What’s been scrubbed: INL’s website transforms since Trump’s been in office
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IDAHO FALLS — Energy that was once “clean” is now “reliable.” Inclusivity is no longer prominent. And a list of values seems to have disappeared.
Various changes have been made to Idaho National Laboratory‘s website recently. Many of these concern climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
These come in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive orders, including the following:
- Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions: This reverses many of President Biden’s executive orders, including on matters relating to race, gender identity, sexual orientation and climate change.
- Ending Radical and Wasteful Government Dei Programs and Preferencing. This ends DEI policies at the federal level and refers to them as “immoral.”
- Unleashing American Energy: This emphasizes “oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, biofuels, critical mineral, and nuclear energy resources” and reverses executive orders from Biden’s term that sought to alleviate climate change.
In addition, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has released a secretarial order called Unleashing the Golden Era of American Energy Dominance that echoes the President’s focus on certain energy sources, calls for a “nuclear renaissance” and decries net-zero carbon policies.
INL tells EastIdahoNews.com it is “aligning with (the) initiatives” of the new administration.
How we know what changed
EastIdahoNews.com examined previous versions of INL’s website by saving some of the website’s files in January and by accessing the Wayback Machine in February. The Wayback Machine archives a large portion of the web. Click here to see the INL website as it was in early January. (The Wayback Machine tends to load slowly, so be patient.)
Comparing the website at the beginning of 2025 to the current version is a moving target. This article represents a moment in time on a few INL webpages and is not a definitive list of all changes, nor does it predict what edits are to come. These are observations of past versus present only.
Some of the changes
Certain words have started to appear less frequently.
A striking example is a page that previously described INL’s work with clean energy. That page is still up with the same design, but some of the words have been substituted or removed. What was once “clean energy” is now “reliable energy.” And “renewable energy” is “alternate energy.”
Clean-energy initiatives have not completely disappeared from its website, however. Although hydrogen is no longer described as clean on the “Reliable Energy Integration” page, its potential as a clean-energy solution is still displayed on its dedicated page.
And as of Monday, the INL Mission was still “to discover, demonstrate and secure innovative nuclear energy solutions, other clean energy options and critical infrastructure.”
INL’s history page still mentions its previous work with clean energy too.
Another alteration is INL’s Net-Zero Program, in which it would use “its world-class capabilities and expertise to demonstrate net-zero emissions by 2031.” This is now a hole on its Factsheets page. Another page that previously gave details on the program now gives an error. But a news release describing it and a PDF outlining the program are still publicly accessible.
This omission is in line with Secretary Wright’s order, which says that “net-zero policies raise energy costs for American families and businesses, threaten the reliability of our energy system, and undermine our energy and national security.”
But much of the scrubbing appears to have been done on anything involving diversity, which is an about-face for the lab.
Until recently, INL has emphasized inclusivity and achieved national recognition in the area. Here are some of the articles EastIdahoNews.com has run about the lab’s efforts, some of them dating to the first Trump administration:
- INL earns spot #8 as a Best Place to Work for Women, Diverse Managers
- INL ranks #13 in nation among best places to work for women, diverse managers
- INL director becomes ‘gender champion’
- INL to inspire next generation of multicultural leaders in STEM
And once in a prominent spot next to its mission statement, INL’s list of values (“Excellence, Inclusivity, Integrity, Ownership, Teamwork, Safety”) has not simply been edited to remove an offending word — it is entirely gone from INL’s organization page.
The careers page has transformed as well. At least one employee’s testimonial has been substantially altered. “The most rewarding part of my job is making relationships with historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions,” as well as mention of working with “underrepresented talent” in STEM fields have been removed.
Other sections of the career page lauding INL’s promotion of diversity and inclusivity have vanished.
INL’s response
We reached out to INL about the changes and showed spokeswoman Sarah Neumann some of the screenshots above. She gave us the following response:
“As the nation’s center for nuclear energy research and development, the Idaho National Laboratory is looking forward to continuing our mission to advance nuclear energy, cybersecurity, and integrated energy systems, aligning with initiatives set forth by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and President Trump’s energy policy priorities.
“Our team at INL is dedicated to pioneering cutting-edge research and development innovations that address the United States’ most pressing energy and national security challenges. The security of our nation starts with energy, and we look forward to working closely with the new DOE leadership to accelerate advancements to achieve energy dominance and economic prosperity. Together, we will build on the strong foundation established through years of collaborative efforts, ensuring that our shared goals for an abundant, affordable, secure and resilient energy future are achieved.”
Neumann referred further questions to the U.S. Department of Energy. We have tried to contact the DOE and have not gotten a response but will update this story if we hear back.
The website isn’t the only thing that has changed at INL under the new Trump administration. All of its 6,400 employees have been directed to work on site and not remotely.
The Idaho National Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy site managed by Battelle Energy Alliance, a private contractor.
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