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CLIMATEWIRE | The Trump administration has reversed course and will restore U.S. Department of Agriculture websites related to climate change in response to a lawsuit brought by environmental organizations and farmers.

Groups represented by Earthjustice and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University had sued in February, alleging that the removal of climate-related policies, datasets, and other resources violated federal laws requiring advanced notice, reasoned decision-making and public access to certain information.

In a letter late Monday, the administration told Judge Margaret Garnett of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that the USDA will restore the climate-related web content that was removed after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, including all USDA webpages and interactive tools listed in the lawsuit.

It noted that the process of restoring the removed content was already underway and that the USDA expects to mostly complete the process in two weeks. The USDA also pledged that it “commits to complying with” federal law governing future “posting decisions.”

The purged material had included information on climate-smart farming, forest conservation, and adaptation. The USDA also took down climate sections from the websites for the Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, including information to help farmers access money for conservation practices.

The move comes days before Garnett was to hear the challengers’ request for a preliminary injunction that sought to require the USDA to restore the webpages and stop taking down additional climate information.

“We’re glad that USDA recognized that its blatantly unlawful purge of climate-change-related information is harming farmers and communities across the country,” said Jeffrey Stein, an associate attorney with Earthjustice. Stein added that farmers depend on the websites to protect their farms from drought, wildfire, and extreme weather.

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