Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Green groups ask Interior watchdog to investigate agency's public records policies
A number of conservation groups are asking the Interior Department’s internal watchdog to investigate reports that political appointees are improperly interfering in the release of public records.
Two separate complaints filed Monday by Earthjustice and the Campaign for Accountability say officials are using an "awareness review" policy to unlawfully delay the release of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and demand Interior’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) look into the situation.
Earthjustice’s letter, dated June 14, claims the department's FOIA process "has been subject to political interference by political appointees and non-career staff" since 2017.
The letter follows reports earlier this month that the Interior Department’s FOIA office allowed its political appointees mentioned in FOIA requests to weigh in on whether or not materials set to be released to the public should be withheld. The new process was deemed an “awareness review.”
The group argues that the policy violated the Freedom of Information Act by preventing the agency from issuing timely responses to requests, and caused the agency to miss litigation deadlines in FOIA lawsuits...MORE
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment