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EPA plans to retire its public web archive on Dec. 31
Mother Jones reported that the Environmental Protection Agency posted a notice saying its online archive will retire Dec. 31, 2026, and that the agency did not comment.
- New headline Was: “The EPA Is Quietly Killing Its Web Archive”
- Our desk filed its story
- motherjones.com is now reporting this
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has posted a notice that its public web archive will retire on Dec. 31, 2026, according to Mother Jones1.
The archive site, archive.epa.gov, now states that content is no longer updated and that users should search EPA snapshot collections for historical material or the main EPA website for current information, Mother Jones reported1.
Gretchen Gehrke, co-founder of the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, told Mother Jones the archive makes information about environmental issues and past policies available, dating back at least 20 years1. She said that if the archive is decommissioned, that information will be lost1.
Mother Jones said the repository has held tens of thousands of EPA documents from the 1990s onward that are not available elsewhere, including records of past power-plant rules and pages removed from the live EPA site during President Donald Trump's first term1.
The agency previously announced in January 2022 that it would discontinue the archive, citing cost, Mother Jones reported, citing Gehrke's Freedom of Information Act work putting maintenance at about $2 million a year1. After criticism from historians and environmental groups, EPA delayed retirement to July 2023 and later removed a firm end date, the report said1.
Mother Jones said the expiration date of Dec. 31, 2026, appeared on the archive site a few weeks before its story1. Gehrke said EPA should expand the archive rather than rely on three discrete snapshots1.
Lauren Harper of the Freedom of the Press Foundation told Mother Jones that closing easy access would push researchers and lawmakers toward Freedom of Information Act requests1.
Mother Jones said EPA did not respond to a request for comment1. What share of the archive will remain in the snapshot collections was not independently confirmed in the assigned coverage1.
