Sierra Club v. EPA

The federal district court for the District of Columbia denied a motion for a preliminary injunction requiring federal agencies to restore information and online tools concerning environmental justice, climate change, and other environmental issues to their websites. The court found that the plaintiffs—four nonprofit advocacy organizations—had not clearly established irreparable harm based on increased costs to find alternative data and tools. The court said the plaintiffs’ delay in seeking injunctive relief “bolstered” this conclusion, noting that the plaintiffs filed the lawsuit more than two months after most of the tools were removed and moved for a preliminary injunction over one month after filing the lawsuit. The deleted tools at issue in the case are EPA’s EJScreen, the Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, the Department of Transportation’s Equitable Transportation Community Explorer, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Future Risk Index.

The plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the Department of Energy (DOE) from the lawsuit. DOE had reposted the Low-Income Energy Affordability Data Tool on June 3, 2025 and represented that it did not expect to remove it again and would provide notice if it did.

Sierra Club and three other organizations filed a lawsuit in federal district court in the District of Columbia challenging five federal agencies’ removal of publicly accessible webpages that provided information about environmental justice and climate change. The websites that are the subject of the suit are EPA’s EJScreen; the Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool; the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Low-Income Energy Affordability Data (LEAD) Tool; DOE’s Community Benefits Plan Map; the Department of Transportation’s Equitable Transportation Community Explorer; and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Future Risk Index. The plaintiffs alleged harms from the webpages’ removal, including impacts on their ability to disseminate accurate information and their ability to participate in regulatory processes. The plaintiffs asserted that removal of the webpages violated the Paperwork Reduction Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. They asked the court to order the agencies to restore the webpages.