The US Department of Energy reportedly deleted about 6,000 pages related to energy conservation as a historic heatwave tears across the country.
The deletion was suspiciously timed, following Republican outrage over Mayor Zohran Mamdani asking New Yorkers to help reduce strain on the grid by setting their AC to 78 degrees. Republicans like Ted Cruz (who has famously fled severe weather in his home state), Nikki Haley, and Representative Nancy Mace (South Carolina) quickly pounced, framing the request as socialism and an act of war on women in menopause (the Republican Party is notoriously concerned about women’s health).
Of course, this is pretty standard advice during a heatwave. It was the official stance of the Department of Energy that Americans should set their thermostats between 75 and 78 degrees, and Republican governors in deep red states like Texas have issued the same advice in the past — including current governor Greg Abbott.
The deletions by the Trump administration are broad and indiscriminate. While pages that would support Mamdani’s request to lower thermostats were deleted, so too were pages about water conservation, types of insulation, and its solar decathlon challenge. The Internet Archive preserved the pages that have been lost.
Temperatures topped 95 degrees for four straight days in New York City, including two days over 100 degrees. Those sorts of temperatures put significant strain on the electrical grid, especially when more people are home during a holiday weekend. Setting thermostats to 78 degrees can help prevent blackouts that would leave people without air conditioning and vulnerable to the heat.
On average, extreme heat is responsible for more deaths in the US than floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes combined, according to data from the CDC and NOAA.
