As soon as Donald Trump was sworn in as president, the official White House website — WhiteHouse.gov — got a speedy makeover to reflect the change in administration, as had long been planned.
Trump has replaced the White House climate change page with... a pledge to drill lots of oil
Gone is the Obama White House’s page on climate change, which is now archived here for posterity (along with virtually everything else from the Obama-era website). That page had talked about how global warming was a serious threat to future generations, optimistically touted America’s ability to tackle the problem, and listed dozens of actions the Obama administration has taken to reduce carbon dioxide emissions:
Instead, the Trump administration has a page promising “An America First Energy Plan” that makes no mention at all of global warming — except to note that Trump plans to eliminate many of Obama’s climate policies. (In fact, there are no mentions of climate change anywhere on Trump’s WhiteHouse.gov.)
As the new site notes, Trump plans to push for more drilling of America’s “estimated $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil, and natural gas reserves, especially those on federal lands.”
It’s a stark reminder of just how much energy and environmental policy change is coming this year — and fast.
Further reading
- Note, however, that Trump’s new White House page doesn’t promise to pull out of the Paris climate accords, which now seems to be a bit of an open question.
- Here’s a longer analysis of Trump’s energy policies. Note that oil and gas production already reached near-record highs under Obama, and it will be tough for Trump to vastly increase output, especially with prices for both so low.
- And here’s a look at all the obstacles Trump will face if he tries to dismantle Obama’s climate and environmental rules, including the Clean Power Plan. He can make a lot of significantly changes, but there are also, potentially, real limits on what he can achieve.
Watch: A history of US inaction on climate change
By John A. Farrell
By Abraham Newman and Daniel Nexon
