Public outreach, accessibility, and transparency are central to EDGI’s vision of good environmental governance; we apply the same aspirations for our own work. Documents appearing here reflect that commitment, with a report that recounts our early accomplishments and plans below.

EDGI Reports

Access Denied: Federal Web Governance Under the Trump Administration

Access Denied: Federal Web Governance Under the Trump Administration examines the Trump administration’s management of federal websites related to environmental regulation and makes recommendations for the Biden administration moving forward. Currently, there are few policies governing website content. This report highlights the need to address these gaps. It’s the most comprehensive report yet from EDGI’s website monitoring program. Since Trump ...
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Author:

Gretchen Gehrke, Marcy Beck, Alejandro Paz, Amy Wilson, Eric Nost, Grace Poudrier, EDGI

Published:

February 25, 2021

Democratizing Data: Environmental Enforcement Watch’s Report Cards for Congressional Oversight of the EPA

On October 22, 2020, EDGI released the Democratizing Data: Environmental Enforcement Watch’s Report Cards for Congressional Oversight of the EPA report and project. The summary report provides, for the first time, an analysis of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data on compliance with, and enforcement of, environmental laws in select congressional districts and states. It focuses on three of the most ...
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Author:

Sara Wylie, Leif Fredrickson, Megan Raisle, Eric Nost, Steve Hansen, Monica Unseld, Emily Pawley, Jay Turner, Cole Alder, Kelsey Breseman

Published:

October 22, 2020

EDGI Annual Report 2020

Open PDF LETTER FROM OUR COORDINATING COMMITTEE Our Annual Report celebrates and reviews EDGI’s meaningful work in the last year. In this letter we wish to reflect on the enormity of the task at hand in this crucial moment of intersecting crises of social, racial, and environmental injustices and irreversible climate change, and to express our commitment to redoubling our ...
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Author:

Marcy Beck, Rob Brackett, Steven Braun, Kelsey Breseman, Gretchen Gehrke, Paul Gordon, Stephanie Knutson, Kevin Nguyen, Eric Nost, Chris Sellers, Aparna Sundar, Jay Turner, Lourdes Vera, Kelly Wilkins, Sara Wylie, EDGI

Published:

July 13, 2020

The New Digital Landscape: How the Trump Administration Has Undermined Federal Web Infrastructures for Climate Information

In this report, we build on our existing research to present a broad analysis of how the Trump administration has altered the use of terms related to climate change on federal environmental websites. Over the thousands of websites we monitor, use of the terms “climate change,” “clean energy,” and “adaptation” dropped by 26% between 2016 and 2018, while catch-all terms ...
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Author:

Eric Nost, Gretchen Gehrke, Aaron Lemelin, Steven Braun, Marcy Beck, Rob Brackett, Dan Allan, Sara Wylie, Kelsey Breseman, Stephanie Knutson, Anastasia Aizman, Maya Anjur-Dietrich, Sara Johns, Katherine Kulik, Kevin Nguyen, Toly Rinberg, Jacob Wylie, EDGI

Published:

July 22, 2019

EDGI Annual Report 2019

In the past year, we have had the opportunity to grow and mature as an organization, to make important contributions to highlighting the dismantling of federal environmental protections, and to think proactively about models of environmental data justice. This annual report is a place to learn about our work, celebrate where we’ve come from, what we’ve accomplished, and what we ...
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Author:

Steven Braun, Kelsey Breseman, Leif Fredrickson, Gretchen Gehrke, Stephanie Knutson, Michelle Murphy, Kevin Nguyen, Christopher Sellers, Nick Shapiro, Kyala Shea, Marianne Sullivan, Aparna Sundar, Sara Wylie, EDGI

Published:

April 8, 2019

A Sheep in the Closet: The Erosion of Enforcement at the EPA

This report examines environmental enforcement at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) two years into the Trump administration. Based on extensive interviewing with EPA employees and recent retirees as well as in-depth wide-ranging research into EPA data and documents as well as news coverage, we conclude that the EPA is no longer so capable of fulfilling its mission to ensure ...
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Author:

Leif Fredrickson, Marianne Sullivan, Christopher Sellers, Jennifer Ohayon, Ellen Kohl, Sarah Lamdan, Alissa Cordner, Alice Hu, Katarzyna Kaczowka, Natalia Navas, Linda Wicks, EDGI

Published:

May 31, 2019

EDGI Annual Report 2018

In the last year, we have formed a thriving organization, supported almost entirely by volunteer labor, driven by a shared concern about the dismantling of federal environmental protections. Together, we’ve accomplished more than we could have imagined. We invite you to learn more about our organization and to celebrate all we have done in the past year. Open PDF EDGI-Annual-Report-2018 ...
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Author:

Stephanie Knutson, Marcy Beck, Steven Braun, Ray Cha, Lindsey Dillon, Gretchen Gehrke, Rebecca Lave, Michelle Murphy, Matt Price, Toly Rinberg, Sara Rubinow, Chris Sellers, Nick Shapiro, Kyala Shea, Lourdes Vera, Dawn Walker, Sara Wylie, EDGI

Published:

March 1, 2018

Changing the Digital Climate

The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI) continues its series of reports on the Trump administration’s impacts on environmental policy and data governance. “Changing the Digital Climate” is the third of a multi-part series on the early days of the Trump administration. In this series, EDGI authors systematically investigate historical precedents for Trump’s attack on the EPA, consequences for toxic ...
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Author:

Toly Rinberg, Maya Anjur-Dietrich, Marcy Beck, Andrew Bergman, Justin Derry, Lindsey Dillon, Gretchen Gehrke, Rebecca Lave, Chris Sellers, Nick Shapiro, Anastasia Aizman, Dan Allan, Madelaine Britt, Raymond Cha, Janak Chadha, Morgan Currie, Sara Johns, Abby Klionsky, Stephanie Knutson, Katherine Kulik, Aaron Lemelin, Kevin Nguyen, Eric Nost, Kendra Ouellette, Lindsay Poirier, Sara Rubinow, Justin Schell, Lizz Ultee, Julia Upfal, Tyler Wedrosky, Jacob Wylie, EDGI

Published:

January 10, 2018

Pursuing A Toxic Agenda

The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI) continues its series of reports on the Trump administration’s impacts on environmental policy and data governance, this time focusing on Environmental Justice, the right for all communities to human and environmental health. Pursuing a Toxic Agenda: Environmental Injustice in the Early Trump Administration, extensively analyzes recent policy shifts, and highlights EDGI’s interview with ...
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Author:

Britt S. Paris, Lindsey Dillon, Jennifer Pierre, Irene V. Pasquetto, Emily Marquez, Sara Wylie, Michelle Murphy, Phil Brown, Rebecca Lave, Chris Sellers, Becky Mansfield, Leif Fredrickson, Nicholas Shapiro, EDGI

Published:

September 19, 2017

The EPA Under Siege

In the first report of its kind, the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI) has conducted an in-depth analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Trump and Administrator Scott Pruitt. In stark contrast to Pruitt’s June 15 Congressional testimony, our report shows that his administration has already damaged the agency, and currently poses the greatest threat to the EPA ...
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Author:

Christopher Sellers, Lindsey Dillon, Jennifer Liss Ohayon, Nick Shapiro, Marianne Sullivan, Chris Amoss, Stephen Bocking, Phil Brown, Vanessa De la Rosa, Jill Harrison, Sara Johns, Katherine Kulik, Rebecca Lave, Michelle Murphy, Liza Piper, Lauren Richter, Sara Wylie

Published:

June 19, 2017

EDGI Introduction and Accomplishments — Report

May report covering highlights of EDGI’s projects include monitoring and analyzing changes to federal environmental agency websites, and researching the effects of environmental deregulation and changes at federal agencies, such as EPA, DOE, NASA, NOAA, and OSHA. EDGI also co-coordinates “DataRescue” events to proactively archive public environmental data and ensure its continued public availability. More information about our core working ...
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Author:

Environmental Data and Governance Initiative

Published:

May 5, 2017

Public Protections Under Threat at the EPA: Examining Safeguards and Programs That Would Have Been Blocked by H.R. 1430 — White Paper

Protecting safe drinking water and healthy air depends on the EPA’s ability to incorporate the best available evidence from all scientific fields of study into its risk assessments and regulation drafting processes. EDGI’s analysis and research here shows that the passage of H.R. 1430 would block the EPA from using the data it needs to fulfill its mission of protecting ...
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Author:

Vivian Underhill, Megan Martenyi, Sarah Lamdan, Andrew Bergman

Published:

March 27, 2017

Introducing the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative — Report

As we follow the impacts of the transition on agency websites, operations, capacities, and policies, we’ll be preparing and posting here other written works, oriented to general as well as more specialized readerships, that summarize and analyze what we find. Among the public outreach activities in the works are roundtables, biweekly reports, and an assessment of the new administration’s first ...
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Author:

Environmental Data and Governance Initiative

Published:

February 1, 2017

Academic Publications

The Problem of Accountability: Environmental Justice and the Trump Administration

Ellen Kohl, Marianne Sullivan, Mark Milton Chambers, Chris Sellers, Alissa Cordner, Leif Fredrickson, Jennifer Liss Ohayon, and Jessica Varner, “The Problem of Accountability: Environmental Justice and the Trump Administration,” Environmental Justice (May 5, 2021 [online]).

Visualizing changes to US federal environmental agency websites, 2016–2020

Nost E, Gehrke G, Poudrier G, Lemelin A, Beck M, Wylie S, et al. (2021) Visualizing changes to US federal environmental agency websites, 2016–2020. PLoS ONE 16(2): e0246450. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246450

Re-envisioning EPA and its work in the post-Trump era: perspectives from EPA employees

Sullivan, Marianne, Chris Sellers, Leif Fredrickson, Alissa Cordner, Ellen Kohl, and Jennfer Liss Ohayon, “Re-Envisioning EPA and Its Work in the Post-Trump Era: Perspectives from EPA Employees,” Journal of Public Health Policy (February 10, 2021). doi:10.1057/s41271-021-00276-z.

A Green New Deal for Environmental Data

Nost, E., S. Wylie, K. Breseman, G. Gehrke, C. Sellers, L. Vera, L. Richter, B. Mansfield, and Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI). A Green New Deal for Environmental Data. Science for the People. 23(2): 72-75 .

Risk Assessment for Scientific Data

Mayernik, M.S., Breseman, K., Downs, R.R., Duerr, R., Garretson, A., Hou, C.-Y. (Sophie), and (EDGI) and Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Data Stewardship Committee, E.D.G.I., 2020. Risk Assessment for Scientific Data. Data Science Journal, 19(1), p.10. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-010

Learning in Crisis: Training Students to Monitor and Address Irresponsible Knowledge
Construction by US Federal Agencies Under Trump

Chris Tirrell, Laura Senier, Sara Ann Wylie, Cole Alder, Grace Poudrier, Jesse DiValli, Marcy Beck Eric Nost, Rob Brackett, Gretchen Gehrke. Engaging Science, Technology, and Society, [S.l.], v. 6, p. 81-93, Jan. 2020. ISSN 2413-8053.

Citizens, Politics, and Civic Technology: A Conversation with g0v and EDGI

Fa-ti Fan, Shun-Ling Chen, Chia-Liang Kao, Michelle Murphy, Matt Price, Liz Barry. East Asian Science, Technology and Society, 2019, 13(2), 279-297.

When Data Justice and Environmental Justice Meet: Formulating a Response to Extractive Logic Through Environmental Data Justice

Lourdes A. Vera, Dawn Walker, Michelle Murphy, Becky Mansfield, Ladan
Mohamed Siad, Jessica Ogden & EDGI. Information, Communication & Society, 2019, 22:7, 1012-1028.

Situating Data in a Trumpian Era: The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative

Lindsey Dillon, Rebecca Lave, Becky Mansfield, Sara Wylie, Nicholas Shapiro, Anita Say Chan & Michelle Murphy. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, published online 22 January 2019.

Data Resistance: A Social Movement Organizational Autoethnography of the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative

Lourdes A. Vera, Lindsey Dillon, Sara Wylie, Jennifer Liss Ohayon, Aaron Lemelin, Phil Brown, Christopher Sellers, Dawn Walker, and the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative. Mobilization: An International Quarterly December 2018, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 511-529.

Practicing Environmental Data Justice: From DataRescue to Data Together

Dawn Walker, Eric Nost, Aaron Lemelin, Rebecca Lave, and Lindsey Dillon. Geo: Geography and Environment 5, no. 2 (2018): e00061. First published: 31 October 2018.

The Environmental Protection Agency in the Early Trump Administration: Prelude to Regulatory Capture

Lindsey Dillon, Christopher Sellers, Vivian Underhill, Nicholas Shapiro, Jennifer Liss OhayonPhD, Marianne Sullivan, Phil Brown, Jill Harrison, Sara Wylie, and the “EPA Under Siege” Writing Group. The American Journal of Public Health. April 2018, 108(S2), S89-S94.

History of US Presidential Assaults on Modern Environmental Health Protection

Leif Fredrickson, Christopher Sellers, Lindsey Dillon, Jennifer Liss Ohayon, Nicholas Shapiro, Marianne Sullivan, Stephen Bocking, Phil Brown, Vanessa de la Rosa, Jill Harrison, Sara Johns, Katherine Kulik, Rebecca Lave, Michelle Murphy, Liza Piper, Lauren Richter, and Sara Wylie. The American Journal of Public Health. April 2018, 108(S2), S95-S103.

Environmental Data Justice and the Trump Administration: Reflections from the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative

Dillon Lindsey, Walker Dawn, Shapiro Nicholas, Underhill Vivian, Martenyi Megan, Wylie Sara, Lave Rebecca, Murphy Michelle, Brown Phil, and Environmental Data and Governance Initiative. Environmental Justice. December 2017, 10(6): 186-192.