FOIA

Possibly the media could see the story better if it was not sitting so close? The following is a refresher on the use of open records laws to see how officials at state universities use their positions. This practice, although expressly provided for under various state statutes, was pioneered in some respects by “climate” activists. Then others flattered the greens with…

Minutemen, the MA OAG are Not As GAO has previously noted, the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General has engaged in a pattern and practice of stalling to avoid meeting its obligation of public transparency about its operations. Now, Energy Policy Advocates has filed an emergency motion arising out of this pattern and the bad faith involved in EPA v.…

Government Accountability & Oversight filed a Michigan FOIA lawsuit against the Regents of the University of Michigan, for the Law School’s categorical refusal to even consider or process GAO’s open records requests seeking how the institution is being used to advance an activist litigation agenda. Background to that work, let’s just call it Plan C, a tax-and-spend “Climate Superfund,” is…

Government transparency group Energy Policy Advocates (EPA) filed suit on Thursday against the Biden White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy’s refusal to produce correspondence pertaining to one of an increasing number of initiatives to combat opposition to the administration’s political agenda as “disinformation.” Specifically, EPA argued: “The request sought certain described correspondence of two named officials, Eric Lander…

Documents produced by the Treasury Department in FOIA litigation with Energy Policy Advocates lay out the apparent manufacture of the Administration’s “race to the bottom” narrative deployed to support increasing the U.S. corporate income tax rate. These records bring to mind the White House’s recent behind-the-scenes enlistment of a helpful press corps to change the tone of reportage on economic…

We already know of some loose compliance with disclosure and recusal matters in the Biden Administration, specifically pertaining to its push to impose the “climate” agenda without congressional authorization — expected to soon manifest itself in an Environmental Protection Agency filing before the DC Circuit next Friday, 10/29/21 in State of New York et al. v. EPA (in a major sue-and-settle…

Courtesy of Energy Policy Advocates, some public-institution correspondence with an entity seemingly dedicated to canceling Steven Koonin, Bjorn Lomborg, Michael Shellenberger and other climate realists:

“1001” Reasons Congress Needs More Information A timeline of events surrounding Elizabeth Klein’s appointment as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of the Interior sheds some light on the Department’s ethical lapses and raises even more questions. January 21, 2021  Elizabeth Klein, recent-former Deputy Director of the Michael Bloomberg group created to plant activist attorneys in state AG offices to, among…

The Biden Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has released selected, often heavily redacted records pertaining to the conflicts and recusals for Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, and Acting Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation (i.e., “climate”), Joe Goffman. The recusal statement is notable for what it does and does not include. As for the redactions, they appear to be heavy-handed given past…

You likely have heard that the Supreme Court reached the right decision today in BP plc et al. v. City of Baltimore. That opinion concerns a mildly weedy procedural mater (whether the 4th Cir. erred in holding that it lacked the power to consider all of the defendants’ grounds for removal), but a critical one given the circumstances, and an opinion which should help in removing these cases to federal court where they…

Timely milestone for one of the most cynical documents obtained during the Obama administration With the signs increasing that the Biden EPA plans to use National Ambient Air Quality Standards (“NAAQS”) to impose its climate agenda without the political peril of congressional votes, GAO wishes an infamous Obama-Biden memo a Happy, Very Timely Anniversary. This particular memo, titled “Strategic Communications…

As far back as June 2020 progressive AGs already banded together to make sure promiscuous claims of a so-called COVID “emergency” didn’t unleash projects that were actually “shovel ready”. Could lead to economic recovery. Shut down the economy in the name of a COVID emergency? How dare you question that. Spend trillions for the same reason? Absolutely. Suspend laws in…

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Capital Research Center has published a series by investigative journalist Kevin Mooney, “China’s Green Offensive”. This item, “China’s Green Offensive: The Obama State Department”, includes reference to an important suit brought under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on behalf of the Institute for Energy Research. Excerpts: Natural Resources Defense Council. In particular, Jack Schmidt, NRDC’s director of international…

As Biden vows immediate re-entry into climate pact, State has stopped processing critical FOIA request; Plaintiff argued to Court that next 60 days present the sole opportunity for public to debate the question whether Paris was in fact legally “entered” by Obama/Biden’s Pen-and-a-Phone Strategy Court Nonetheless Urges State to Release Three Remaining Documents by October 15 WASHINGTON, D.C. – This…

The below image is from a recent document production in Government Accountability & Oversight, P.C. v. Board of Regents, an open records suit confronting UCLA Law School’s role in the advocacy industry, specifically through its Emmett Institute on Climate Change & the Environment. It is an email thread among the Institute’s Andrew Sabin Chaired professor Cara Horowitz and Andrew Sabin,…

Complaint reveals existence of AG efforts to contract away public’s rights under records act; agreement to share information with “climate” tort bar that also recruited OAG to file suit ST. PAUL, MN – For the second time in recent months, the public interest law firm Government Accountability & Oversight, P.C. (GAO) filed suit against Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison under…

AG caught unlawfully using fees as barrier to access public records; tripled demand after coordinating with other AG offices under ‘Get Out of FOIA Free’ pacts; suit asks for sanctions  LANSING, MI, May 28, 2020  – Yesterday, on behalf of the transparency group Energy Policy Advocates (“EPA”), the public interest law firm Government Accountability & Oversight, P.C. (“GAO”) filed suit…

Same two sets of notes from July Rockefeller-hosted meeting, confessing the revenue-raising motive, at were recently accepted by 1st Circuit over objection by plaintiff’s tort counsel WASHINGTON, D.C., April 30, 2020 – The transparency group Energy Policy Advocates (“EPA”) today filed a Friend of the Court brief with the Supreme Court of the United States in BP P.L.C. et al.…