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Los Angeles Times
16-07-2025
- Science
- Los Angeles Times
Trump administration says it won't publish major climate change reports on NASA website as promised
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday took another step to make it harder to find major, legally mandated scientific assessments of how climate change is endangering the nation and its people. Earlier this month, the official government websites that hosted the authoritative, peer-reviewed national climate assessments went dark. Such sites tell state and local governments and the public what to expect in their backyards from a warming world and how best to adapt to it. At the time, the White House said NASA would house the reports to comply with a 1990 law that requires the reports, which the space agency said it planned to do. But on Monday, NASA announced that it aborted those plans. 'The USGCRP [the government agency that oversees and used to host the report] met its statutory requirements by presenting its reports to Congress. NASA has no legal obligations to host data,' NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens said in an email. That means no data from the assessment or the government science office that coordinated the work will be on NASA, she said. On July 3, NASA put out a statement that said, 'All preexisting reports will be hosted on the NASA website, ensuring continuity of reporting.' 'This document was written for the American people, paid for by the taxpayers, and it contains vital information we need to keep ourselves safe in a changing climate, as the disasters that continue to mount demonstrate so tragically and clearly,' said Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe. She is chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy and co-author of several past national climate assessments. Copies of past reports are still squirreled away in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's library and the latest report and its interactive atlas can be seen here. Former Obama White House science advisor and climate scientist John Holdren accused the administration of outright lying and long intending to censor or bury the reports. 'The new stance is classic Trump administration misdirection,' Holdren said. 'In this instance, the administration offers a modest consolation to quell initial outrage over the closure of the site and the disappearance of the National Climate Assessments. Then, two weeks later, they snatch away the consolation with no apology.' 'They simply don't want the public to see the meticulously assembled and scientifically validated information about what climate change is already doing to our farms, forests, and fisheries, as well as to storms, floods, wildfires, and coast property — and about how all those damages will grow in the absence of concerted remedial action,' Holdren said in an email. That's why it's important that state and local governments and everyday people see these reports, Holdren said. He said they are written in a way that is 'useful to people who need to understand what climate change is doing and will do to THEM, their loved ones, their property and their environment.' 'Trump doesn't want people to know,' Holdren wrote. The most recent report, issued in 2023, found that climate change is affecting people's security, health and livelihoods in every corner of the country in different ways, with minority communities, particularly Native Americans, often disproportionately at risk. Borenstein writes for the Associated Press.
Gizmodo
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Gizmodo
As Trump Scrubs Climate Reports, NASA Breaks Its Promise to Save Them
Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has launched a major effort to limit public access to information about climate change. After the president canned the official government site that hosted the national climate assessments earlier this month, NASA has broken its promise to publish them on its own site. On Monday, July 14, NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens told the Associated Press that NASA will not host any data from which served as the official website for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). This interagency program publishes national climate assessments about every four years as mandated by the Global Change Research Act of 1990. These reports provide authoritative scientific information about climate change risks, impacts, and responses in the U.S. After the USGCRP website went dark in early July, the White House and NASA said the space agency would publish the reports on its site to comply with the 1990 law, according to the AP. Apparently, that is no longer the case. 'NASA has no legal obligations to host data,' NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens said in an email. Fortunately, copies of past reports are still available in NOAA's library, and the latest report and its interactive atlas can be found here. The Trump administration essentially dismantled the USGCRP in April when it removed federal employees from their positions. It also terminated the program's contract with ICF International, a technology and policy consulting firm that provided technical, analytic, and programmatic support for the USGCRP and particularly its national climate assessments. Later that month, the administration dismissed all scientists working on the next assessment, which was supposed to be published in 2028. Now, past reports are more inaccessible to the public than ever before. Eviscerating the USGCRP and squirreling away its national climate assessments are just part of the all-out assault the Trump administration has launched against U.S. climate information. Thousands of employees across other federal agencies that study and track global warming—including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—have lost their jobs since Trump took office in January. His administration has also frozen climate-related grants, killed major federal climate programs, proposed significant cuts to federal research programs, and purged references to climate change from federal websites. Trump's effort to obscure the realities of climate change will have real consequences, but it's ultimately futile. Americans confront this crisis every single day as they navigate new challenges driven by rising global temperatures. The fifth national climate assessment, published in 2023, warned of 'potentially catastrophic outcomes' for the nation as climate change exacerbates extreme weather. Many parts of the U.S. are already feeling these effects. Multiple severe flooding events have already killed scores of Americans in the first half of 2025. Most recently, at least two people in New Jersey died when torrential rain triggered flash floods across much of the Northeast on Monday, July 14, and over 100 people in Texas—including at least 36 children in Kerr County—died during the devastating July 4 flash floods. While it's difficult to link a single weather event directly to climate change, numerous studies show that rising global temperatures are increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme rain in the U.S. and around the world, thus heightening flood risk. This is because warmer air increases both evaporation and the amount of water vapor the atmosphere can hold. An atmosphere that contains more moisture can produce more intense precipitation events, which is exactly what the U.S. has been experiencing lately. Wildfires are also becoming more difficult to manage. This was apparent in January, when more than a dozen fast-moving, destructive wildfires decimated parts of Los Angeles. In Arizona, firefighters have struggled to contain two active blazes near the Grand Canyon's North Rim that destroyed a historic lodge, triggered evacuations, and forced officials to close this part of the national park on Sunday, July 13. Both fires remained 0% contained as of Tuesday, July 15. In the fifth national climate assessment, experts concluded that fires in the Southwest have become larger and more severe, according to Human-driven warming is playing a significant role in this trend, drying out the vegetation that feeds wildfires. One study found that climate change may be responsible for nearly two-thirds of the observed increase in summer fire weather conditions over the past 40 years. Everywhere Americans look, they see evidence of climate change. It's not just deadly floods and rampant wildfires—it's severe heatwaves, shifting seasons, and sinking shorelines. It's farmers losing their livelihoods, families facing rising insurance costs, and infrastructure buckling under extreme weather conditions. Making it harder to access information about this ongoing crisis won't shield the public from its effects, but it will make it more difficult for governments and communities to adapt to them.
Associated Press
16-07-2025
- Science
- Associated Press
Trump administration says it won't publish major climate change reports on NASA website as promised
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Monday took another step to make it harder to find major, legally mandated scientific assessments of how climate change is endangering the nation and its people. Earlier this month, the official government websites that hosted the authoritative, peer-reviewed national climate assessments went dark. Such sites tell state and local governments and the public what to expect in their backyards from a warming world and how best to adapt to it. At the time, the White House said NASA would house the reports to comply with a 1990 law that requires the reports, which the space agency said it planned to do. But on Monday, NASA announced that it aborted those plans. 'The USGCRP (the government agency that oversees and used to host the report) met its statutory requirements by presenting its reports to Congress. NASA has no legal obligations to host data,' NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens said in an email. That means no data from the assessment or the government science office that coordinated the work will be on NASA, she said. On July 3, NASA put out a statement that said, 'All preexisting reports will be hosted on the NASA website, ensuring continuity of reporting.' Related Stories Websites hosting major US climate reports taken down 'This document was written for the American people, paid for by the taxpayers, and it contains vital information we need to keep ourselves safe in a changing climate, as the disasters that continue to mount demonstrate so tragically and clearly,' said Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe. She is chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy and co-author of several past national climate assessments. Copies of past reports are still squirreled away in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's library and the latest report and its interactive atlas can be seen here. Former Obama White House science adviser and climate scientist John Holdren accused the administration of outright lying and long intended to censor or bury the reports. 'The new stance is classic Trump administration misdirection,' Holdren said. 'In this instance, the administration offers a modest consolation to quell initial outrage over the closure of the site and the disappearance of the National Climate Assessments. Then, two weeks later, they snatch away the consolation with no apology.' 'They simply don't want the public to see the meticulously assembled and scientifically validated information about what climate change is already doing to our farms, forests, and fisheries, as well as to storms, floods, wildfires, and coast property — and about how all those damages will grow in the absence of concerted remedial action,' Holdren said in an email. That's why it's important that state and local governments and every day people see these reports, Holdren said. He said they are written in a way that is 'useful to people who need to understand what climate change is doing and will do to THEM, their loved ones, their property and their environment.' 'Trump doesn't want people to know,' Holdren wrote. The most recent report, issued in 2023, found that climate change is affecting people's security, health and livelihoods in every corner of the country in different ways, with minority communities, particularly Native Americans, often disproportionately at risk. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
NDTV
15-07-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
No More Major Climate Change Reports On NASA Website: Trump Administration
Washington: The Trump administration on Monday took another step to make it harder to find major, legally mandated scientific assessments of how climate change is endangering the nation and its people. Earlier this month, the official government websites that hosted the authoritative, peer-reviewed national climate assessments went dark. Such sites tell state and local governments and the public what to expect in their backyards from a warming world and how best to adapt to it. At the time, the White House said NASA would house the reports to comply with a 1990 law that requires the reports, which the space agency said it planned to do. But on Monday, NASA announced that it aborted those plans. "The USGCRP (the government agency that oversees and used to host the report) met its statutory requirements by presenting its reports to Congress. NASA has no legal obligations to host data," NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens said in an email. That means no data from the assessment or the government science office that coordinated the work will be on NASA, she said. On July 3, NASA put out a statement that said, "All preexisting reports will be hosted on the NASA website, ensuring continuity of reporting." "This document was written for the American people, paid for by the taxpayers, and it contains vital information we need to keep ourselves safe in a changing climate, as the disasters that continue to mount demonstrate so tragically and clearly," said Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe. She is chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy and co-author of several past national climate assessments. Copies of past reports are still squirreled away in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's library and the latest report and its interactive atlas can be seen here. Former Obama White House science adviser and climate scientist John Holdren accused the administration of outright lying and long intended to censor or bury the reports. "The new stance is classic Trump administration misdirection," Holdren said. "In this instance, the administration offers a modest consolation to quell initial outrage over the closure of the site and the disappearance of the National Climate Assessments. Then, two weeks later, they snatch away the consolation with no apology." "They simply don't want the public to see the meticulously assembled and scientifically validated information about what climate change is already doing to our farms, forests, and fisheries, as well as to storms, floods, wildfires, and coast property - and about how all those damages will grow in the absence of concerted remedial action," Holdren said in an email. That's why it's important that state and local governments and every day people see these reports, Holdren said. He said they are written in a way that is "useful to people who need to understand what climate change is doing and will do to THEM, their loved ones, their property and their environment." "Trump doesn't want people to know," Holdren wrote. The most recent report, issued in 2023, found that climate change is affecting people's security, health and livelihoods in every corner of the country in different ways, with minority communities, particularly Native Americans, often disproportionately at risk.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA drops plans to publish scrubbed climate change report on its site
In a reversal, NASA no longer plans to publish a major climate report whose previous website was scrubbed by the Trump administration. The report in question, known as the National Climate Assessment, was previously housed on After the Trump administration eliminated the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) website, NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens said that 'all preexisting reports will be hosted on the NASA website, ensuring continuity of reporting.' But those plans have changed. Stevens appeared to indicate in a statement to The Hill on Monday that NASA no longer plans to host the information on its website. 'The USGCRP met its statutory requirements by presenting its reports to Congress. NASA has no legal obligations to host data,' Stevens said. The announcement comes amid a broader effort by the Trump administration to downplay or deny climate change's existence and its impact on extreme weather. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for example, has said it wants to reconsider its finding that climate change poses a threat to the public. It has also dismissed all of the scientists who were set to work on the next version of the climate assessment, the completion of which is mandated by Congress. The 2023 version of the climate assessment can still be downloaded from online government archives as of Tuesday, or it can be viewed using the Wayback Machine internet archive. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
