Responding to reports of censorship at federal agencies, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed four Freedom of Information Act requests on Thursday with the Trump administration’s Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of the Interior, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), seeking “all directives or communications barring or removing climate-related words or phrases from any formal agency communications.”

CBD’s Taylor McKinnon referenced Politico‘s reporting from Wednesday, which suggested staff in the DOE’s international climate office had been instructed not to use phrases including “climate change,” “emissions reductions,” and “Paris agreement” in written memos or briefings.

“This is like telling government scientists not to mention gravity or the fact that the Earth revolves around the sun,” McKinnon said. “The Trump administration can deny the reality of the climate crisis, but it can’t make it go away by simply telling government employees not to mention it anymore. This kind of anti-science meddling leads us straight back to the dark ages.”

The organization said it planned to file additional requests with other federal agencies in coming days.

Employees at the U.S. Energy Department’s (DOE) Office of International Climate and Clean Energy have reportedly been barred from using key phrases in written communication, including “climate change,” “emissions reductions,” and “Paris agreement.”

Politico reported the order Wednesday, citing anonymous sources inside the department.

To use these phrases “would cause a ‘visceral reaction’ with Energy Secretary Rick Perry, his immediate staff, and the cadre of White House advisers at the top of the department,” senior officials reportedly told staff at a meeting on Tuesday.

As Salon points out:

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