The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ), in a June 26, 2019 letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler, objected to the EPA's June 26 Final Rulemaking entitled "Freedom of Information Act Regulations Update."
The letter states that the rule "enables the agency to limit public access to EPA records that are legally public information" and "the highly irregular procedure of issuing a final rule without proposal or public comments is unjustified and unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA)."
- Text of SEJ's June 26, 2019, letter to U.S. EPA Administrator Wheeler.
- June 27, 2019, EPA release in response to SEJ's letter.
- June 28, 2019, Politico "Morning Energy" newsletter citing EPA's response to SEJ's letter ("Around the Agencies" section).
- Text of SEJ's July 9, 2019, letter to EPA's Elise Packard, Deputy General Counsel for Operations, and Timothy Epp, Acting Director, National FOIA Office, responding to EPA's June 27 release.
- July 9, 2019, RCFP/News Media Coalition letter, which SEJ signed on to along with 37 other news media organizations, to Christopher T. Creech, Office of General Counsel, U.S. EPA.
- July 12, 2019, RCFP release.
Coverage:
- "Press, green groups urge delay for FOIA regs," Greenwire, July 10, 2019, by (subscription required).
- "Pressure mounts against EPA's new FOIA rule," The Hill, July 10, 2019, by Miranda Green.
- "The environment for reporters covering EPA just got a lot more toxic," The Washington Post, July 12, 2019, by Paul Farhi.
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