In response to the Trump administration’s rapid dismantling of federal websites, the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) has relaunched its Federal Environmental Web Tracker.
Information on the internet might seem like it’s there forever, but it’s only as permanent as people choose to make it. That’s apparent as the second Trump administration “floods the zone” with efforts to dismantle science agencies and the data and websites they use to communicate with the public. The targets range from public health and demographics to climate science.
On February 5th, EPA removed several web pages about the environmental justice mapping and screening tool, EJScreen, as well as the tool itself. These pages, which now cannot be accessed or simply say, “Sorry, but this web page does not exist,” include:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has renamed its “Climate Resilience” website to “Future Conditions,” and has removed much of the climate-specific language from the site’s landing page. For example, FEMA replaced the introductory sentence from “Climate change is the defining crisis of our time” to “Disaster incidents are rising due to increased human vulnerability, exposure and a changing climate.”
Less than three days after CEJST was taken offline, EDGI and fellow members of Public Environmental Data Partners (PEDP) stood up an unofficial but functional copy, restoring public access.
Governments worldwide collect and distribute data relevant to environmental challenges. For instance, the United States (US) federal government collects satellite imagery, climatological and weather records, and measurements of ambient chemical concentrations. Researchers routinely draw on these data to develop predictive models of conditions and potential interventions, while other groups leverage these data to advocate around specific issues that matter to them, like climate change.
In anticipation of a second and likely more significant assault on federal environmental information by the Trump administration, the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI) is ramping up its website monitoring work, coordinating a broad multi-organizational data preservation effort, and expanding its civic data science tools for accessing federal environmental data. EDGI is also supporting the End of Term Archive as it works to build the largest archive of federal web-based data and information ever created.
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Environmental governance is at a pivotal moment. With the shifting legal landscape over the last eight years, including the spate of Supreme Court (SCOTUS) rulings earlier this summer, environmental protections are being undermined from multiple angles. The future of environmental regulations and the regulatory state are perhaps more vulnerable than at any other time in recent history.