‘Clean Water,’ ‘Equity,’ ‘Microplastics’ and Other Words Banned in Leaked USDA Memo

ARS is the division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) tasked with providing the agricultural research, education and economic analysis that protects the health of the nation’s farmland, ensures the safety of the food we eat and develops solutions for diseases, disasters and other threats to the food supply. Most recently, it was operating over 600 research projects in 95 locations and had a $1.7 billion budget, which like the words it uses could now be on the chopping block and could significantly hamper the division’s ability to do its job.

The memo was posted on X (formerly Twitter) on March 30 by More Perfect Union, the nonprofit media outlet founded by Faiz Shakir, Bernie Sanders’s 2020 campaign manager. According to Jordan Zakarin, the journalist who broke the news, work at the ARS has largely already been halted due to hiring freezes and employees’ procurement credit cards being throttled.

The memo’s author, Sharon Strickland, an ARS administrator in the USDA’s Northeast Area, wrote to her ARS colleagues in the Research, Education and Economics division: “When evaluating agreements, those entries that include these terms or similar terms cannot be submitted.” She added that such a review will “ensure that we maintain compliance with the Administration’s EOS [executive orders].”

It is unclear from the memo what “evaluating agreements” exactly refers to or why such evaluations are being required. A congressional staffer familiar with the memo, told Barn Raiser that a request for information about what the memo exactly means has been submitted to the USDA, but as of April 2 no response had been received.

Outraged by the memo, Rep. Chellie Pingree (D), a farmer who represents Maine’s 1st Congressional District, posted a scathing video response on her Instagram page. Pingree told Barn Raiser:

It’s not surprising that this Administration would go after anything they deem “woke,” or at all related to climate change. But to target basic terms that are fundamental to agricultural research is beyond the realm of reason. I am sure that everyone—regardless of where they live (or their political party)—wants to have clean and safe drinking water, affordable housing, clean air, and wants to know if there’s PFAS in their soil.

This Administration has been clear in its belief—however malicious and misguided—that climate change isn’t real, and that adopting policies to address it is a waste of money and time. Its attitudes towards climate justice are equally dismissive.

This latest effort is a terrifying look into what this Administration is trying to do: stamp out any and every attempt to create safer, more affordable communities for Americans.

Climate

From his first moments in office, Trump has unilaterally implemented Project 2025’s pro fossil fuel policies. Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin, the former New York state senator and fossil fuel industry booster, has denigrated climate programs as the “green new scam.” After his confirmation, Zeldin announced sweeping actions to dismantle the Clean Air Act, rescinded the EPA’s 16-year-old determination that greenhouse gases pose a danger and lifted restrictions on toxic air pollutants.

Through DOGE, Trump and Musk have frozen funding for renewable energy and climate related agriculture programs. On March 25 the USDA announced that it would release previously authorized grant funds to farmers and small rural business owners to build renewable energy projects—but only if they rewrite applications to comply with Trump’s Unleashing American Energy Executive Order, which prioritizes fossil fuel production and cuts federal support for renewable energy projects.

The climate-related key terms being banned by the ARS include:

climate, climate change, climate-change, changing climate,  climate consulting, climate models, climate model, climate accountability, climate risk, climate resilience, climate smart agriculture, climate smart forestry, climatesmart, climate science, climate variability, global warming, carbon sequestration, GHG emission, GHG monitoring, GHG modeling, carbon emissions mitigation, greenhouse gas emission, methane emissions, green infrastructure, sustainable construction, carbon pricing, carbon markets

Environment/Housing

This section of the banned word list is divided into 5 subcategories.

Building on the 2023 ruling by the Supreme Court in Sackett v. EPA, where the court decided on its own authority, without scientific support, to substantially limit the definition of “waters of the United States” and thus what wetlands deserved protection from pollution, Zeldin’s EPA is taking steps to further undermine the Clean Water Act.

On March 25, at the Environmental Council of the States’ spring meeting, Zeldin touted the agency’s commitment to “cooperative federalism” in the effort to turn over regulatory power to the states. He also said the agency would further revise the definition of “waters of the United States” as well as the regulation of PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” which have polluted farmlands and destroyed the livelihoods of farmers nationwide, leaving the future of the EPA’s first-ever national limits in doubt.

Pollution remediation banned terms

runoff, membrane filtration, microplastics, water pollution, air pollution, soil pollution, groundwater pollution, pollution remediation, pollution abatement, sediment remediation, contaminants of environmental concern, CEC, PFAS, PFOA, PCB, nonpoint source pollution

Water infrastructure banned terms

water collection, water treatment, water storage, water distribution, water management, rural water, agricultural water, water conservation, water efficiency, water quality, clean water, safe drinking water, field drainage, tile drainage

The memo also included key terms for clean transportation, renewable energy sources and other programs related to climate programs under Inflation Reduction Act and the Biden administration’s so-called climate smart programs. This included federal funding to support the construction of solar panels and wind turbines, but also included support for biogas, a controversial source of natural gas billed as a way to offset methane emissions from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) by converting large amounts of animal waste into fuel through anaerobic digesters. Research has shown these digesters are not as leak-proof or environmentally friendly as the industry claims, while critics say these digesters use federal funds to prop up industrial agriculture with technology only exists because of the massive amount of waste created on farms with thousands of heads of livestock.

Clean-energy banned terms

clean power, clean fuel, alternative energy, geothermal, solar energy, solar power, photovoltaic, agrivoltaics, wind power, nuclear energy, nuclear power, bioenergy, biofuel, biogas, biomethane, ethanol, diesel, aviation fuel, pyrolysis, energy conversion

Clean transportation banned terms

electric vehicle, hydrogen vehicle, fuel cell, low-emission vehicle

The USDA operates several rural housing programs through its Rural Housing Service, a division within the agency’s office of Rural Development. Each year, the office of Rural Development provides billions of dollars to small towns, farmers and rural businesses. It is one of the agency’s main tools to promote economic growth in rural America. An estimated 5.6 million rural households—about one-quarter of all rural families—pay more each month for housing than they can afford.

In February, Housing Assistance Council CEO David Lipsetz said in response to reports of extensive cuts at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the USDA, “Hundreds of thousands of rural families—many elderly and disabled—live in HUD’s publicly supported housing or rely on HUD and USDA rental programs to find a place they can call home. These public programs sustain rural communities as they cycle through tough times.”

Affordable housing banned terms

affordable housing, affordable home, low-income housing, subsidized housing, transitional housing, housing affordability, housing efficiency, prefabricated housing

DEI

In line with Trump and the GOP’s widespread assault on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, the USDA memo also included a range of key words dealing with race, gender and sexuality and their overlapping connection with values of equitability and social justice.

equity, DEI, DEIA, equitable, inclusive, BIPOC, people of color, disadvantaged, social justice, environmental justice, underserved, underrepresented, justice40, lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, non-binary, two-spirit, queer, QT, diverse, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, accessible, black, indigenous, asexual, non-conforming, trans, vulnerable, gender, gendered, gender, gendered

Justin PerkinsMore by this author →

Justin Perkins is Barn Raiser Deputy Editor & Publisher and Board Clerk of Barn Raising Media Inc. He received his Master of Divinity degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School. The son of a hog farmer, he grew up in Papillion, Neb., and got his start as a writer with his hometown newspaper the Papillion Times, The Daily Nebraskan, Rural America In These Times and In These Times. He has previous editorial experience at Prairie Schooner and Image.

Joel BleifussMore by this author →

Joel Bleifuss is Barn Raiser Editor & Publisher and Board President of Barn Raising Media Inc. He is a descendent of German and Scottish farmers who immigrated to Wisconsin and South Dakota in the 19th Century. Bleifuss was born and raised in Fulton, Mo., a town on the edge of the Ozarks. He graduated from the University of Missouri in 1978 and got his start in journalism in 1983 at his hometown daily, the Fulton Sun. Bleifuss joined the staff of In These Times magazine in October 1986, stepping down as Editor & Publisher in April 2022, to join his fellow barn raisers in getting Barn Raiser off the ground.