Blog

You can also read our Member Op-eds and see the news coverage our work has received on the Press page.

EDGI’s Public Comment to the OSTP on the Development of a Federal Environmental Justice Science, Data, and Research Plan

EDGI’s Public Comment to the OSTP on the Development of a Federal Environmental Justice Science, Data, and Research Plan

Late last fall,  the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) sought to gather information and feedback for developing a coordinated Federal strategy to identify ...
EDGI is hiring a Communications Lead

EDGI is hiring a Communications Lead

Join us! We are looking to hire a new, collaborative team member to join EDGI to help with communications—network-wide and with the broader public ...
Introducing EDGI’s New Collaborator in our “Cumulative Effects” Project:  Community In-Power and Development Association, Inc. (CIDA)

Introducing EDGI’s New Collaborator in our “Cumulative Effects” Project: Community In-Power and Development Association, Inc. (CIDA)

A paradigmatic case of the “sacrifice zone,” West Port Arthur and similar neighborhoods in Beaumont also epitomize the cumulative impacts faced by America’s most environmentally ...
Introducing EDGI’s New Collaborator in our “Cumulative Effects” Project:  Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT)

Introducing EDGI’s New Collaborator in our “Cumulative Effects” Project: Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT)

Forty years have passed, and the people of Sivuqaq are still fighting for a more thorough clean-up of military wastes remaining on Sivuqaq as they ...
EDGI advocates for public access to records as FOIAonline is shuttered

EDGI advocates for public access to records as FOIAonline is shuttered

On September 30, 2023 FOIAonline—the government-wide online portal for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and case management—will be decommissioned. For more than a decade, ...
EDGI Releases Web Tool for Investigating Drinking Water Justice in New Jersey

EDGI Releases Web Tool for Investigating Drinking Water Justice in New Jersey

Is it as safe to drink tap water in Paterson as it is in more affluent, whiter communities nearby, such as Wayne? EDGI’s new tool, ...
EDGI’s Public Comment on Broadening Public Engagement in the Federal Regulatory Process

EDGI’s Public Comment on Broadening Public Engagement in the Federal Regulatory Process

The Biden administration’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) recently requested public comment on a set of learnings and potential recommendations for broadening public ...
EDGI Releases Report: EPA Enforcement Still Struggling to Recover Under Biden

EDGI Releases Report: EPA Enforcement Still Struggling to Recover Under Biden

Published:
February 22, 2023
The report EPA Enforcement Still Struggling to Recover Under Biden examines the slow to minimal progress the Biden Administration has made restoring the capacity of the EPA ...
EDGI and the Right to Trust our Environmental Health

EDGI and the Right to Trust our Environmental Health

Published:
February 16, 2023
I grew up in unincorporated Snohomish County, Washington—an area I often characterized, at the time, as the kind of place where people have guns and ...
EDGI Releases 2022 Annual Report

EDGI Releases 2022 Annual Report

Published:
February 13, 2023
We are very grateful to present this annual report for fiscal year 2022. In the midst of the intensifying climate emergency and growing evidence about ...
EDGI Releases Report: 50 Years After the Clean Water Act, Toxic Chemicals it Regulates are Still Used in Fracking

EDGI Releases Report: 50 Years After the Clean Water Act, Toxic Chemicals it Regulates are Still Used in Fracking

Published:
October 31, 2022
This October marks the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Clean Water Act (CWA). With the original goal of eliminating point-source pollution within ten years, the ...
EDGI Presents on Enhancing Data Access, Use, and Understanding at ESIP Meeting

EDGI Presents on Enhancing Data Access, Use, and Understanding at ESIP Meeting

Published:
October 27, 2022
In July of this year, EDGI’s Website Governance Project participated in the Earth Science Information Partners’ (ESIP) summer meeting in Pittsburgh. ESIP is a collaboration ...
EDGI To Speak at Internet Archive Event Wednesday

EDGI To Speak at Internet Archive Event Wednesday

Published:
October 18, 2022
This Wednesday Gretchen Gehrke, cofounder of EDGI and leader of EDGI’s Website Governance Project (WGP), will speak at the Internet Archive’s event ‘Building Democracy’s Library,’ ...
EDGI Members Host Upcoming NASW Workshop: What’s in the Water?

EDGI Members Host Upcoming NASW Workshop: What’s in the Water?

Published:
October 11, 2022
This month at the Science Writers 2022 Conference, EDGI members Kelsey Breseman and Eric Nost will host the virtual workshop ‘What’s in the Water? Stories ...
EDGI Releases Report: How Data Gaps and Disparities in EPA Data Undermine Climate and Environmental Justice Screening Tools

EDGI Releases Report: How Data Gaps and Disparities in EPA Data Undermine Climate and Environmental Justice Screening Tools

Published:
September 28, 2022
Webmaps that are meant to evaluate and “screen” neighborhoods for environmental injustices have seen a lot of interest in both the United States and Canada ...
Factory on a river

Taking an Environmental Data Justice Approach to Canada’s Environmental Racism Legislation

Published:
October 5, 2022
nationwide strategy to research and redress the disproportionate harms that Indigneous, racialized, and other socio-economically marginalized communities face from industrial pollution ...
EDGI Receives NSF Grant to Research How National EJ Movement Has Affected EPA’s Approach to Data and Science

EDGI Receives NSF Grant to Research How National EJ Movement Has Affected EPA’s Approach to Data and Science

Published:
September 9, 2022
Last month EDGI received a Science and Technology Studies (STS) program grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate how the environmental justice (EJ) movement ...
Summer Updates Newsletter

Summer Updates Newsletter

Published:
September 1, 2022
After sounding the alarm about the EPA's plans to sunset its web archive, EDGI members sent an open letter to the EPA, co-signed by the ...
Opinion: Universal Healthcare as a Critical Component of Environmental Justice

Opinion: Universal Healthcare as a Critical Component of Environmental Justice

Published:
August 15, 2022
Defining healthcare as a responsibility of good government could transform our ability to expect better environmental governance.Though corporations are technically subject to environmental laws, as ...
EDGI Receives Grant to Participate in UNBOUND Environmental Justice Workshop Series, Hosted by NASA and ESIP

EDGI Receives Grant to Participate in UNBOUND Environmental Justice Workshop Series, Hosted by NASA and ESIP

Published:
August 3, 2022
In April, EDGI received a grant from Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) to participate in the recent UNBOUND (Understanding Needs to Broaden Outside Use of ...
EDGI’s Response to the EPA’s Announcement it Will Retain its Online Archive

EDGI’s Response to the EPA’s Announcement it Will Retain its Online Archive

Published:
July 22, 2022
Tuesday July 19, 2022, after recently announcing the planned sunsetting of portions of its online archive, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency updated their Web Archive ...
Upcoming Workshop Reveals Documents Showing How the Trump Administration Worked to Hamper the EPA

Upcoming Workshop Reveals Documents Showing How the Trump Administration Worked to Hamper the EPA

Published:
July 6, 2022
EDGI, Toxic Docs, and Sierra Club are collecting thousands of internal government documents on the environment obtained by public interest groups through the Freedom of ...
What Went on in the Trump EPA? Announcing a New FOIA Archive

What Went on in the Trump EPA? Announcing a New FOIA Archive

Author:
Merlin Chowkwanyun and Chris Sellers
Published:
July 5, 2022
On July 27th at 1PM EST, Merlin Chowkwanyun of Toxic Docs, Chris Sellers of the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, and Elena Saxonhouse of the ...
EDGI’s Response to the Supreme Court ruling on West Virginia v. EPA

EDGI’s Response to the Supreme Court ruling on West Virginia v. EPA

Published:
June 30, 2022
Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled to limit the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to carry out and enforce the Clean Air Act. In West ...
Exploring Web3’s Potential for Environmental Data Justice

Exploring Web3’s Potential for Environmental Data Justice

Author:
Kelsey Breseman
Published:
June 29, 2022
Photo courtesy of Unsplash. By Kelsey Breseman EDGI’s work on environmental data justice (EDJ) examines the intersectional areas of environmental justice and data justice: what ...
Researchers of Early America Consider How to Respond to the Climate Crisis at Upcoming Conference

Researchers of Early America Consider How to Respond to the Climate Crisis at Upcoming Conference

Author:
EHAC Steering Committee
Published:
June 14, 2022
By EHAC Steering Committee On June 16 and 17, 33 scholars will come together in “The Climate Crisis: Early Americanists Respond,” a workshop organized by ...
PRESS RELEASE: Open Letter to EPA Asks Agency Not to Sunset its Online Archive

PRESS RELEASE: Open Letter to EPA Asks Agency Not to Sunset its Online Archive

The EPA plans to retire its online archive in July 2022. Open Letter to EPA Asks Agency Not to Sunset its Online Archive June 13, ...
Salmon (and Humans) Need the Clean Water Act

Salmon (and Humans) Need the Clean Water Act

Author:
Kelsey Breseman
Published:
May 5, 2022
Image from Unsplash. By Kelsey Breseman The Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe is bringing a case against the City of Seattle over their treaty rights, specifically for ...
EDGI's Civic Science Fellows Lay Groundwork

EDGI’s Civic Science Fellows Lay Groundwork

Author:
Mark Chambers
Published:
May 12, 2022
The 2021 – 2023 cohort of Civic Science Fellows. EDGI’s fellows are hosted by the Rita Allen Foundation and funded in partnership with the David ...
PRESS RELEASE: EDGI Urges CEQ to Incorporate Federal Enforcement Data into Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool

PRESS RELEASE: EDGI Urges CEQ to Incorporate Federal Enforcement Data into Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool

Published:
April 28, 2022
Image shows the beta version of the federal Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. EDGI Urges CEQ to Incorporate Federal Enforcement Data into Climate and ...
PRESS RELEASE: EDGI Releases Report on Carbon Emissions by US Corporations

PRESS RELEASE: EDGI Releases Report on Carbon Emissions by US Corporations

Published:
April 20, 2022
The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative’s analysis of the most recent EPA data (2020) shows the top ten companies in terms of direct emissions of ...
Owning Up: A Tool to Measure US Carbon Emissions by Corporations

Owning Up: A Tool to Measure US Carbon Emissions by Corporations

In this post, we introduce EEW’s new open-source Jupyter Notebook for analyzing greenhouse gasses (GHGs) by the entities that either supply or emit them. This ...
EDGI’s Response to the EPA’s New “ECHO Notify” Tool for Enforcement and Compliance

EDGI’s Response to the EPA’s New “ECHO Notify” Tool for Enforcement and Compliance

Published:
March 24, 2022
Tuesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced through their Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance that they are launching “ECHO Notify.” According to the agency ...
Catalog of Open Federal Datasets Available on EEW’s Site

Catalog of Open Federal Datasets Available on EEW’s Site

Author:
Kelsey Breseman, Megan Raisle, Eric Nost, Sara Wylie
Published:
March 24, 2022
EDGI’s Environmental Enforcement Watch’s catalog of open federal environmental datasets. View the page here. By Kelsey Breseman, Megan Raisle, Eric Nost, Sara Wylie We are ...
Environmental Enforcement Watch’s Interactive Data Research Tools Now Available on Website

Environmental Enforcement Watch’s Interactive Data Research Tools Now Available on Website

Author:
Kelsey Breseman, Eric Nost, Andre Stackhouse, Steve Hansen, Sara Wylie
Published:
March 16, 2022
EDGI’s Environmental Enforcement Watch’s new landing page for their open source environmental data science tools. View the page here. By Kelsey Breseman, Eric Nost, Andre ...
The Environmental Historians Action Collaborative Co-Organizes Conference on the Climate Crisis

The Environmental Historians Action Collaborative Co-Organizes Conference on the Climate Crisis

Published:
February 17, 2022
EDGI’s Environmental Historians Action Collaborative (EHAC) is co-organizing a conference on the climate crisis to take place June 16-17, 2022. With the McNeil Center for ...
EDGI’s Website Monitoring Team Releases Report on Federal Web Governance in Biden's First Year

EDGI’s Website Monitoring Team Releases Report on Federal Web Governance in Biden’s First Year

Author:
Website Monitoring Team
Published:
January 20, 2022
January 20, 2022 – Today, the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI)’s Website Monitoring Team releases Work in Progress: Governance of Digital Environmental Information In ...
EDGI’s Website Monitoring Team Analyzes Extreme Politicization of EPA News Releases Under Trump

EDGI’s Website Monitoring Team Analyzes Extreme Politicization of EPA News Releases Under Trump

Author:
Website Monitoring Team
Published:
December 20, 2021
Today, the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI)’s Website Monitoring Team releases Crossing the Line: Analyzing EPA news releases under Trump and ensuring trust in ...
Meet EDGI’s New Civic Science Fellows

Meet EDGI’s New Civic Science Fellows

Author:
EDGI
Published:
November 24, 2021
EDGI is thrilled to announce that we’re a host organization for two civic science fellows from 2021-2023. These fellowships are funded in partnership with the ...
Led by Environmental Historians Action Collaborative, EDGI signs on to Letter in Support of Juliana v. US Plaintiffs

Led by Environmental Historians Action Collaborative, EDGI signs on to Letter in Support of Juliana v. US Plaintiffs

Author:
Fredrik Albritton Jonsson
Published:
November 15, 2021
By Fredrik Albritton Jonsson Despite garnering strong support from many groups in civil society, Juliana v. US has not been successful so far. Even though ...
EDGI’s Public Comment on EPA's Strategic Plan for 2022-2026

EDGI’s Public Comment on EPA’s Strategic Plan for 2022-2026

Author:
Website Monitoring Team
Published:
November 19, 2021
On Friday, November 12, 2021, the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative’s (EDGI's) Website Monitoring Team submitted a public comment to the Environmental Protection Agency on ...
The Carbon Tax Meets the Suburbs: Projecting the Equity Impacts of New York’s Proposed Climate and Community Investment Act

The Carbon Tax Meets the Suburbs: Projecting the Equity Impacts of New York’s Proposed Climate and Community Investment Act

Author:
David Wiczer, Christopher Sellers
Published:
October 29, 2021
By David Wiczer (Economics, Stony Brook University) and Christopher Sellers (History, Stony Brook University) The carbon tax, long hailed as among the most promising means for ...
EDGI’s Fifth Birthday Celebration

EDGI’s Fifth Birthday Celebration

EDGI is five years old! To celebrate, we hosted a virtual celebration on Wednesday, November 3, to reflect on our progress and growth: from an ...
Join us to celebrate: EDGI at Five Years

Join us to celebrate: EDGI at Five Years

REGISTER On Wednesday, November 3, 2021, from 8-9PM Eastern / 5-6PM Pacific, EDGI will hold a birthday celebration of our fifth year as an organization! ...
Code With EDGI! Environmental Enforcement Watch Does #Hacktoberfest2021

Code With EDGI! Environmental Enforcement Watch Does #Hacktoberfest2021

Author:
Kelsey Breseman, Steve Hansen
Published:
October 22, 2021
On Wednesday, October 27 at 1PM Eastern/4PM Pacific, the Environmental Data Governance Initiative’s Environmental Enforcement Watch (EEW) will hold an event as part of Hacktoberfest, ...
EPA Changes Up Its Climate Change Website

EPA Changes Up Its Climate Change Website

Author:
Website Monitoring Team
Published:
October 5, 2021
The Environmental Protection Agency’s “Climate Change” website homepage. The green box highlights a paragraph added in August 2021 about the agency’s commitment to environmental justice ...
EDGI is Hiring! Development Lead - Half-time

EDGI is Hiring! Development Lead – Half-time

Published:
September 28, 2021
Job Posting: Development Lead – Part-time Anticipated start date: November 15, 2021 Compensation: $37.86 per hour; half-time employment with retirement contributions and paid vacation, holiday, ...
What’s in My Watershed? A Tool for Community Analysis of Water Pollution and Polluters

What’s in My Watershed? A Tool for Community Analysis of Water Pollution and Polluters

Author:
Eric Nost, Megan Raisle, Steve Hansen, Kelsey Breseman, Lourdes Vera, Sara Wylie, and EDGI
Published:
September 23, 2021
EDGI’s Environmental Enforcement Watch (EEW) has created a new data science tool for analyzing federal environmental data at the watershed level. Above is an example ...
EDGI is hiring! Systems Administrator — Part-Time

EDGI is hiring! Systems Administrator — Part-Time

Job Posting: Systems Administrator — Part-time   Expected hours: 8-10 hours per weekCompensation: $37.86 per hour   Anticipated start date: October 1, 2021 Location: Fully remote Position ...
Prioritizing Accessibility for Online Events

Prioritizing Accessibility for Online Events

Author:
Leslie Alanis
Published:
September 2, 2021
EDGI uses a spreadsheet of potential accommodations and associated to-dos for improving the accessibility of virtual events. By Leslie Alanis Using funding from Code for ...
EDGI Urges White House Scientific Integrity Task Force to Improve Public Information Policies

EDGI Urges White House Scientific Integrity Task Force to Improve Public Information Policies

Author:
Shannan Lenke Stoll
Published:
July 29, 2021
Image shows the call for information posted on EPA’s website. EDGI Urges White House Scientific Integrity Task Force to Improve Public Information Policies  In response ...
A New Chapter for Enforcement at the EPA? 

A New Chapter for Enforcement at the EPA? 

Author:
Leif Fredrickson
Timeline of enforcement at the EPA from A People’s EPA’s new history of EPA enforcement. By Leif Fredrickson A New Chapter for Enforcement at the ...
EDGI is hiring! Organizational Coordinator — Part-Time

EDGI is hiring! Organizational Coordinator — Part-Time

Published:
July 20, 2021
Job Posting: Organizational Coordinator — Part-time   Expected hours: 15 hours per week (with potential to grow) Compensation: $29,533.5 per year, which is .375 FTE of ...
Environmental Enforcement Watch’s Report Portal Project is Funded by ESIP Lab Grant

Environmental Enforcement Watch’s Report Portal Project is Funded by ESIP Lab Grant

Author:
Kelsey Breseman
Published:
July 14, 2021
Above is an app still in development. The web portal is being developed by the Environmental Enforcement Watch to make reports and tools more accessible ...
¿Justicia Ambiental para Quién? La Inaccesibilidad de los Datos Ambientales para las Comunidades Latinas

¿Justicia Ambiental para Quién? La Inaccesibilidad de los Datos Ambientales para las Comunidades Latinas

Author:
Lourdes Vera and Leslie Alanis
Published:
June 21, 2021
El mes pasado, el 13 de mayo, el Environmental Enforcement Watch (EEW) de EDGI organizó un evento en línea acerca de los obstáculos que enfrentan ...
Environmental Justice for Whom? The Inaccessibility of Environmental Data for Latinx Communities

Environmental Justice for Whom? The Inaccessibility of Environmental Data for Latinx Communities

On May 13, EDGI’s Environmental Enforcement Watch (EEW) hosted an online event about the obstacles Latinx Communities face with accessibility to environmental information ...
EDGI Joins the Scientific Integrity Reporting Project

EDGI Joins the Scientific Integrity Reporting Project

Published:
June 16, 2021
We’ve seen how political interference has impacted science over the last few years and throughout the pandemic. Today, EDGI is excited to announce that we're ...
EDGI Receives Sustaining Grant from David & Lucile Packard Foundation

EDGI Receives Sustaining Grant from David & Lucile Packard Foundation

Published:
June 1, 2021
EDGI is honored to announce that the David & Lucile Packard Foundation has awarded us a generous grant to sustain and expand our work over ...
EDGI is hiring! UX Designer — Part-Time

EDGI is hiring! UX Designer — Part-Time

Published:
June 1, 2021
UX Designer EDGI is hiring a short-term user experience designer to help us imagine and create a map-based interactive website for members of the public ...
EDGI is hiring! Web Developer — Part-Time

EDGI is hiring! Web Developer — Part-Time

Published:
June 1, 2021
Web Developer EDGI is hiring a short-term web developer to assist in the maintenance and improvement of the website for our Environmental Enforcement Watch (EEW) ...
Environmental Enforcement Watch Hosts Public Open Hour to Discuss Challenges with Environmental Data

Environmental Enforcement Watch Hosts Public Open Hour to Discuss Challenges with Environmental Data

Author:
Lourdes Vera, Kelsey Breseman
Published:
May 18, 2021
On Thursday, April 29th, EDGI’s Environmental Enforcement Watch project (EEW) hosted our first open hour of the year to provide a networking space and structured ...

EDGI’s Public Comment on EPA’s NPDES Renewal for Chelsea Creek

Author:
Environmental Enforcement Watch team
Published:
May 10, 2021
Chelsea River, aka Chelsea Creek, is the site of seven oil storage facilities whose permits, issued by EPA Region 1 under National Pollutant Discharge Elimination ...
A Green New Deal for Environmental Data

A Green New Deal for Environmental Data

Author:
Eric Nost, Sara Wylie, Kelsey Breseman, Gretchen Gehrke, Chris Sellers, Lourdes Vera, Lauren Richter, Becky Mansfield, and Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI)
We propose a set of policies that support these aims through better data practice: a Green New Deal for environmental data ...
EDGI’s New Code of Conduct Emphasizes Restorative Justice

EDGI’s New Code of Conduct Emphasizes Restorative Justice

Author:
Kelsey Breseman
Published:
April 20, 2021
By Kelsey Breseman EDGI is proud to announce an all-new Code of Conduct: EDGI Code of Conduct. The new Code places fresh emphasis on the ...
Upcoming Webinar: From Besieged to Bolstered? The Biden Environmental Transition

Upcoming Webinar: From Besieged to Bolstered? The Biden Environmental Transition

Author:
Chris Sellers
Published:
April 8, 2021
On Wednesday, April 14, from 2:30 - 4PM Eastern, come join us for the webinar, "From Besieged to Bolstered? The Biden Environmental Transition." ...
How the Biden Administration Can Protect Public Environmental Information

How the Biden Administration Can Protect Public Environmental Information

Just one week into Biden's presidency, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced its intent to review the effectiveness of scientific ...
EDGI’s Data Program Examines the Role of Environmental Data Governance Through the Lenses of Power, Justice, and Equity

EDGI’s Data Program Examines the Role of Environmental Data Governance Through the Lenses of Power, Justice, and Equity

Author:
Kelsey Breseman
Published:
March 23, 2021
EDGI’s data program examines the role of environmental data and its governance through the lenses of power, justice, and equity: Which communities are invited to ...
Say Goodbye to the Obama Era “All of the Above” Energy Approach

Say Goodbye to the Obama Era “All of the Above” Energy Approach

Author:
Web Monitoring Team
Published:
March 22, 2021
The BLM has removed the phrase “all of the above energy approach.” The image on the left shows BLM’s “Energy and Minerals” webpage on January ...
In Advance of Haaland Confirmation, DOI Overhauls Its Priorities

In Advance of Haaland Confirmation, DOI Overhauls Its Priorities

Author:
Web Monitoring Team
Published:
March 16, 2021
Between January 20 and February 28, 2021, the Department of the Interior (DOI) overhauled its stated priorities. The DOI’s priorities, as listed on its “Our ...
EPA Indicates Bold Support for Scientific Integrity on Its Website

EPA Indicates Bold Support for Scientific Integrity on Its Website

Author:
Web Monitoring Team
Published:
March 8, 2021
The “EPA Actions to Address PFAS” webpage was changed to reflect EPA career scientists’ conclusions about the latest toxicity assessment for PFBS guidelines and their ...
Climate Silence and the Trump Administration’s Censorship of Federal Environmental Agency Websites

Climate Silence and the Trump Administration’s Censorship of Federal Environmental Agency Websites

Published:
March 4, 2021
A new paper by the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) summarizes how the Trump administration took unprecedented steps to censor climate change-related information—including by ...
New Report Shows Pattern Under Trump of Federal Agencies Removing Public Information Prior to Environmental Proceedings

New Report Shows Pattern Under Trump of Federal Agencies Removing Public Information Prior to Environmental Proceedings

Author:
Shannan Lenke Stoll
Published:
February 25, 2021
Today, the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) releases Access Denied: Federal Web Governance Under the Trump Administration. The report examines the Trump administration’s management ...
EDGI supports Internet Archive’s Decentralized Web Principles

EDGI supports Internet Archive’s Decentralized Web Principles

Author:
Kelsey Breseman
Published:
February 19, 2021
By Kelsey Breseman EDGI began back in 2016, when a massive data-saving movement launched in response to the realization that critical scientific data would be ...
Since Biden’s Inauguration, Environmental Enforcement Has New Place of Prominence on the EPA’s Homepage

Since Biden’s Inauguration, Environmental Enforcement Has New Place of Prominence on the EPA’s Homepage

Author:
Web Monitoring Team
Published:
February 18, 2021
Beginning January 25th, 2021, EPA’s top webpage epa.gov includes a clickable black and yellow image to report environmental violations ...
Goodbye Homeland Security, Hello Emergency Response: EPA Renames a Major Research Initiative

Goodbye Homeland Security, Hello Emergency Response: EPA Renames a Major Research Initiative

Author:
Web Monitoring Team
Published:
February 15, 2021
Between January 4, 2021 (left) and January 19, 2021 (right), EPA’s Homeland Security Research webpage began redirecting to a new webpage, Emergency Response Research. Welcome! ...
EDGI Releases Dataset of Federal Environmental Website Changes Under Trump

EDGI Releases Dataset of Federal Environmental Website Changes Under Trump

February 10, 2021 — Today, the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) publishes searchable records of approximately 1,500 changes to federal agency environmental webpages under ...
How EDGI’s Website Monitoring Team Uses an Open Source Tool to Identify Website Changes—and How You Can, Too

How EDGI’s Website Monitoring Team Uses an Open Source Tool to Identify Website Changes—and How You Can, Too

Author:
Alejandro Paz and Gretchen Gehrke
Published:
February 3, 2021
By Alejandro Paz and Gretchen Gehrke Website monitoring is critical for raising public awareness about federal management of public information. In 2017, EDGI’s website monitoring ...
EPA Administrator Pick Michael Regan’s Enforcement Track Record is Promising

EPA Administrator Pick Michael Regan’s Enforcement Track Record is Promising

Author:
Eric Nost, Gretchen Gehrke, Kelsey Breseman, EDGI
Published:
January 25, 2021
Michael Regan was nominated to be US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator by then-President-elect Biden in December 2020 and will face Senate confirmation in the ...
EDGI Wins $20,000 to Co-Develop Environmental Data Infrastructures With Community Groups

EDGI Wins $20,000 to Co-Develop Environmental Data Infrastructures With Community Groups

Author:
Kelsey Breseman
Panel speakers at EEW’s public event “Democratizing Environmental Data” in October 2020 The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) is excited to announce receipt of ...
Why a Small Change to an EPA Webpage on Drinking Water Chemical Advisories Matters

Why a Small Change to an EPA Webpage on Drinking Water Chemical Advisories Matters

Author:
Website Monitoring Team
Published:
January 11, 2021
This week’s change occurred between May and July 2018 and is about a sentence that was added to an EPA webpage about drinking water health ...
Undermining the Importance of the U.S. Global Change Research Program Efforts to Address Climate Change

Undermining the Importance of the U.S. Global Change Research Program Efforts to Address Climate Change

Author:
Web Monitoring Team
Published:
December 21, 2020
The U.S. Global Change Research Program “USGCRP’s Role” webpage (shown on the left) became a restricted access page after March 5, 2018 (shown on the ...
Building Just, Equitable, and Effective Environmental Governance Under Biden

Building Just, Equitable, and Effective Environmental Governance Under Biden

When President elect Joe Biden and Vice-President elect Kamala Harris take office on January 20, 2021, they will need to respond quickly to the compounding ...
Biden’s Pick for the Office of Public Engagement, Cedric Richmond, Profits While Polluting Industries in His District Avoid Culpability

Biden’s Pick for the Office of Public Engagement, Cedric Richmond, Profits While Polluting Industries in His District Avoid Culpability

Author:
Sky Murphy, Megan Raisle, Steve Hansen, Kelsey Breseman, Cole Alder, Sara Wylie
Environmental Enforcement Watch’s new report card on EPA enforcement in Cedric Richmond’s district between 2001 and 2019 adds to the public understanding and discussion around ...
Fifty Years After the EPA’s Formation, EDGI Releases A People’s EPA

Fifty Years After the EPA’s Formation, EDGI Releases A People’s EPA

Published:
December 9, 2020
Today the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) launches a collaborative digital project, A People’s EPA (APE). Since December 1970, Congress has charged the Environmental ...
EDGI is hiring! Development Director — Part-Time

EDGI is hiring! Development Director — Part-Time

Job Posting: Development Director — Part-time Dates: February 1, 2021 – August 31, 2021 Compensation: $48 per hour Expected hours: 20 hours per week Location: ...
Only One EPA Web Resource Has Been Restored — Entirely Scrubbed of Climate Change Content

Only One EPA Web Resource Has Been Restored — Entirely Scrubbed of Climate Change Content

Author:
Website Monitoring Team
Published:
December 1, 2020
The “Climate and Energy Resources for State, Local, and Tribal Governments” website (left) was replaced with the “Energy Resources for State, Local, and Tribal Governments” ...
Change of the Week: Story of Clean Power Plan Website Removal Underscores Need for Better Information Policies

Change of the Week: Story of Clean Power Plan Website Removal Underscores Need for Better Information Policies

Author:
Website Monitoring Team
This week’s change of the week was made in April 2017 and features the redirecting of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan website to a single ...
Democratizing Data Reports Released by EDGI's Environmental Enforcement Watch

Democratizing Data Reports Released by EDGI’s Environmental Enforcement Watch

Published:
October 23, 2020
Seventy-six congressional report cards released by Environmental Data & Governance Initiative’s Environmental Enforcement Watch on October 22, 2020, show a decline in compliance and enforcement ...
Making a public dataset: reviewing and reclassifying changes to federal environmental webpages

Making a public dataset: reviewing and reclassifying changes to federal environmental webpages

Author:
Alejandro Paz
Blog written by Alejandro Paz Lead image shows the HTML source code comparison for two versions of the same page, on which “greenhouse gas emissions ...
Change of the Week: It’s the two-year anniversary of EPA abandoning its Climate Change website “updates”

Change of the Week: It’s the two-year anniversary of EPA abandoning its Climate Change website “updates”

Welcome! This post is part of the EDGI Website Monitoring Team’s “Change of the Week” blog series. The purpose of this series is to highlight ...
Change of the Week: Stripping information and stripping protections for migratory birds

Change of the Week: Stripping information and stripping protections for migratory birds

Author:
Website Monitoring Team
Published:
October 12, 2020
Welcome! This post is part of the EDGI Website Monitoring Team’s “Change of the Week” blog series. The purpose of this series is to highlight ...
Change of the Week: Budget Info Goes Missing at DOI

Change of the Week: Budget Info Goes Missing at DOI

Author:
Website Monitoring Team
Published:
September 29, 2020
This week’s change was made in spring 2020 and features the removal of all past years’ budget documents on DOI’s “Budget Justifications” webpage. For more ...
Change of the Week: Coronavirus website downplays need for testing

Change of the Week: Coronavirus website downplays need for testing

Author:
Website Monitoring Team
Published:
September 21, 2020
This post is part of the EDGI Website Monitoring Team’s “Change of the Week” blog series. This week’s change was made in late August 2020 ...
Bio-Lab's Toxic Record Presages Chlorine-Fueled Fire Following Hurricane Laura

Bio-Lab’s Toxic Record Presages Chlorine-Fueled Fire Following Hurricane Laura

Author:
Maalvika Bhat, Sara Wylie, Megan Raisle, Eric Nost, Cole Alder and EDGI
Published:
September 17, 2020
The blaze at Bio-Lab following Hurricane Laura was not the first release of toxic chlorine from the facility, EDGI’s research into available federal data finds ...
Change of the Week: Any idea why fighting wildfires is getting harder?

Change of the Week: Any idea why fighting wildfires is getting harder?

Author:
Website Monitoring Team
Published:
September 8, 2020
This week's change was made in June 2017 and features the removal of the only sentences about climate change on the U.S. Forest Service's Wildland ...
Practicing Our Right to Know, Together — Review of EEW Congressional Report Card Workshops to Date

Practicing Our Right to Know, Together — Review of EEW Congressional Report Card Workshops to Date

Author:
Cole Alder, Leslie Alanis, Megan Raisle, Eric Nost, Kelsey Breseman, Sara Wylie
Published:
September 2, 2020
Last Thursday 20+ organizers, students, activists and academics gathered for the second of four online workshops to practice our right to know about environmental hazards ...
Change of the Week: Chipping away at methane information

Change of the Week: Chipping away at methane information

Author:
Website Monitoring Team
Published:
August 31, 2020
This week’s change was made in 2017 and features the subtle removal of the lead-in sentence about methane from the EPA’s Overview of Greenhouse Gases ...
Change of the Week: Access Changes to Air Research Tools

Change of the Week: Access Changes to Air Research Tools

Author:
Website Monitoring Team
Published:
August 24, 2020
This week’s change is from earlier this summer and features a link removal from the EPA’s Air Research homepage. What happened? The main change of ...
EDGI is hiring! Communications Coordinator — Part-Time

EDGI is hiring! Communications Coordinator — Part-Time

Author:
EDGI Team
Published:
August 19, 2020
The Communications Coordinator will develop and implement the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative’s (EDGI’s) communications strategy, with a specific focus to ensure that EDGI’s work ...
Change of the Week: Let’s just not mention the rising number of COVID-19 cases…

Change of the Week: Let’s just not mention the rising number of COVID-19 cases…

Author:
Website Monitoring Team
Published:
August 17, 2020
This week’s change is from earlier this summer and features a removal from the Coronavirus.gov “How It Spreads” FAQ webpage. What happened? The question and ...
More Permission to Pollute: The Decline of EPA Enforcement and Industry Compliance during COVID

More Permission to Pollute: The Decline of EPA Enforcement and Industry Compliance during COVID

Author:
Eric Nost, Kelsey Breseman, Steve Hansen, Leslie Alanis, Megan Raisle, Lourdes Vera, Maalvika Bhat, Sara Wylie, Sung-Gheel (Gil) Jang, and EDGI
Published:
August 13, 2020
On March 26, 2020, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a policy memo suspending pollution monitoring requirements for industries that claim to have been ...
EDGI's Public Comment on the NCA5 Draft Prospectus: Build on the strong foundation of NCA 4 and increase information utility in the NCA5

EDGI’s Public Comment on the NCA5 Draft Prospectus: Build on the strong foundation of NCA 4 and increase information utility in the NCA5

Author:
Gretchen Gehrke and the Website Monitoring Team
Published:
August 10, 2020
Image: Hurricane Matthew, 2018. Courtesy of WXshift. Comment compiled by Gretchen Gehrke and the EDGI Website Monitoring Team Introduction The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative ...
Financial Transparency is Dwindling at DOI

Financial Transparency is Dwindling at DOI

Author:
Gretchen Gehrke, Marcy Beck, Alejandro Paz
Published:
July 31, 2020
There has been a significant reduction in the financial transparency of the Department of the Interior (DOI). Between April and May 2020, DOI removed the ...
Joe Biden’s Clean Energy Plan Speech — Annotated

Joe Biden’s Clean Energy Plan Speech — Annotated

Author:
Scout Blum, Jay Turner
Published:
July 29, 2020
In this annotation, the Environmental History Action Collaborative — a group of environmental historians and scholars – furnishes context and provides fact checking to allow ...
Meet the Interns: Environmental Enforcement Watch

Meet the Interns: Environmental Enforcement Watch

Author:
Casey Greenleaf, Cole Alder, Gabrielle Trudo, Leslie Alanis, Maalvika Bhat, and Megan Raisle
Published:
July 24, 2020
Environmental Enforcement Watch (EEW) is EDGI's latest project. A collaborative effort across several of our working groups, EEW is a series of online workshops aimed ...
DOI Adds “Recreation” Priority and Webpage, Continues to Lack Meaningful Focus on Other Priorities

DOI Adds “Recreation” Priority and Webpage, Continues to Lack Meaningful Focus on Other Priorities

Author:
Jesse Divalli, Sara Wylie, Gretchen Gehrke, EDGI
Published:
June 16, 2020
Over the last year, the Department of Interior (DOI) has adopted a new priority: through the creation of a new webpage and a series of ...
Evolving Language on DOI Webpages Shifts Focus from Long-term Conservation to Economic Growth

Evolving Language on DOI Webpages Shifts Focus from Long-term Conservation to Economic Growth

Author:
Gretchen Gehrke, Marcy Beck, Grace Poudrier, EDGI
Published:
June 15, 2020
Over the last three years, the Department of the Interior (DOI), which manages more than 20% of the nation’s land, has been altering its public ...
EDGI in the Time of COVID

EDGI in the Time of COVID

Author:
Kelsey Breseman, Stephanie Knutson, EDGI
Published:
June 12, 2020
Though no field of work is un-disrupted by the global pandemic, EDGI has largely been a site of stability for its members — volunteers, paid ...
EDGI Urges EPA to Withdraw its Ill-Conceived 'Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science' Proposed Rule

EDGI Urges EPA to Withdraw its Ill-Conceived ‘Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science’ Proposed Rule

Author:
Gretchen Gehrke and Marcy Beck
Published:
May 13, 2020
The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI) has submitted a public comment on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) regarding ...
An Embattled Landscape Series, Part 2b: The Declining Capacity of Federal Environmental Science

An Embattled Landscape Series, Part 2b: The Declining Capacity of Federal Environmental Science

Author:
Chris Sellers, Marianne Sullivan, Kelsey Breseman, Eric Nost, and EDGI
Published:
May 7, 2020
Over the past three and a half years, the Trump administration has engaged in a historically unprecedented campaign to shrink our government’s capacity for reliable, ...
EDGI is hiring! Paid Summer Research Internships

EDGI is hiring! Paid Summer Research Internships

Author:
EDGI
Published:
May 2, 2020
EDGI is hiring summer research interns to assist in coordinating a public online research project investigating patterns in violations of federal environmental regulations and enforcement ...
EDGI is Hiring! Interview Curator and Research Assistantships

EDGI is Hiring! Interview Curator and Research Assistantships

Author:
EDGI
Published:
April 27, 2020
The Policy Monitoring/Interviewing Working Group of the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative is seeking to fill a part-time Interview Curator position as well as part-time ...
EPA’s COVID-19 Leniency is a Free Pass to Pollute

EPA’s COVID-19 Leniency is a Free Pass to Pollute

Author:
Kelsey Breseman, Eric Nost, Gretchen Gehrke, Chris Sellers, Marcy Beck, Lourdes Vera, EDGI
Published:
April 14, 2020
Contributors: Kelsey Breseman, Eric Nost, Gretchen Gehrke, Chris Sellers, Marcy Beck, Lourdes Vera, EDGI On March 26, 2020 EPA released a memo suspending permit enforcement ...
Collaborative Authorship: EDGI’s Values-First Approach to Attribution

Collaborative Authorship: EDGI’s Values-First Approach to Attribution

Author:
Kelsey Breseman, Stephanie Knutson, EDGI
Published:
April 2, 2020
By Kelsey Breseman, Stephanie Knutson, EDGI One of this year’s initiatives for EDGI’s working group on organizational structure is to more publicly share some of ...
EDGI's Take on Proposed Revisions Undercutting the Migratory Bird Treaty Act

EDGI’s Take on Proposed Revisions Undercutting the Migratory Bird Treaty Act

Author:
Marcy Beck, Gretchen Gehrke, and Aaron Lemelin
Published:
March 30, 2020
Photo: Jeffrey Hamilton By Marcy Beck, Gretchen Gehrke, and Aaron Lemelin EDGI welcomed the opportunity to comment on​ the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) ...
An Embattled Landscape Series, Part 2a: Coronavirus and the Three-Year Trump Quest to Slash Science at the CDC

An Embattled Landscape Series, Part 2a: Coronavirus and the Three-Year Trump Quest to Slash Science at the CDC

Author:
By Christopher Sellers, Leif Fredrickson, Alissa Cordner, Kelsey Breseman, Eric Nost, Kelly Wilkins, and EDGI
Published:
March 24, 2020
By Christopher Sellers, Leif Fredrickson, Alissa Cordner, Kelsey Breseman, Eric Nost, Kelly Wilkins, and EDGI Executive Summary The administration of President Donald Trump has repeatedly ...
EDGI/EHAC Critiques Trump Admin's Efforts to Weaken the National Environmental Policy Act

EDGI/EHAC Critiques Trump Admin’s Efforts to Weaken the National Environmental Policy Act

Author:
Pete Andrews, Gretchen Gehrke, Emily Pawley, Keith Pluymers, Chris Sellers, Adam M. Sowards, Ellen Griffith Spears, and Jay Turner
Published:
March 14, 2020
In January 2020, the Trump administration proposed dramatic regulatory changes that, if instituted, will undermine one of the nation’s most effective environmental laws, the National ...
EDGI Coauthors Data Risk Categorization Paper with ESIP

EDGI Coauthors Data Risk Categorization Paper with ESIP

Author:
Kelsey Breseman, EDGI
Published:
March 11, 2020
By: Kelsey Breseman, EDGI The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) formed as an emergency effort to ensure public climate data stayed available in 2016, ...
EDGI Supports OSTP’s Effort to Improve Access to Federally Funded Research

EDGI Supports OSTP’s Effort to Improve Access to Federally Funded Research

Author:
Gretchen Gehrke, Grace Poudrier, Steven Gentry, Rob Brackett, Kelsey Breseman
Published:
March 9, 2020
Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) Response to the Request for Public Comment on Draft Desirable Characteristics of Repositories for Managing and Sharing Data Resulting ...
An Embattled Landscape: Federal Environmental Science Integrity in the United States Today, A Three Part Series — Part 1: Targeting Scientific Influence on Policy

An Embattled Landscape: Federal Environmental Science Integrity in the United States Today, A Three Part Series — Part 1: Targeting Scientific Influence on Policy

Author:
By Chris Sellers, Kelsey Breseman, Leif Fredrickson, EDGI 
Published:
March 1, 2020
By Chris Sellers, Kelsey Breseman, Leif Fredrickson, EDGI Abstract: Throughout the history of U.S. environmental legislation, science has rightly served as our main touchstone for ...
Radical Org: Prototyping Alternative Organizational Structures

Radical Org: Prototyping Alternative Organizational Structures

Author:
Kelsey Breseman, EDGI
Published:
January 25, 2020
By Kelsey Breseman, EDGI EDGI initially formed as a reaction to a presidential election, but has matured to fill an ongoing need for public accountability ...
EDGI is now an ESIP Partner

EDGI is now an ESIP Partner

Author:
Kelsey Breseman
Published:
January 22, 2020
By Kelsey Breseman EDGI is proud to announce that we are now officially a partner of the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP). The partnership was ...
Remarks by President Trump on Proposed National Environmental Policy Act Regulations — Annotated

Remarks by President Trump on Proposed National Environmental Policy Act Regulations — Annotated

Published:
January 15, 2020
INSTRUCTIONS: To see the annotations, click on the text that is highlighted in yellow below; the relevant annotations will then appear on the right side ...
Articulating Values as Technologists: the Data Together Reading Group

Articulating Values as Technologists: the Data Together Reading Group

Author:
Kelsey Breseman
Published:
January 14, 2020
By Kelsey Breseman Heather: What is it we go into decentralization wanting, and what is it capable of doing? Kelsey: When we talk about decentralization ...
What EDGI Archived Before ToxMap and ToxNet Went Offline

What EDGI Archived Before ToxMap and ToxNet Went Offline

Author:
Kelsey Breseman, EDGI
Published:
December 18, 2019
By Kelsey Breseman, EDGI As of December 2019, ToxMap and ToxNet are being retired from the National Library of Medicines website maintained by the National ...
Goodbye to ToxMap–and Our Environmental Right-to-Know

Goodbye to ToxMap–and Our Environmental Right-to-Know

Author:
Chris Sellers, EDGI
Published:
December 11, 2019
On December 16, the National Library of Medicine is retiring the revelatory environmental mapping tool known as ToxMap.  Ever so quietly, the door will close ...
New Report: Web Governance Analysis of Unconventional Oil and Gas Extraction Effluent Guidelines

New Report: Web Governance Analysis of Unconventional Oil and Gas Extraction Effluent Guidelines

Author:
Gretchen Gehrke, Marcy Beck, Alejandro Paz, Sara Wylie, Kelly Wilkins, and Kelsey Breseman
Published:
December 3, 2019
By: Gretchen Gehrke, Marcy Beck, Alejandro Paz, Sara Wylie, Kelly Wilkins, and Kelsey Breseman EDGI’s Website Monitoring team has just published the first of a ...
EJxYouth Summit Speakers: We Aren't Waiting for Adults — We're Leading the Way

EJxYouth Summit Speakers: We Aren’t Waiting for Adults — We’re Leading the Way

By Kelly Wilkins and Kelsey Breseman This month EDGI hosted an environmental justice youth summit in partnership with the Environmental Chelsea Organizers, or ECO, a ...
Remarks by President Trump on America’s Environmental Leadership - Annotated

Remarks by President Trump on America’s Environmental Leadership – Annotated

The rationales offered by the Trump Administration for withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement echo a widely publicized speech by Trump in July 2019 that ...
Examples of Changes to the EPA Website that Undermine Public Access to Scientific Information

Examples of Changes to the EPA Website that Undermine Public Access to Scientific Information

By EDGI’s Website Monitoring Team There have been substantial changes to the EPA website during the Trump administration that negatively impact the quality of information ...
Announcements! Rollout of Environmental Data Justice Syllabus and Upcoming EJxYouth Summit Online Event

Announcements! Rollout of Environmental Data Justice Syllabus and Upcoming EJxYouth Summit Online Event

Authors: EDJ Working Group What is Environmental Data Justice (EDJ)? How are people and projects creating more just futures working with and against environmental data? ...
New Report Analyzes Changes to Climate Topics Across Thousands of US Federal Agency Websites

New Report Analyzes Changes to Climate Topics Across Thousands of US Federal Agency Websites

Authors: Eric Nost, Gretchen Gehrke, Aaron Lemelin, Marcy Beck, Steven Braun, Garance Malivel, and EDGI In EDGI’s latest report, “The New Digital Landscape,” we build ...
Update of Sheep in the Closet Report -- EPA Enforcement Record in the Trump Administration through Fiscal Year 2018

Update of Sheep in the Closet Report — EPA Enforcement Record in the Trump Administration through Fiscal Year 2018

By Leif Fredrickson Last year EDGI started looking into the Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement policies, practices and metrics, after our confidential interviewing project with agency ...
'Environmental Data Justice: Vision and Values' Event

‘Environmental Data Justice: Vision and Values’ Event

A summary by Garance Malivel & the EDJ Working Group On February 28th, 2019, the Environmental Data Justice (EDJ) Working Group hosted its first online ...
EDGI Releases 2019 Annual Report

EDGI Releases 2019 Annual Report

EDGI has just released its 2019 Annual Report. We’ve grown and matured as an organization, and have been busy over the past year, continuing to ...
Using Visualization to Illuminate Shifting Climate Rhetorics

Using Visualization to Illuminate Shifting Climate Rhetorics

Written by Steven Braun As an information designer and visualizer of data, I am often tasked with an important challenge: developing a visual language to ...
EPA MUST PROVIDE MORE ACCESSIBLE AND INFORMATIVE RESOURCES FOR AUTHENTIC PUBLIC COMMENT

EPA MUST PROVIDE MORE ACCESSIBLE AND INFORMATIVE RESOURCES FOR AUTHENTIC PUBLIC COMMENT

Image by skeeze from Pixabay Public Comment by Gretchen Gehrke and Rebecca Lave EDGI WOTUS Rule Public Comment ...
Worked for “entities accused of violating DOI regulations” and other omissions in the (Nominated) Secretary for the Interior, David Bernhardt's, Official Bio.

Worked for “entities accused of violating DOI regulations” and other omissions in the (Nominated) Secretary for the Interior, David Bernhardt’s, Official Bio.

Authors: Jesse DiValli, Sara Wylie, Gretchen Gehrke The Department of Interior’s (DOI) biography page for David Bernhardt, the nominee for Secretary of the Interior, omits ...
The Grouse's Unique Mating Ritual | America the Beautiful

Sage Grouse Informational Resources on BLM Website Inadequate for Public Participation in Management Plan Amendments

Image credit: Bob Wick Report: Reduction in Access to Sage Grouse Conservation Information and Resource on BLM Websites The sage grouse, an iconic bird of ...
Climate Change Information Gone from DOI Website

Climate Change Information Gone from DOI Website

By Gretchen Gehrke  EDGI Report: DOI Further Restricts Access to Climate Change Web Pages The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) manages approximately one-fifth of ...
Fish and Wildlife Service removed online resources after controversial opinion on incidental take

Fish and Wildlife Service removed online resources after controversial opinion on incidental take

Image: A capture of FWS.gov’s 404 error page. Users will no longer be able to access the site’s “Incidental Take” page. Blog by Aaron Lemelin, ...
EDGI's Congressional Testimony for Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Hearing: “EPA Enforcement: Taking the Environmental Cop off the Beat”

EDGI’s Congressional Testimony for Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Hearing: “EPA Enforcement: Taking the Environmental Cop off the Beat”

C_Seller_EDGI_Testimony_&_Appendix_2_26_19_E&CDownload On Tuesday February 26th Professor Chris Sellers from Stony Brook University testified on behalf of EDGI for the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on ...
EPA initiated fewer civil cases in 2018 than it has in over 35 years (and other red flags of weak enforcement)

EPA initiated fewer civil cases in 2018 than it has in over 35 years (and other red flags of weak enforcement)

2018 was one of the weakest, perhaps the weakest, enforcement year for the EPA in decades ...
Pollution and Hazardous Waste Reduction Is the Lowest on Record Under Trump’s EPA

Pollution and Hazardous Waste Reduction Is the Lowest on Record Under Trump’s EPA

Contrary to the EPA's recently released "Year in Review," we are not on a path to a safer, cleaner future ...
Which Environmental and Data Justice Projects Inspire You?

Which Environmental and Data Justice Projects Inspire You?

Which environmental and data justice projects inspire you? In these fraught times, new modes of activism, research, and partnership are called for to enable justice, ...
Recap from Data Together Annual Meeting

Recap from Data Together Annual Meeting

The scientific data on which so much of what we know is based—the data we need to make informed decisions about many of the most ...
EPA Discontinues Updates to Climate Change Websites

EPA Discontinues Updates to Climate Change Websites

After nearly 18 months with the EPA’s climate change website “being updated” behind closed doors, two weeks ago, the agency apparently decided to change course ...

AAR-9 EPA Discontinues Updates to Climate Change Websites

AAR 9 - EPA Climate Change Update Page - 181031 ...
We are Hiring a Part-Time System Administrator!

We are Hiring a Part-Time System Administrator!

We are searching for a remote part-time System Administrator to work on and support our Web Monitoring Platform, Scanner, used by our Web Monitoring Working ...
Join us November 3 for Lessons on FOIA and Environmental Information Access in the Trump Era

Join us November 3 for Lessons on FOIA and Environmental Information Access in the Trump Era

Seating is limited, please RSVP soon! On Saturday, November 3, Environmental Data & Governance Initiative members Jake Wylie and Kevin Nguyen will be speaking at an ...
Caging Nature, Caging Humans

Caging Nature, Caging Humans

For this guest post, EDGI has invited Dr. Mary E. Mendoza’s commentary on the border wall and justice for humans and non-humans alike. Mendoza calls ...
EPA’s Proposed Rule Uses the Idea of Transparency to Reduce Real Transparency and Delay Protecting Environmental and Public Health

EPA’s Proposed Rule Uses the Idea of Transparency to Reduce Real Transparency and Delay Protecting Environmental and Public Health

Public access to the data and models undergirding environmental regulation sounds appealing. But there are several reasons to think that the EPA’s call for “transparency” ...
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Awards Generous Grant to EDGI to Expand its Work

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Awards Generous Grant to EDGI to Expand its Work

EDGI is excited to announce that the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) has awarded us a generous grant to sustain and expand our work. Over ...
Volunteer Position: Website Monitoring Analyst

Volunteer Position: Website Monitoring Analyst

The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) is monitoring changes to information and data on federal websites to hold our government accountable. Interested? Contact Jake ...
EPA staff say the Trump administration is changing their mission from protecting human health and the environment to protecting industry

EPA staff say the Trump administration is changing their mission from protecting human health and the environment to protecting industry

The Environmental Protection Agency made news recently for excluding reporters from a “summit” meeting on chemical contamination in drinking water. Episodes like this are symptoms of a ...
Web Monitoring in the Classroom Builds Information Literacy, Civic Engagement

Web Monitoring in the Classroom Builds Information Literacy, Civic Engagement

As a student, did you ever ask yourself, What is the point of all this? When education feels disconnected from practical implications, it can be ...
Comment on the EPA's Proposed Rule to Repeal the Clean Power Plan Focuses on Access to Online Resources

Comment on the EPA’s Proposed Rule to Repeal the Clean Power Plan Focuses on Access to Online Resources

EDGI welcomed the opportunity to comment on​ the EPA’s Proposed Rule to repeal the Clean Power Plan (CPP) in April, 2018. Our comment document, Continued ...
Presidential Assaults on Environmental Health Protection

Paving the Way for Trump: Past Presidential Assaults on Environmental Health Protection

The Trump administration, including Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt, has undertaken an assault on environmental health protections. This assault includes deregulation, defunding, staff ...
EDGI Receives Grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation

EDGI Receives Grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Dear Readers, We write with the remarkable news that we have just received our first sustaining grant from the Packard Foundation for $500,000 to support ...
Internet Archive, Wayback Machine, San Francisco, partners

Touring the Internet Archive: Wayback Machine

Our partners at the Internet Archive: Wayback Machine invited EDGI over for lunch… The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, ...
Image Description: A PageFreezer logo with a document icon pictured inside a light blue, tilted ice cube

EDGI and PageFreezer, teaming up to archive environmental websites

Our collaboration with PageFreezer began on the eve of President Trump’s inauguration. Michael Riedijk heard about EDGI’s website archiving and monitoring efforts and reached out ...
Answering Questions About Accessibility Regulations and Access to Climate Action Plans

Answering Questions About Accessibility Regulations and Access to Climate Action Plans

In this guest post, Stephanie Rosen, the Accessibility Specialist for the University of Michigan Library, shares her thoughts on the recent removal of 92 documents ...
New report on January 10: Climate Change Web Content Under Trump

New report on January 10: Climate Change Web Content Under Trump

Report released: Changing the Digital Climate On January 10, 2018 the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) will release Changing the Digital Climate: How Climate ...
Climate Action Plans for National Parks Removed from Site Without Advance Explanation

Climate Action Plans for National Parks Removed from Site Without Advance Explanation

By members of EDGI’s Website Monitoring Team: Toly Rinberg, Gretchen Gehrke, Andrew Bergman, and Justin Schell Updated 12:00 pm ET December 22, 2017, following a ...

Join us Oct 26-27 for a two-day Data Together Sprint ??

On Thursday and Friday next week, Data Together is hosting a two-day sprint to come together and improve project documentation, update our website content, and ...
EPA’s Website Overhaul Continues: Climate Resources Left Out of the Update to the “Climate and Energy Resources for State, Local, and Tribal Governments” Website

EPA’s Website Overhaul Continues: Climate Resources Left Out of the Update to the “Climate and Energy Resources for State, Local, and Tribal Governments” Website

By members of EDGI’s Website Monitoring Team: Toly Rinberg, Andrew Bergman, and Eric Nost In the first example of returned content since the Environmental Protection ...
Removing Clean Power Plan Web Resources Undermines Public Engagement

Removing Clean Power Plan Web Resources Undermines Public Engagement

By Toly Rinberg and Andrew Bergman, members of EDGI’s Website Monitoring Committee Originally posted on the UCS Equation On Monday, Scott Pruitt, Administrator of the ...
Changes to USGS website highlight the importance of search for public access

Changes to USGS website highlight the importance of search for public access

By Toly Rinberg and Andrew Bergman, members of EDGI’s Website Monitoring Committee (Cross-posted on Sunlight Foundation) As has been true for decades, the ways public ...
Image Description: A picture of fallen trees draped with the American flag

EDGI Highlights Environmental Justice Implications in Part 2 of the First 100 Days and Counting

The first six months of the Trump Administration have reversed decades of progress toward environmental justice. The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI) continues its ...
Wrapping up Google Summer of Code 2017

Wrapping up Google Summer of Code 2017

EDGI is grateful to have participated in Google Summer of Code (GSoC) for the first time in 2017. Our mentoring team of six volunteer EDGI ...
Towards an Environmental Data Justice Statement: Initial Thoughts

Towards an Environmental Data Justice Statement: Initial Thoughts

On August 28 at Northeastern University in Boston, EDGI convened an interdisciplinary group of Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholars, civic tech practitioners, and community ...
Archivers screenshot

Google Summer of Code 2017: Harsh Baid – Data Visualizations

Written by Harsh Baid. Reblogged with permission from Harsh Baid’s Blog: http://harshbaid.com/blog/2017/working-with-edgi/ Introduction Over the past 3 months, as part of Google Summer of Code ...
Image Description: An image from a protest featuring a sign with Uncle Sam which reads “I Want You To Stand United: Diversity is Strength”

Environmental and Public Interest Groups Condemn Racist Violence and Intolerance in Charlottesville, Virginia

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A broad coalition of environmental, public health and public interest groups, including prominent African American and Latino organizations, issued the following joint ...
Image Description: A screenshot of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH) website with website changes highlighted in pink

Google Summer of Code 2017: Janak Raj Chadha – Web Monitoring Project

Written by Janak Raj Chadha. Identifying and Prioritizing Important Website Changes Introduction The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) is an international network of academics ...
Removals and Access Reductions on the USDA’s “Climate Hubs” Website Prompt Concerns About Transparency and Public Access

Removals and Access Reductions on the USDA’s “Climate Hubs” Website Prompt Concerns About Transparency and Public Access

By Members of EDGI’s Website Monitoring Committee: Andrew Bergman (@andmbergman), Toly Rinberg, and Gretchen Gehrke  (For inquiries, please contact edgi.websitemonitoring@protonmail.com) August 3, 2017 – Between the ...

EDGI at Web Archiving Week!

Three members of EDGI attended Web Archiving Week, #waweek2017, held in London from June 12 – 16, 2017. Located at the Senate House, University of ...
Join EDGI with the DataKind DataCorps

Join EDGI with the DataKind DataCorps

We are excited to announce that we will be working with DataKind and DataCorps volunteers in the coming months on “Filtering and Classification to Automate ...
EDGI awarded J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award by Society of American Archivists

EDGI awarded J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award by Society of American Archivists

EDGI is delighted to announce that we are the 2017 recipient of the J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award given by the Society of American ...

Missing EPA Endangerment Finding Web Resources Reignite Confusion: Continued Mismanagement Following the EPA Climate Change Website Overhaul

By EDGI’s Website Monitoring Committee: Toly Rinberg, Andrew Bergman, Maya Anjur-Dietrich, and Gretchen Gehrke (For inquiries, please contact edgi.websitemonitoring@protonmail.com) July 12, 2017 — On July 11, E&E ...
Cleaning up toxic sites shouldn’t clear out the neighbors

Cleaning up toxic sites shouldn’t clear out the neighbors

by Lindsey Dillon, EDGI Member, Op-Ed reblogged from The Conversation. Abandoned industrial buildings at San Francisco’s Pier 70, with a smokestack in the background. Lindsey ...
Next Phase of Archiving: Data Together

Next Phase of Archiving: Data Together

EDGI has been working diligently to plan for the future based on overwhelming and ongoing interest in data archiving and engagement with government data! Thanks ...
Overhaul of the EPA’s Clean Water Rule Website Removes Information and Reduces Public Access to Resources

Overhaul of the EPA’s Clean Water Rule Website Removes Information and Reduces Public Access to Resources

By EDGI’s Website Monitoring Committee: Gretchen Gehrke, Maya Anjur-Dietrich, Andrew Bergman, and Toly Rinberg (For inquiries, please contact edgi.websitemonitoring@protonmail.com) June 30, 2017 — On Tuesday, June ...
Recap on Mozilla Global Sprint

Recap on Mozilla Global Sprint

The EDGI tech team had a great time at the Mozilla Global Sprint from June 1-2, 2017! We identified some low-hanging fruit on our Web ...

EDGI’s new “Accomplishments” report is published!

EDGI just published a new report covering our activities since mid-November until the beginning of May! Some highlights: We’ve dramatically improved the Internet Archive’s “End-of-Term” ...
Errors in the January 19 snapshot of EPA.gov are problematic from transparency, data preservation, and information access standpoints and may have legal implications

Errors in the January 19 snapshot of EPA.gov are problematic from transparency, data preservation, and information access standpoints and may have legal implications

By Sarah Lamdan, Director of Legal Research, and members of the Website Tracking Committee: Andrew Bergman, Maya Anjur-Dietrich, Gretchen Gehrke, and Toly Rinberg (For inquiries, ...

The announced overhaul of EPA.gov has already begun and pages relating to climate change are currently inaccessible

Statement by EDGI’s Website Tracking Committee April 28, 2017 11:00 PM ET—This evening, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an overhaul of its ...
Image Description: A March for Science logo featuring Earth at the center of an atom that has three orbits colored teal, orange and blue from left to right

Join us Sat, April 22, and March for Science!

EDGI is excited to sign on as an official partner of the #MarchforScience! We support the march’s mission, goals, and diversity principles, and we’re committed ...

Launch of EDGI HONEST Act White Paper

EDGI’s recently published analysis and research shows that the passage of H.R. 1430, or HONEST Act, would block the EPA from using the data it ...

Scott Pruitt’s First Address to the EPA: As Annotated by EDGI

Below you will find an annotated guide to Scott Pruitt’s first address to the EPA on behalf of the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative. With ...
Protecting Climate Data in Times of Political Turmoil - A Report from Los Angeles

Protecting Climate Data in Times of Political Turmoil – A Report from Los Angeles

by The Southern California Climate Data Protection Project Countless historic settings have demanded archiving as a politically urgent tactic. In Nazi Germany individuals risked their ...
Building an Archive of Vulnerability: #GuerrillaArchiving at #UofT

Building an Archive of Vulnerability: #GuerrillaArchiving at #UofT

by Andrea Muehlebach Re-blogged from PPEHLAB Let me start with the basic fact of how important it is, perhaps now more than ever, to assemble ...
Field Report: Safeguarding environmental data through “Guerrilla Archiving”

Field Report: Safeguarding environmental data through “Guerrilla Archiving”

by Jessica Caporusso (York University) Environmentalists fear EPA data may change or disappear once Trump takes office. These hackers want to make sure it’s preserved ...
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Our first archive-a-thon tomorrow!

We are almost at 40 members! In just a couple weeks we have grown tremendously and received a wellspring of support. Our team now spans ...

More press than we can keep track of!

Yesterday Michelle Murphy, who is leading our Toronto event, fielded interviews from CNN, BBC, CBC, time, NPR, vice. It is too many to keep track ...