Searches for the assessments on NASA websites did not turn them up. NASA did not respond to requests for information. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which coordinated the information in the assessments, did not respond to repeated inquiries.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s critical for decision makers across the country to know what the science in the National Climate Assessment is. That is the most reliable and well-reviewed source of information about climate that exists for the United States,\u201d said University of Arizona climate scientist Kathy Jacobs, who coordinated the 2014 version of the report. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a sad day for the United States if it is true that the National Climate Assessment is no longer available,\u201d Jacobs said. \u201cThis is evidence of serious tampering with the facts and with people\u2019s access to information, and it actually may increase the risk of people being harmed by climate-related impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvard climate scientist John Holdren, who was President Obama\u2019s science advisor and whose office directed the assessments, said after the 2014 edition he visited governors, mayors and other local officials who told him how useful the 841-page report was. It helped them decide whether to raise roads, build seawalls and even move hospital generators from basements to roofs, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a government resource paid for by the taxpayer to provide the information that really is the primary source of information for any city, state or federal agency who\u2019s trying to prepare for the impacts of a changing climate,\u201d said Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, who has been a volunteer author for several editions of the report. <\/p>\n
Copies of past reports are still squirreled away in NOAA\u2019s library<\/a>. NASA\u2019s open science data repository<\/a> includes dead links to the assessment site.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Rockport Power Plant operates near a group of mobile homes April 11, 2025, in Rockport, Ind. (AP Photo\/Joshua A. Bickel, File)<\/p>\n The Rockport Power Plant operates near a group of mobile homes April 11, 2025, in Rockport, Ind. (AP Photo\/Joshua A. Bickel, File)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n The most recent report, issued in 2023, included an interactive atlas that zoomed down to the county level. It found that climate change is affecting people\u2019s security, health and livelihoods in every corner of the country in different ways, with minority and Native American communities often disproportionately at risk<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 1990 Global Change Research Act<\/a> requires a national climate assessment every four years and directs the president to establish an interagency United States Global Change Research Program. In the spring, the Trump administration told the volunteer authors of the next climate assessment that their services weren\u2019t needed and ended the contract with the private firm that helps coordinate the website and report.<\/p>\n Additionally, NOAA\u2019s main climate.gov website was recently forwarded to a different NOAA website. Social media and blogs at NOAA and NASA about climate impacts for the general public were cut or eliminated.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s part of a horrifying big picture,\u201d Holdren said. \u201cIt\u2019s just an appalling whole demolition of science infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n The national assessments are more useful than international climate reports put out by the United Nations every seven or so years because they are more localized and more detailed, Hayhoe and Jacobs said. <\/p>\n The national reports are not only peer reviewed by other scientists, but examined for accuracy by the National Academy of Sciences, federal agencies, the staff and the public. <\/p>\n Hiding the reports would be censoring science, Jacobs said. <\/p>\n And it\u2019s dangerous for the country, Hayhoe said, comparing it to steering a car on a curving road by only looking through the rearview mirror: \u201cAnd now, more than ever, we need to be looking ahead to do everything it takes to make it around that curve safely. It\u2019s like our windshield\u2019s being painted over.\u201d<\/p>\n ___ Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Legally mandated U.S. national climate assessments seem to have disappeared from the federal websites built…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":30667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[11744,10109,10106,285,26137,69,746,57,26136,26138,26139,165,12231,159,61,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-30666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-barack-obama","9":"tag-climate","10":"tag-climate-and-environment","11":"tag-climate-change","12":"tag-climate-science","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-environment","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-john-holdren","17":"tag-katharine-hayhoe","18":"tag-kathy-jacobs","19":"tag-national-aeronautics-and-space-administration","20":"tag-national-oceanic-and-atmospheric-administration","21":"tag-science","22":"tag-u-s-news","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114779672020144557","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n