Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) Releases: “Access Denied: Federal Web Governance Under the Trump Administration”

From an EDGI Announcement:

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 of federal websites related to environmental regulation and makes recommendations for the Biden administration moving forward. Currently, there are few policies governing website content.

Access Denied highlights the need to address these policy gaps. It’s the most comprehensive report yet from EDGI’s website monitoring program, which has monitored federal environmental websites ever since Trump took office in January 2017, documenting more than 1,000 changes.

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EDGI’s Access Denied report shows:

• Half of the website changes related to regulations were removals of information, 10% were reductions in navigability, 15% were language changes, and 25% were additions of information.
• The majority of removed information provided context for regulations and most were resources geared toward specific non-expert audiences.
• Over 80% of the information removals observed occurred just prior to or during active regulatory proceedings.
• EDGI observed important changes to websites related to the Clean Water Rule, Clean Power Plan, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and Greater Sage Grouse Resource Management Plans, among others

Learn More, Direct to Complete Publication Announcement

Direct to Full Text Report: Access Denied: Federal Web Governance Under the Trump Administration

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