Farmers win legal fight to bring climate resources back to federal websites

The Verge: “After farmers filed suit, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has agreed to restore climate information to webpages it took down soon after President Donald Trump took office this year. The US Department of Justice filed a letter late last night on behalf of the USDA that says the agency “will restore the climate-change-related web content that was removed post-inauguration, including all USDA webpages and interactive tools” that were named in the plaintiffs’ complaint. It says the work is already “underway” and should be mostly done in about two weeks. If the Trump administration fulfills that commitment, it’ll be a significant victory for farmers and other Americans who rely on scientific data that has disappeared from federal websites since January…The group filed suit in February alongside two environmental organizations, alleging that the USDA threatened organic farmers’ livelihoods by removing information they relied on to help them make decisions about planting crops and managing their land — key resources as climate change leads to more unpredictable and extreme weather. One of the resources removed by the USDA is an online tool called the “Climate Risk Viewer” that showed the impacts of climate change on rivers and water sheds, and how that might affect water supplies in the future…The initial complaint accused the USDA of violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that gives the public the right to access key records from any federal agency, the Paperwork Reduction Act that stipulates adequate notice before changing access to information, and the Administrative Procedure Act that governs the way federal agencies develop regulations. President Trump’s backing of the fossil fuel industry has also stripped farmers of federal funding through climate-related programs. The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York has lost nearly half of its budget this year due to funding freezes, which it has been trying to make up for through donations, according to Craig…”