Environmental Groups Call for Accountability in the EPA

WASHINGTON, DC — Newly released EPA records confirm that former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt spent a disproportionate amount for his personal security detail to travel with him – nearly 210% more than his predecessor, former Administrator Gina McCarthy.
These records, which were newly obtained by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) and the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, indicate that the travel expenditures for Mr. Pruitt’s personal security over the seven month period from September 2017 to March 2018 totaled $376,988. EPA had previously disclosed total travel expenditures for Mr. Pruitt’s security detail of $514,810 from February 2017 through August 2017. The newly disclosed expenses bring the total travel costs over the fourteen months to $891,798.
These new records confirm the conclusions of EPA’s Office of Inspector General, which released an audit of Mr. Pruitt’s personal security detail and travel expenses on September 4, 2018. As the Audit notes, these numbers represented a nearly 210% increase in personal security detail travel expenses to cover Mr. Pruitt, compared to expenses over a comparable 11-month timeframe for Ms. McCarthy. The records for 2018 obtained by CCAN and EIP, which have information not included in the Audit, indicate that EPA spent $173,004 on travel by personal security detail to accompany Mr. Pruitt in the first three months of 2018 alone – 74% of the total personal security detail travel costs incurred by Ms. McCarthy over 11 months.
The Audit also concluded that EPA had failed to justify why Mr. Pruitt needed such a large security detail, or why he incurred such substantial travel expenses. In fact, the Audit found EPA had never conducted a threat assessment for Mr. Pruitt, and concluded that EPA appeared to lack coherent policies for personal security staffing decisions or threat assessment at all. “These documents uncovered by CCAN and EIP are further proof of Pruitt’s wasteful and ethically challenged leadership of EPA,” said Anne Havemann, General Counsel for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Instead of spending taxpayer money to protect human health and the environment, Trump’s top pick for the agency was more interested in spending lavishly on an unjustified security detail to manage an unidentified threat. One more thing to add to the growing list of fake emergencies in the Trump era.”
It is unclear whether EPA has taken any additional actions on this matter since the September 4 Audit, or whether it intends to pursue the matter further. In its November 2018 Semi-Annual Report to Congress, EPA’s Office of Inspector General noted that several ethics investigations into Mr. Pruitt were unable to be completed and had to be closed as “inconclusive,” due to Mr. Pruitt’s resignation prior to being interviewed by the Office’s investigators. “Although Mr. Pruitt is no longer in office, we strongly believe that he should still be held responsible for his many misdeeds during his short tenure,” said Sylvia Lam, Attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project. “Accountability is essential to deterring similar abuses of power in the future.”
Some members of Congress appear to agree. On December 19, 2018, Representative Elijah E. Cummings, now Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, stated that he intended to continue these investigations upon resumption of the next Congress. In the same letter, Chairman Cummings requested that EPA fully comply with the Committee’s previously unanswered requests for documents regarding Mr. Pruitt, including documents related to his personal security detail and travel expenditures.
CONTACT:
Denise Robbins, Communications Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, denise@chesapeakeclimate.org, 608-620-8819
Anne Havemann, General Counsel, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, anne@chesapeakeclimate.org, 202-997-2466

###

CCAN Statement: Dominion Methane Announcement Is Laughable

RICHMOND, VA — Today, Dominion Energy announced its intention to reduce methane emissions from natural gas infrastructure by 50 percent over the next decade. Dominion Energy is the main company behind the push to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would bring fracked gas from West Virginia, through Virginia, and into North Carolina.

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s Virginia Director Harrison Wallace issued the following statement in response:

“Nice try. The best way for Dominion to reduce methane emissions is to abandon its plans to build its controversial and unnecessary $7.5 billion pipeline. Dominion’s announcement will avoid 430,000 metric tons of methane from entering the atmosphere (36.98 million tons of C02e) over the ten-year period. The ACP will far more than offset that gain, emitting nearly 68 million metric tons of planet-warming gases (C02e) into the atmosphere on an annual basis.

“It’s refreshing that Dominion acknowledges that methane is harmful to our planet. But, if Dominion wants to make real and significant progress towards a stable climate, they should stop building the ACP and killing ambitious clean energy measures in the General Assembly.  We’ll know they’re serious about climate change if they start taking meaningful action to build a grid that is powered by 100% renewable energy.”

CONTACT:
Denise Robbins, Communications Director, 608-620-8819, denise@chesapeakeclimate.org
Harrison Wallace, Virginia Director, 804-305-1472, harrison@chesapeakeclimate.org

---

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the oldest and largest grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. For 16 years, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

###

Chesapeake Climate Action Network Holds “Climate Underachiever” Polar Bear Plunge

RICHMOND, VA — On behalf of its 20,000 members from across Virginia, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network presented its first-ever “Climate Underachiever” awards to Dominion Energy and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality on Saturday, February 9. Dozens of activists gathered for the first-ever “Climate Underachiever Polar Bear Plunge,” a fun event to raise awareness about climate change and raise funds to support the Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s campaigns for clean energy solutions in Virginia.

The event took place two weeks after CCAN’s 14th annual “Keep Winter Cold” Polar Bear Plunge at National Harbor, just south of DC. The event celebrated climate progress in DC and Maryland,  where local leaders are moving forward as the federal government backtracks. For the first time, CCAN brought this exciting energy to Richmond to highlight Virginia’s underachievers on climate — by dipping a single toe into the James River.

Richard Watson, Virginia Beach small business owner, said, “I’m living with the aftermath of Virginia’s underachievers every day. In my coastal community, climate change is at our doorstep, bringing floods and storms and threatening our way of life. Many are considering packing up and moving away. I hope our leaders can recognize the damage that our underachievers have already brought us.”

Dominion Energy has already worked to kill multiple progressive energy bills that were considered in the 2019 Virginia General Assembly session. The utility monopoly threw its weight against the “Solar Freedom” bill, which would have removed many of the barriers in Virginia law that limit solar use on homes, local businesses, schools, and other government buildings.

“Once again, Dominion has done its dirty worth in the General Assembly, and every decent clean energy bill has been killed,” said Mike Tidwell, Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “This is par for the course for Virginia’s biggest climate underachiever. Today, we are recognizing Dominion’s legacy that will cause irreparable climate harm, and calling on the rest of Virginia to fight back and lead the way on climate.”

It also opposed bills to bring more renewable energy to the Commonwealth, to create an inventory on state greenhouse gas emissions, to mandate efficiency goals, and more.

And Dominion continues to double down on the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline for fracked-gas and its compressor station in Buckingham County, despite years of massive opposition and the fact that the pipeline would lead to the equivalent of 20 new coal-fired power plants in greenhouse gas emissions.

The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) was also recognized for allowing Dominion to push through its dangerous fossil fuel proposals and failing to fully protect Virginians from their impacts. DEQ officials testified strongly in favor of both the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Buckingham County compressor station, even providing misleading statistics in favor of the compressor station.

“Dominion and the DEQ have been working hand in hand to force a dirty compressor station on our community,” said Chad Oba, President of Friends of Buckingham. “We are at a critical juncture and climate science clearly indicates that we must make a change now. We should be working towards clean energy solutions. Allowing new fossil fuel projects is going backwards. Virginia’s legacy of underachievement in this respect has come home to roost and is putting my community at great risk.”

Dominion is ranked the second-worst utility in the country on efficiency. And partly because of Dominion’s previous efforts to stop and undermine the state’s clean electricity standard, Virginia is ranked 38th in the country on solar potential.

To the north, CCAN activists have celebrated recent landmark victories, including the rejection of a fracked-gas pipeline underneath the Potomac River and the passage of the Clean Energy DC Act, which is the strongest legislative mandate on climate change in the country. Activists see potential for the same success in Virginia, but it means standing up to the state’s underachievers in the name of climate action.

CONTACT:
Denise Robbins, Communications Director, denise@chesapeakeclimate.org, 608-620-8819
Danniele Fulmer, Donor Engagement Coordinator, danniele@chesapeakeclimate.org, 724-599-7800

---

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the oldest and largest grassroots organization dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in the Chesapeake Bay region. For 16 years, CCAN has been at the center of the fight for clean energy and wise climate policy in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

 

##

CCAN Denounces Governor Northam’s Racist Yearbook Photo, Demands Resignation

 
Harrison Wallace, Virginia Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, released the following statement:
“Last night, on the first day of Black History Month, a disturbing photo of Governor Ralph Northam from his Eastern Virginia Medical School Yearbook resurfaced on the internet. The image brought Virginia’s dark history of racism back into the limelight and opened many unhealed wounds within Virginia’s most traumatized communities. No matter the era, or the messenger, blackface costumes and Ku Klux Klan regalia have represented terror and fear for communities of color since Reconstruction. There is no excuse for wearing them.
“From Buckingham to this bombshell, Governor Northam has offered inadequate apologies to communities of color and has refused to atone for the harm he has caused them. At this point, the only way for Virginia to begin to heal from this dark reminder of our turbulent racial history is for Governor Northam to resign.”
 
Previously: STATEMENT: GOVERNOR NORTHAM FAILS TO PROTECT CITIZENS OF UNION HILL
CONTACT:
Denise Robbins, Communications Director, 608-620-8819, denise@chesapeakeclimate.org
Harrison Wallace, Virginia Director, 804-305-1472, harrison@chesapeakeclimate.org

###

 

Community Leaders Accuse Dominion Energy of Blatant Environmental Racism Over Controversial Compressor Station for Fracked Gas

RICHMOND, VA — Today, the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board voted 4-0 to approve the “Minor Source Construction Permit” for the gigantic and deeply harmful Atlantic Coast Pipeline compressor station in Buckingham County, Virginia. The proposed 54,000-horsepower compressor station — situated a short distance from the homes of the descendents of freedmen in the community of Union Hill — would run 24 hours a day and constantly fill the community with loud noise that is comparable to a jet engine. Facilities like this pollute the air with nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and particulate matter and are linked to severe respiratory and cardiovascular ailments, as well as cancer. This compressor station is needed to keep gas flowing through Dominion’s controversial $7-billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
This decision comes after weeks of controversy surrounding the Northam Administration’s actions. After the Board decided to delay its vote for more time to study this harmful project, Governor Northam removed two members of the board from their appointments. These members were critical of this project and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The new appointees were not seated, and one Board member removed himself from the vote due to a conflict of interest. As such, just four of the seven board members voted today.
Harrison Wallace, Virginia Director of CCAN, stated in response:

“Today, Governor Northam officially took ownership of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Buckingham Compressor station, which includes elements of environmental racism. Working with his controversial DEQ on behalf of a deeply controversial fossil fuel company, Northam clearly tipped the scales in favor of approval of this compressor station. Just weeks ago, Northam took the unprecedented step of removing  two board members who appeared to be prepared to vote against it. The governor’s interference sent a clear message to the surviving four board members to vote in favor of Dominion’s proposal. We will never know how the Board would have voted if Northam hadn’t meddled during its decision-making process, but what was clear — to Virginians and to the Board members — was that the governor’s thumb was firmly on the scale in favor of approval.

“His decision to remove two members of the Air Pollution Control Board was a complete reversal from his promise to stay out of the process and will be viewed by historians as a finger on the wrong side of the scale of justice.

“The people of Union Hill and Buckingham County have the right to walk out of their homes and breathe healthy air. This decision will infringe upon that right for a generation. Make no mistake about it: this project is neither a ‘minor’ nor a ‘new’ idea. The mere fact that Dominion has remained set on this community of freedmen as the ideal location of their compressor station should go in the dictionary as the definition of environmental injustice.

“CCAN will be exploring our legal options moving forward. If we listen to the science, the political momentum and the people of Union Hill, there is not one legitimate reason to allow this project to continue.”

More information:

Since the day this project was announced, community advocates in Union Hill have sounded the alarm on environmental justice concerns. Scores of concerned citizens have rallied and protested across the state in opposition of these projects. Hundreds turned up in Buckingham County to give public comment against the project. Thousands more sent written comments to the DEQ which requested the agency deny the permits. Yet no matter how many Virginians said this was a bad idea, Dominion continued pushing for this location.
In November, Dominion Energy announced its intention to spend over $5 million on improvements for Buckingham County if the ACP is completed successfully.  This package is a cynical and transparent attempt by the company to essentially pay off county leaders in exchange for the health and wellbeing of county residents. The Union Hill community is a rural, low-income, mostly African-American community where residents are less likely to have the resources to pursue legal challenges.
This decision comes just weeks after the world’s top scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a dire warning  for the world to move away from dangerous fossil fuels at a rapid pace.
CONTACT:
Denise Robbins, Communications Director, denise@chesapeakeclimate.org, 608-620-8819
Harrison Wallace, Virginia Director, harrison@chesapeakeclimate.org, 804-305-1472

###

Hogan joins Board of Public Works in unanimous vote against “right-of-way” easement underneath Western Maryland Rail/Trail

This vote could permanently imperil completion of controversial pipeline

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Today, in what environmentalists hope is a major shift in state energy policy, Governor Larry Hogan voted to reject a permit necessary for a fracked-gas pipeline known as the “Potomac Pipeline.” During the Maryland Board of Public Works’ semi-monthly meeting, Hogan and the other members of the board unanimously rejected a right-of-way easement for the project, which is proposed by a subsidiary of notorious energy company TransCanada.
This decision comes after two years of intense opposition to the pipeline from grassroots groups statewide as well as a growing list of legislators. Hogan announced barely a year ago that he wanted to significantly “kick-start” more consumption of fracked gas in the state, including construction of more pipelines. But Wednesday’s dramatic and surprising vote may signal a change in state policy on this issue.
“For two years, Maryland has been calling on Governor Hogan to keep his promise and protect Marylanders from the harms of fracking,” said Brooke Harper, Maryland Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Today, he took a step in the right direction by rejecting a permit for a dangerous fracked-gas pipeline proposed by TransCanada. Hopefully, this signals a reversal of the governor’s prior policy of promoting fracked gas consumption and pipelines in Maryland.”
The Board of Public Works, which includes Governor Larry Hogan, State Treasurer Nancy Kopp and Comptroller Peter Franchot, is responsible for protecting the state’s fiscal integrity. Columbia Gas, which is owned by TransCanada, requires “right-of-way” easement to be approved by the Board. Without it,  TransCanada cannot build underneath Western Maryland Rail/Trail, which runs parallel to the Potomac River.
The decision comes on the heels of a letter signed by 63 Maryland legislators calling on Governor Hogan to reject the easement. “Given that Maryland has banned fracking, it defies our state’s existing energy policy to bring the same public health risks to our residents by way of a pipeline,” the legislators stated.
“Marylanders and many of their leaders have consistently opposed the threats fracked gas pipelines pose to our health, water, climate, and communities,” said Josh Tulkin, Sierra Club Maryland Chapter Director. “There is no right way to build these dirty, dangerous pipelines and today’s unanimous rejection of Potomac Pipeline reflects that. We shouldn’t be deepening our dependence on dirty fuels like coal, oil, and gas at a time when clean, renewable energy is abundant and affordable and the polluting corporations behind these fracked gas pipelines should wake up and realize that.”
In the upcoming General Assembly session, Maryland legislators plan to introduce a bill that will require the Maryland Department of Environment to carry out a comprehensive environmental review of all new fracked-gas pipelines proposed in the state, called the “Pipeline and Water Protection Act.” The Hogan Administration refused to carry out a full review under section 401 of the Clean Water Act for the Potomac Pipeline, deferring instead to the Army Corps of Engineer’s blanket permit.
“With several new pipelines currently under consideration, this is the time for Maryland to improve its process for evaluating the environmental risks of fracked gas infrastructure,” said Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo. “This year I will be introducing legislation to improve the environmental review and oversight of new pipelines proposed in Maryland. Given the environmental concerns, I question why we are continuing to build and invest in climate polluting fossil fuel infrastructure when that time and energy should be spent on renewables.”
“Maryland banned fracking in 2017 because of the threat it posed to public health and our environment,” said Senator Bobby Zirkin. “Fracked-gas infrastructure like the proposed Potomac Pipeline pose the same threat to the Potomac River, which supplies drinking water for our region. The Board of Public Works should keep Maryland frack free and reject the easement for this dangerous fracked gas pipeline. That is why I will be introducing legislation to improve the environmental review and oversight of new pipelines proposed in Maryland.”
CONTACT:
Denise Robbins, Communications Director, denise@chesapeakeclimate.org, 608-620-8819
Brooke Harper, Maryland Policy Director, brooke@chesapeakeclimate.org, 301-992-6875

###

STATEMENT: Air Pollution Control Board Once Again Delays Vote for Buckingham County Air Permit

Citizen-led Board Signals Need for More Information as Dominion Pipeline Controversy Deepens

RICHMOND, VA — Today, the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board opened a new comment period on the Minor New Source Review Permit for the disastrous Atlantic Coast Pipeline Compressor Station in Buckingham County, Virginia. If built, the 54,000 horsepower proposed compressor station, which would have been situated within a football field’s length of the homes of the descendents of freedmen in the community of Union Hill, would run 24 hours a day and emit sounds comparable to a jet engine. Facilities like this pollute the air with nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter and are linked to severe respiratory and cardiovascular ailments as well as cancer.

This vote is embroiled in controversy with the Northam Administration. After the Board decided in November to delay its vote for more time to allow citizens to weigh in on new information about this harmful project, Governor Northam removed two members of the board from their positions. These members appeared to take an oppositional stance to this project based on the tough questions they were presenting to Dominion at the hearing. The new appointees have not yet been seated, and one Board member has removed himself from the vote due to a conflict of interest. As such, just four of the seven board members have the opportunity to vote on the permit as of now. It is not yet clear if the new Board members will be seated before the final vote.

Harrison Wallace, Virginia Director of CCAN, stated in response:

“We applaud the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board taking the time to fully consider the impacts of this harmful fracked-gas facility and hear the concerns of the people of Virginia. The people of Union Hill and across Buckingham have the right to walk out of their homes and breathe healthy air. The mere fact that Dominion has remained set on this community of freedmen as the ideal location of their compressor station is considered by many people to be the very definition of environmental racism. With all of the facts at hand, we’re confident the Air Board will have no choice but to stand tall in the face of this egregious injustice by rejecting its required permit.

“However, this whole process is tainted by Governor Northam’s apparent attempt to meddle in the regulatory proceedings. The only way the Board can save face at this point is by denying the air permit forthright.  The Air Board must answer the moral call to action that the executive branch ignored by denying the permit for the Buckingham Compressor Station.”

More information:

Since the day this project was announced, community advocates in Union Hill have sounded the alarm on environmental justice concerns. Scores of concerned citizens have rallied and protested across the state in opposition of these projects. Hundreds turned up in Buckingham County to give public comment against the project. Thousands more sent written comments to the DEQ which requested the agency deny the permits. Yet no matter how many Virginians said this was a bad idea, Dominion continued pushing for this location.

In November, Dominion Energy announced its intention to spend over $5 million on improvements for Buckingham County if the ACP is completed successfully.  This package is a cynical and transparent attempt by the company to essentially pay off county leaders in exchange for the health and wellbeing of county residents. The Union Hill community is a rural, low-income, mostly African-American community where residents are less likely to have the resources to pursue legal challenges.

This meeting comes just weeks after the world’s top scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a dire warning  for the world to move away from dangerous fossil fuels at a rapid pace. The meeting also comes after regulators rejected Dominion’s forecast for future energy use. In an Order issued December 7, 2018, the State Corporation Commission (“SCC”) expressed “considerable doubt regarding the accuracy and reasonableness of the Company’s load forecast for use to predict future energy and peak load requirements.”  This load forecast has provided the justification for Dominion Energy’s plans to build the highly controversial, $7-billion ACP. Dominion has argued to regulators that the natural gas pipeline is necessary to meet the commonwealth’s growing demand for power. With the SCC’s rejection of Dominion’s “overstated” load forecasts, this justification completely falls apart.

 

Green New Deal seeks most diverse justice coalition in Virginia

ROANOKE, VA – Dels. Sam Rasoul and Elizabeth Guzman are partnering with the Sunrise Movement, NAACP-VSC, Sierra Club-VC, Virginia Organizing, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Food & Water Watch, and a host of intersectional organizations to introduce Green New Deal Virginia. This coalition is breaking down silos around economic, environmental, and social justice issues which impact our Commonwealth and seeks to be the most diverse coalition for justice in Virginia.
“You cannot separate social, economic, and environmental justice issues,” said Delegate Sam Rasoul. “Virginia has the opportunity to make major strides in eliminating poverty and ensuring prosperity in the Commonwealth by creating tens of thousands of good paying jobs in clean energy.”
“Growing up in coastal Virginia, I saw how rising floodwaters tore apart our homes and communities,” said Dyanna Jaye co-founder and Campaign Director, Sunrise Movement. “No one should have to live in fear of losing the people they love or the places they call home. Virginia needs a Green New Deal. We all have a right to clean air, clean water, healthy food, good jobs, and a livable future. We’re encouraged by Representatives Rasoul and Guzman’s leadership and we look forward to working with them to ensure a Green New Deal for Virginia addresses climate change with the ambition demanded by science and justice.”
“The VSC NAACP is proud to be a part of the Green New Deal Virginia. Communities of color historically have had disproportionately less access to jobs and wealth creation opportunities in the energy sector and polluting facilities are far too often sited in communities of color,” said President Kevin Chandler, VSC NAACP. “We are pleased that the plan includes a sharp focus on eliminating poverty in Virginia by promoting large investments in renewable energy, tens of thousands of high paying green jobs, clean air and water and local-scale agriculture.”
“Investments in climate solutions are smart investments in our economy’s future. As we forge a clean energy-based, living economy together, it is our responsibility to avoid duplicating the inequities of the dirty energy past,” said Kate Addleson, Director of the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club. “The Green New Deal Virginia coalition stands for essential principles that align with the Sierra Club’s values, including providing access to affordable clean energy, protection of our clean air and water, and expanding opportunities and rights for workers and working families.”
“Virginia Organizing participates in environmental work, and in efforts like the Green New Deal, because climate change and pollution hurt all of us, especially low-income communities and people of color,” said Del McWhorter, Chairperson, Virginia Organizing State Governing Board. “Our environmental justice aims to stop targeted pollution, of which communities of color all over the Commonwealth always receive far more than their share.”
“We at the CCAN Action Fund are fighting for an equitable energy future where dirty fossil fuels are phased out and Virginia is powered by 100% clean energy. It’s time for the people of Virginia to write the rules, not energy monopolies like Dominion,” said Harrison Wallace, Virginia Director of the CCAN Action Fund.
“Green New Deal Virginia is the type of urgent and powerful clean climate movement our country needs and chief within the mission to stop climate change is deliberate action to transition our states off of fossil fuels,” said Jorge Aguilar, Southern Region Director, Food & Water Watch. “In Virginia, the OFF Act is core to this movement and moment of moral clarity. We’re ready to lead the way to renewable energy once and for all.”
“A Green New Deal gives us the opportunity to build clean, safe, renewable 21st century infrastructure and create tens of thousands of sustainable community jobs now and for future generations.” said Andrea Miller, Executive Director of People Demanding Action.
Policy themes of the Virginia Green New Deal include:

• A just and equitable100% renewables plan that leaves no workers or communities behind
• Direct large investments & job-training programs in renewables, building an energy efficient smart-grid, residential and commercial energy efficiency, and more
• Clean water and air for all Virginians
• Investments in local-scale agriculture in communities across Virginia

New EPA-wide policy makes FOIA review process more transparent, equitable, and functional

Washington, D.C. — Following a lawsuit brought by a pair of environmental groups, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has improved its document disclosure policy under federal open records law, the Freedom of Information Act.

See the new memo from the EPA here.

The nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network brought the lawsuit in part to challenge EPA’s previous policy and practice — which was initiated by former administrator Scott Pruitt — of allowing senior staff to delay FOIA production until they reviewed and approved of such disclosures.
The new policy, which was distributed internally to EPA staff on Nov. 16, imposes a maximum three-day limit for these so-called “awareness reviews,” which, the memo clarifies, are only intended to make senior officials aware of select releases before they go out.
The move decreases the politicization of the FOIA process at EPA. Instead of the prior practice of allowing political appointees to make decisions regarding approval, withholding, or release of records, those decisions are now properly the responsibility of EPA’s FOIA team, which is made up of civil servants. The FOIA team must also release records at the end of that three-day period regardless of whether the request has actually been reviewed.
“This new EPA policy is good news.  It makes clear that the agency can’t use political reviews to hold up responses to Freedom of Information Act requests,” said Sanghyun Lee, an attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project.  “Our lawsuit, and several letters from U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, cited evidence that these reviews were being used to block or delay responses to requests from environmental and public health organizations this administration doesn’t like very much.  The new guidance gives the agency’s Chief of Staff and other political managers a three day advance notice before sensitive documents are released, but no power to block those disclosures.”
“Public information should be just that: public,” said Anne Havemann, General Counsel for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, which partnered with EIP on the lawsuit challenging the administration’s information delays.  “Instead, the Trump Administration has been dragging its feet and obstructing legitimate information requests. It’s unfortunate that it took a lawsuit to force EPA to release this information, but we’re glad to see the agency switch gears.”
As a result of this policy change, the groups will drop the policy-related claim in their lawsuit. They are still challenging EPA’s decision to deny their specific FOIA requests. 
 
CONTACT:
Denise Robbins, Communications Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, denise@chesapeakeclimate.org, 608-620-8819
Anne Havemann, General Counsel, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, 202-997-2466, anne@chesapeakeclimate.org
Tom Pelton, Environmental Integrity Project, tpelton@environmentalintegrity.org or (202) 888-2703