The Trump administration plans to remodel the EPA's climate-focused museum - and may feature coal
It was the brain child of former administrator Gina McCarthy, and opened under her watch just days before President Donald Trump's administration took charge.
Heralding accomplishments of the EPA, the museum outlines the agency's history, including milestones in fighting climate change like signing the landmark global Paris agreement.
The Washington Post reported on Monday that the tiny museum may be seeing some changes after career EPA employees made Trump officials aware of it. According to The Post's report, the museum will be redesigned to reflect the current administration's priorities.
A career official told the Washington Post that Obama era-focused exhibits on the Clean Power Plan, the Paris agreement, the 2009 "endangerment finding," and a panel featuring a Dr. Seuss themed poster reading "Join the Lorax and Help Protect the Earth From Global Warming," will be removed.
Trump announced in June he will withdraw the US from the Paris agreement, and in March ordered the EPA to scrap the Clean Power Plan. He, and his EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, have both rejected the overwhelming scientific consensus that humans are causing climate change.
According to The Post, the administration hasn't decided exactly what the exhibits will be replaced with due to budgetary questions, but the official said coal and agriculture may be featured. Pruitt has had close ties to the fossil fuel industry, and has drawn a number of his new hires directly from the coal, oil, natural gas, or chemical and pesticides industries, Business Insider reported.
Anne Gorsuch (the mother of Trump-nominated Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch) will be added. She is the only EPA administrator not currently featured in the museum, possibly due to her short and controversial reign.
Until final decisions are made, a large poster board featuring a "back-to-basics" agenda has been installed, which is Pruitt's main priority for the agency, refocusing the EPA on its original mission of protecting the nation's air, land, and water. According to The Post, the temporary poster features Pruitt shaking hands with Pennsylvania coal miners, with a message of "sensible regulations for economic growth."