Nonprofits and self-censorship in the age of Trump

Seemingly reasonable revisions may have detrimental effects on current and future generations.

This is Southern California news, local for me but also having much broader ramifications, as we shall see. Last month, on April 17, the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission voted to rewrite its work plan, editing out words and phrases such as “climate change,” “ocean acidification,” and “equity” and replacing them with what the commission staff referred to as “alternative language.”

The Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission is a nonprofit founded in 1990 that restores and enhances Santa Monica Bay “through actions and partnerships that improve water quality, conserve and rehabilitate natural resources, and protect the Bay’s benefits and values,” according to its website.

The work plan is a document the commission submits to the federal government, in this case the EPA, which then grants funds to the organization. With the submission and approval of the document, the federal government provides the Commission with a total of $850,000. Commission staff edited the work plan in the belief that if it contained the original wording, both the work plan and the essential federal funds would be rejected.

The important thing to remember here is that no one from the EPA told the Commission to edit the document. According to the Ballona Wetlands Land Trust, a local nonprofit that first uncovered the change to the Commission’s work plan and reported on it, no staff members at the Commission or the EPA said they had any knowledge or written guidance on this issue. When a member of the local water district asked the EPA for clarity on the issue, EPA staff were unable to provide it.