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A popular climate website will be hobbled after Trump administration eliminates entire staff
A plowed field near Brawley, Calif. In recent years, drought, climate change and overuse of the Colorado River have led some farmers to fallow their fields. The federal website climate.gov publishes information about drought conditions, among other climate-related topics.
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Gregory Bull
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Associated Press
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A widely used federal website that publishes information about changing weather patterns, drought conditions, agricultural best-practices, atmospheric changes and greenhouse gas emissions will no longer be updated, according to current and former employees familiar with the site. The website will stop publishing new content on July 1.
The site, climate.gov, is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As of 2021, it received nearly 1 million visitors every month and was one of the most trusted sources of climate-related information in the U.S., according to public surveys about the site.
A staff of 10 people wrote content and created maps, charts and explanatory graphics for climate.gov. Those employees have now been terminated, according to Rebecca Lindsey, the former program manager for the website. NOAA did not respond to questions from NPR about changes to the site.
Lindsey had worked on climate.gov for 13 years and had recently changed roles before she was laid off in February as part of a government-wide purge of what the government calls probationary employees, generally people who were new to their specific jobs.
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Two other probationary climate.gov employees were also let go at that time, and the remaining seven staffers were let go in recent weeks, according to an official who is familiar with the website's operations, and who requested anonymity because they fear they will be fired for speaking about efforts to hobble the website.
All of those laid off were experienced science communication and data visualization experts who cannot be easily replaced with other NOAA employees, according to the official.
Until recently, the website published multiple items each week that were tailored to what was happening in the U.S. For example, in the last month, the site published up-to-date information about tornado season and wildfire smoke. The site also publishes original maps, charts and other data to explain drought trends, changes to rain and snowfall and seasonal climate outlooks for the U.S., to help people across the country plan for heat waves, floods and other extreme weather.
Lindsey says it's clear to her that the administration is trying to get rid of public conversation about climate change and its profound effects on people in the U.S. "They think that climate change isn't real, and they don't want anybody talking about it," she says.
The White House did not respond to questions about why the climate.gov website has been hobbled, or what might happen to the site in the future. The site has not been fully shuttered — all the content that has been published in the past is still available as of now, although much of it will rapidly become obsolete if it is not updated.
The Trump administration has gutted other climate-related programs across the federal government. Earlier this year, all of the staff in charge of the National Climate Assessment were laid off. Like climate.gov, the assessment is designed to provide accurate, useful climate information to the public and to local officials who rely on it to make decisions about roads, housing and infrastructure for electricity, drinking water and sewers.
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