Normally, a celebration is appropriate when a class assignment isn’t available, but when my professor told us that our class couldn’t access Arctic ice and sea levels data because of the government shut down, no celebration was in order. Instead, the class felt confusion and a sinking recognition that political agendas are affecting our academic resources. Since Oct. 1, the current government shutdown has resulted in widespread restrictions on government websites. These restrictions are part of a concerning trend of the Trump administration: the disappearance of public data. The rise of inaccessibility to public data is a major threat to maintaining societal health, government transparency and environmental justice. 

When attempting to access various government websites, a message appears stating that the government shutdown because of Democrats. The blame on one party is an unethical, deliberate misdirection by the Trump administration. The actual reason for the 2025 government shutdown was a disagreement between Democrat andRepublican representatives on a bill related to funding government services. Some environmental websites that show this message and now aren’t fully accessible include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture — all crucial inlets to research and information. The shutdown amplifies the fact that government data is disappearing, but this is not a new occurrence for the Trump administration.

In the first 100 days of office, Trump’s changes to 70% of government environmental websites include modifying content, focus or links with a specific decrease in information pertaining to climate and environmental justice. Since February 2025, more than 8,000 pages from various government websites, ranging from scientific research to justice issues, are absent from public sites. In their Library Research Guides, the University of Michigan writes:

“It has become increasingly common for government data sets that were previously publicly available to be removed. Some of these datasets may be altered and made available again, while others may remain offline indefinitely.” 

This disappearance of data isn’t a stunt specific to this year. Immediately after Trump’s inauguration in 2017, the administration began removing all climate-related data from the official White House website. This kind of denial of public access to government information and data is a pattern of the Trump administration. 

Government-funded data and research is vital to public health and protection. Scientists, communities and government employees use this data daily to track and respond to environmental threats involving air, water, forest and other natural systems. Caren Grown, senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings, emphasizes the importance of data in our age. 

“I think reliable statistics collected, financed by governments, but open, accessible, transparent, are a public good,” she claims. “Effective policymaking relies on accurate and timely data, as I said, that are open and accessible not just to government agencies, but to international organizations like UNICEF, for instance, or parts of the UN system, to academics, like I mentioned, to journalists, to civil society organizations. Reliable and timely statistics are a tool of accountability.”

As Grown dictates, data is essential to instigating policy changes. When it comes to the environment, scientific policy makers combat climate change by monitoring data on environmental barriers such as resource quantities, pollution, droughts, deforestation patterns and temperature fluctuations. Sustainability methods develop from this data analysis so it is critical for progress in protecting the environment. 

More than 100 climate studies came to a halt this year due to the Trump administration. Restricting publicly funded research is a step backward for democratic society because it is a political move that supports Trump’s agenda. The country’s biggest authoritarian doesn’t want new environmental policies to exist from this data, so he continues to restrict and delete. When there is a government shutdown, the Trump administration gains another opportunity to quietly stall environmental progress by taking down data related to the environment.

The federal government funds 40% of the nation’s most basic research. It also funds 98.5% of the Federally Funded Research and Development Center in the U.S. This government data and research is irreplaceable. Privately funded research can’t substantially keep up as they conduct applied research, which is different from federal basic research, as it focuses on specific goals instead of scientific exploration. 

Government research produces helpful results for society. For example, research from the National Institutes of Health produced 99% of approved drugs between 2010-2019. Also, many private websites and journals paywall their data and research, costing individuals and companies money to access. When public data is unreachable and people turn to private sectors, data access becomes a socioeconomic issue, favoring those who can afford to pay for it. This begs the question: What groups are getting access to scientific research and what groups aren’t? Private data sources cannot substitute federal data as government-funded research produces more useful results, as well as being free and transparent to the public. 

Many scientists are working to combat this data crisis by creating their own websites and databases to conserve scientific data while it still remains public. A group of researchers at Harvard University have their own Harvard Dataverse, preserving health and environmental data from government websites before it disappears. Another counter to Trump’s actions is the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative that tracks changes to environmental websites under the Trump Administration in order to protect and monitor important data. Trump’s coverage of public data is forcing others to conserve the truth. 

Data disappearances during a government shutdown are representative of the broader problem here: The Trump Administration is restricting federal data and research. Private sectors will never amount to government research, so it is crucial that scientists continue to preserve public data. Inaccessibility to information is a threat to society that deserves recognition and action. Those in power who are restricting public data must be held accountable, as this restriction will impact the essential progress of science research and public data access. 

Emma Margaron is an Opinion Columnist from Holland, Michigan who writes about science, the environment and justice in her column “Environment Everywhere”. She can be reached at margaron@umich.edu.