Unveiling environmental justice through open government data: Work in progress for most US states

Abstract

Open government data (OGD) are critical for environmental justice (EJ) policymaking, which is characterized by power and information asymmetries across government agencies, affected populations, and advocacy groups. We contend that not only should state governments provide OGD but also they should remove the burden associated with data access and use it to address the data divide and facilitate the participation of vulnerable populations in policymaking. Applying a user-oriented approach, this article evaluates the completeness, usability, and accessibility of EJ-OGD initiatives across the 50 US states. Results show that only one out of five states achieves at least half points on our EJ-OGD Implementation Score, suggesting that most states do not provide OGD to answer two core EJ questions: “To what extent is my community exposed to environmental harm and health hazards? Is the exposure disproportionately high given my community's socioeconomic characteristics?” We discuss implications for equity and next steps for the government.