Trump has replaced the White House climate change page with... a pledge to drill lots of oil

As soon as Donald Trump was sworn in as president, the official White House website — WhiteHouse.gov — got a speedy makeover, as expected.

Gone is the Obama White House’s page on climate change, which is archived here for posterity (along with the rest of the Obama-era website). That page had talked about how global warming was a serious challenge to future generations, optimistically touted America’s ability to tackle the problem, and listed dozens of actions the Obama administration has taken to reduce carbon dioxide emissions:

In its place, the Trump administration has put up a page declaring “An America First Energy Plan” that makes no mention at all of global warming — except to note that Trump plans to roll back many of Obama’s climate policies.

Instead, Trump plans to promote more drilling of America’s “estimated $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil, and natural gas reserves, especially those on federal lands.”

It’s a stark reminder of just how much energy and environmental policy change is coming this year — and fast.

Further reading

• Note, however, that Trump’s new White House page doesn’t promise to pull out of the Paris climate accords, which now seems to be a bit of an open question.
• Here’s a longer analysis of Trump’s energy policies. Note that oil and gas production already reached near-record highs under Obama, and it will be tough for Trump to vastly increase output, especially with prices for both so low.
• And here’s a look at all the obstacles Trump will face if he tries to dismantle Obama’s climate and environmental rules, including the Clean Power Plan. He can make a lot of significantly changes, but there are also, potentially, real limits on what he can achieve.

Watch: A history of US inaction on climate change