Unveiling the Struggle to Preserve Numerous Environmental Records Obliterated During Trump Administration
In the midst of a heated political climate, a group of dedicated data scientists found themselves discussing a potential threat to critical environmental data. It was mid-November 2024, and the Trump administration was rumoured to be considering the removal of such data from federal agency websites.
This group, led by Jessie Mahr, Director of Technology at the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), was not about to let this happen. Mahr, who had founded Data Refuge in September 2016 to ensure the preservation and access to public environmental data, was determined to protect this valuable resource.
Mahr compared the tools to a cooked meal, and the raw datasets to ingredients. The recipe, then, was how to present those data points in a way that makes sense. This was the challenge that Mahr and her team took on, leading the nation's most coordinated effort to archive federal datasets and rebuild data tools over the next three months.
Their efforts bore fruit. Mahr's team restored some online tools within 24 to 72 hours after they were dismantled by the Trump administration, such as EJ Screen, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Future Risk Index, and the Federal Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), among the most widely used.
The CEJST, for instance, provides a tool showing EPA grants for environmental justice across the country and which communities will be hit hardest by cuts. Manuel Salgado, a federal research manager, uses this tool to access data like CEJST, which he relies on for creating maps of environmental risks in specific communities. Salgado has used data from the PEDP to inform his comments in congressional hearings and testimony to the EPA.
Salgado found that Kerr County ranks in the 83rd percentile for flood risk, using the CEJST tool. This information is crucial for communities like Kerr, as these resources are not just economic tools; they inform carbon market valuations, help logging companies mitigate flood risk, and are used by insurance companies to price their policies.
The federal government's decision to cut nearly two dozen grants in southern Black communities faced with industrial air pollution, unsanitary sewage disposal, and flooding, highlights the importance of these tools. A world without tools to analyze environmental data looks very different from the world we know now. It means no warning systems for disasters such as floods, lower-quality investments in communities that need help, not understanding whether a town's water is safe to drink, and greater social and economic disparity.
Mahr's technology team at EPIC focuses on speeding up environmental progress and ensuring that future legislation incorporates the best available data. They also work to identify where permitting processes are overlooking important health considerations, such as access to clean water in installing or replacing water infrastructure. Many of the resources provided by PEDP aid efforts to help historically marginalized communities.
EPIC's existence depends on federal funds for roughly 20% of its operations, with another 10% from private companies and the remaining 70% from philanthropy. Mahr emphasized that if there's no new data being collected going forward, they will be in a bad shape. Despite these challenges, Mahr's leadership is seen as more than just a way to repair what's been broken; it's a path forward, even in the absence of science-informed governance.
By January 24, PEDP's website went live with tools that had already been purged from federal databases. As of September, PEDP had archived seven tools and 362 datasets, with 75 more in progress. The data-archiving efforts have involved many teams and partnerships, a testament to the importance of preserving and analysing environmental data for a sustainable future.
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