"Some environmental groups are urging Congress to make changes to the Freedom of Information Act in response to a Supreme Court ruling yesterday that allows the government to withhold certain draft records from public disclosure.
The decision — blocking access to a draft document that detailed the harm a proposed EPA rule could pose to vulnerable species — was "a severe blow" to transparent government, said one environmental group that had pressed the high court to require disclosure.
"This decision will make it easier for political appointees to meddle secretly in scientific decisions, gut protections for our air and water, and push more of our wildlife toward extinction," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement yesterday. "Now more than ever, Congress must step in and end the abuse of the deliberative process privilege or we'll have an unaccountable executive branch."
The center was among the groups that had supported the Sierra Club in its legal battle to gain access to a 2013 draft biological opinion related to a 2014 EPA rule for cooling water intake structures at power plants. The Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries found in their draft opinion that a proposed version of the EPA rule could jeopardize plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act."
Pamela King and Kevin Bogardus report for E&E News March 5, 2021.
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