18F/18f.gsa.gov

---
title: 'Sunshine week: extractive industries transparency initiative event'
date: '2015-03-18'
layout: post
image: /assets/blog/useiti-sunshine/useiti.png

tags:
- open government
- transparency
- useiti
- agency work



authors:
- mhz
- boone
description: "Today, 18F joins the Departments of the Interior and State at General
Assembly DC to and the progress we made together in shedding light on public data. The
event starts at noon and if you can’t attend, follow on Twitter where 18F
teammate Nick Bristow will be live tweeting the event."
excerpt: "Today, 18F joins the Departments of the Interior and State at General
Assembly DC to and the progress we made together in shedding light on public data. The
event starts at noon and if you can’t attend, follow on Twitter where 18F
teammate Nick Bristow will be live tweeting the event."
---

A few months ago we, along with our partners at the Department of the
Interior, launched a new website showing the U.S.’s commitment to the
international Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
Today, 18F joins the Departments of the Interior and State at General
Assembly DC to [celebrate Sunshine
Week](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celebrating-sunshine-week-shining-light-on-us-foreign-assistance-us-extractive-industries-tickets-16023629106)
and the progress we made together in shedding light on public data. The
event starts at noon and if you can’t attend, follow
[@useiti\_doi](https://twitter.com/useiti_doi) on Twitter where 18F
teammate Nick Bristow will be live tweeting the event.

## What is EITI?

The federal government earns revenue from resources like coal, natural
gas, and oil extracted out of public lands. For example, in 2013 more
than $9.8 billion dollars were earned from active natural resource
leases on Federal land. In the ten previous years, $127.4 billion was
earned in resource revenues from the extractive industries. The
[international initiative is a group of 48
countries,](https://eiti.org) including the US, dedicated to opening up
information about revenues from these industries by establishing a
global standard to promote openness and accountability in extractives
management. It seeks to strengthen government and company systems,
inform public debate and enhance trust.

Each country implements the EITI standard locally with the support of
the broader EITI coalition, and through a multi-stakeholder group of
government, civil society and industry. Having an abundance of natural
resources like oil and gas may seem like a good thing, but historically
it has carried a few negative side effects such as an under-performing
economy, a higher incidence of conflict, and poor governance. However,
these effects are not inevitable. EITI hopes that encouraging greater
transparency in countries rich in these resources will mitigate some of
the potential negative impacts. For a period of time, very few developed
countries were part of EITI. By implementing USEITI, the United States
is demonstrating our commitment to government transparency and
accountability while at the same time bolstering EITI internationally.
You can [learn more about the benefits of the broader initiative on the
EITI
website](https://eiti.org/eiti/benefits)[.](https://eiti.org/eiti/benefits)

## USEITI on the web

The website [18F helped Interior build](https://useiti.doi.gov),
currently in [live beta](https://18f.gsa.gov/dashboard/stages/),
offers visualizations of extractives data to show how such resources
generate revenue across the country, and where the money earned goes.
While for some resources basic data have existed for decades, EITI
provided the impetus to release these data sortable by the amount the
government receives in revenue by company. In addition to the data
visualization, the USEITI website provides resources to help ordinary
individuals better understand U.S. energy resources and policy. Even if
you live in a state that isn’t on the map at useiti.doi.gov, the money
earned directly benefits local communities in all 50 states and U.S.
territories.

The current iteration of the website only tells part of the story. For
example, there is more work to be done in providing data about
non-energy resources such as gold and copper. Some of these resources
are [mined under laws that are more than 100 years
old](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mining_Act_of_1872), and some
of their related data hasn’t quite made it into the twenty-first
century.

The Department of the Interior hopes that providing this data and
information in a user-friendly way will give people around the world a
clearer view of how minerals from public lands affect their local
communities and systems of government.

## Get connected

USEITI welcomes your feedback! Please send us a note at
[useiti@ios.doi.gov](mailto:useiti@ios.doi.gov), follow us on Twitter
@useiti\_doi. Or, come to our Sunshine Week event [info here](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celebrating-sunshine-week-shining-light-on-us-foreign-assistance-us-extractive-industries-tickets-16023629106) or the
[DOI MyAmerica Developer Summit](http://openglobe.github.io/myamerica-devsummit/)