Farmers and Advocates Seek Preliminary Injunction Requiring USDA to Restore Purged Climate Webpages

Washington, D.C. —

On behalf of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY), NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), and the Environmental Working Group (EWG), Earthjustice and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in their lawsuit challenging the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) purge of climate-change-focused webpages. The motion seeks a court order requiring USDA to restore the removed webpages and preventing USDA from taking down additional climate-related information.

The motion explains that USDA’s webpage purge — which removed numerous policies, guides, datasets, interactive tools, and other vital resources about climate-smart agriculture, forest conservation, climate change adaptation, and investment in clean energy projects in rural America — harms farmers, farm advisors, researchers, and advocates, who depend on these resources to make important, time-sensitive farming decisions and participate in fast-moving, highly consequential public debates about USDA funding and policies. It also explains that USDA’s removal of these critical resources violates the Administrative Procedure Act.

“Purging climate-focused webpages doesn’t make climate change go away, but it does inflict significant — and immediate — harm on farmers, researchers, and advocates,” said Jeffrey Stein, Earthjustice associate attorney. “We’re asking the court to restore access to crucial public information before more damage is done.”

“USDA can’t reasonably justify its decision to remove dozens of webpages that farmers, researchers, and advocates rely on every day,” said Jackson Busch, a legal fellow at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. “The court should require USDA to maintain these webpages while this lawsuit proceeds to prevent any further harm to farmers and the public alike.”

“The decision to erase resources is an attack on transparency and a disservice to the farmers and rural communities who rely on this information,” said Rebecca Riley, managing director, Food & Agriculture, NRDC. “Keeping farmers in the dark won’t make extreme weather or financial risks disappear — it only makes adapting to them harder. With this filing, we are seeking action to ensure these critical resources are restored before more harm is done.”

Background

On February 24, 2025, Earthjustice and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, representing the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the Environmental Working Group (EWG), sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for unlawfully removing department webpages focused on climate change. The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring USDA to restore access to key webpages and preventing USDA from removing additional climate-related information.

The lawsuit argues that USDA is violating three federal laws: the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which mandates public access to key documents; the Paperwork Reduction Act, which requires adequate notice before changing information access; and the Administrative Procedure Act, which prohibits arbitrary government actions.

Resources removed from USDA websites last month include information on climate-smart farming, federal loans, conservation, and climate adaptation. USDA erased entire climate sections from the U.S. Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service sites, including information helping farmers access billions of dollars for critical conservation practices. It also disabled interactive tools, such as the U.S. Forest Service’s “Climate Risk Viewer,” as well as technical guidance on cutting emissions and strengthening resilience to extreme weather.