‘Breathtakingly Ignorant and Dangerous’: Trump’s DOT Orders Sweeping Purge of Climate, Gender, Race, Environmental Justice Initiatives 

The new head of the U.S. Department of Transportation issued sweeping memos this week, directing the department to “identify and eliminate” nearly all initiatives relating to climate change, racial equity, gender identity, DEI or environmental justice implemented during the Biden administration. 
Among these memos is one issued Wednesday by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, calls for the purge of “all orders, directives, rules, regulations, notices, guidance documents, funding agreements, programs and policy statements” that relate “in any way to climate change, ‘greenhouse gas’ emissions, racial equity, gender identity, ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ goals, environmental justice or the Justice 40 initiative.”
The memo limited its targets to initiatives that were “authorized, adopted or approved” during the four years that Joe Biden was president. 
The memo instructs DOT personnel to compile within 10 days a written report listing all such programs or policies and submit it to the DOT’s Office of the General Counsel, which is directed to “initiate all lawful actions necessary to rescind, cancel, revoke and terminate” those initiatives.
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Gretchen Goldman, who served as the DOT’s director of climate change research and technology under the Biden administration before resigning in January to accept a position as president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the directive is ill conceived and will harm vulnerable Americans most. 
“It’s breathtakingly ignorant and dangerous,” Goldman told Inside Climate News. “You can’t surgically remove these topics. They’re central to the mission and congressional mandates of DOT.”
The move is one of many efforts by the administration of President Donald Trump to undo government initiatives relating to climate change, DEI and environmental justice at dizzying speed. Duffy signed the so-called “Woke Rescission” memos one day after being sworn in as transportation secretary. Duffy had already issued a memo ordering the “rescission or replacement of any fuel economy standards” the same day he was sworn in.
In a news release announcing the changes, Duffy contended that the actions would restore “commonsense governance and merit-based policies” at the DOT.  
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are focused on eliminating excessive regulations that have hindered economic growth, increased costs for American families, and prioritized far-left agendas over practical solutions,” Duffy said.
A current employee of the DOT, who asked not to be identified, told Inside Climate News that the new directives were “convoluted,” “poorly written” and would be difficult to implement, because they ignore other statutory requirements of the department and use ill-defined terms like “Green New Deal” and “EV mandate.” 
“I think a lot of them don’t say what th