PA Natural Resources Agency Ordered To Remove All Climate Information From Website

[hatrack]

The Pennsylvania state agency that regulates gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing was explicitly ordered by members of Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration to remove several references to “climate change” from the agency’s website, a former agency employee told the Allegheny Front on Friday.

Adrian Stouffer, a former Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) marketing manager, told the paper that she and other agency employees were told to delete the references to climate change during a meeting at Corbett’s offices in 2012. The administration officials reportedly didn’t want all mentions of climate change taken off the website, but did want references taken off “in cases where we looked like we were giving a position” on whether or not humans cause global warming.

“A lot of it was re-worded to not use the words ‘climate change,’ and other parts were deleted,” Stouffer reportedly told the Allegheny Front. DCNR spokesperson Christina Novak confirmed that the Corbett administration requested the changes to the website, saying they were typical changes that happen whenever a new governor takes office. “Agencies typically review websites to determine if information being communicated with the public is consistent with policy platforms of the new administration,” Novak reportedly said. “That was done several years ago, and we had about a half dozen places on the websites DCNR maintains where we made some changes to existing language.”

It’s not surprising that Corbett would be weary of having his administration acknowledge the threat of human-caused climate change. As ClimateProgress has pointed out in our Climate Guide to Governors, the governor has questioned the science behind whether climate change is a threat, characterizing it as a “subject of debate” among scientists. While in office, he has defunded programs to research climate change impacts to the state, appointed a climate science denier to head his Environmental Protection agency, and has eliminated programs to encourage renewable energy development and conservation.

EDIT

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/09/19/3569889/pennsylvania-deletes-climate-info/

[Mnemosyne]

1. ...nt

[procon]

2. Do they really think that deleting the words will

actually make the problem go away? I can't seem to get rid of the mental image of ostriches with their teeny heads stuck in the sand as the ocean water rises all around them.

[Glassunion]

3. Yay PA!

I'm shocked! Shocked I say!

[freshwest]

4. The Idiocracy takes no prisoners. Libruls and science are its enemies. Gotta play dumb to survive!

And pray for a good time in the afterlife when the dumb is killing you. Yup, that's conservatives for ya!

[weissmam]

5. Corbett is a losser anyway

[Shrike47]

6. There is no global warming, only normal, natural fluctuations in temperature.

Lars Larson told me so.

[LynneSin]

7. I think Corbett is going to do a 'scorched earth' to PA

He knows he is gone after November so he's going to f*ck up Pennsylvania as much as possible before he goes.

With the state so badly gerrymandered I doubt the Democrats are going to win back control of the PA house or senate. With republicans in control they'll just stalemate every Wolf tries to do to fix PA. I mean it works against Obama in DC why not do the same locally.

[Patiod]

9. Precisely stated

He'll rake in as much as he can now.

January can't come fast enough in Our Fair State.

[kenfrequed]

10. Why not...

It is basically what Republicans have done in Wisconsin, and what the hell, they did it nationally too. They run up ridiculous deficits and then force Democrats to cut their own constituents and their own throats to try to bring those deficits under control.

[DebJ]

13. Funny I thought he started that day one....counting the days til I can vote against the b*&*tard.

[Oldtimeralso]

8. What Would You Expect

Corbett thinks that a groundhog gives the most accurate weather forecast!

[alfredo]

11. Don't tell him that groundhogs are Muslims.

[JPZenger]

12. Minor correction: agency only controls fracking on some state lands

Minor correction, the PA. DCNR only controls fracking on state parks and state forests. The Game Commission controls it on their lands, and PA. DEP controls it on private lands. The US Forest Service has had difficulty getting legal authority to control it on National Forest Service lands, because private entities often hold underground mineral rights. The Delaware River Basin Commission has effectively been banning fracking within the Delaware River watershed, because the partners cannot agree on water use rules.