to combat climate change. In June 2013, President Obama outlined the Climate Action Plan — the steps his Administration would take to cut carbon pollution, help prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change, and continue to lead international efforts to address global climate change. For the sake of our children and future generations, we must act now. And we are.”

Goodbye climate change policies, hello double speak making corporate America irresponsible again.

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