How to Use Freedom of Information Laws

Aaron Colangelo

Natural Resources Defense Council

NRDC’s use of FOIA

• National environmental nonprofit group• Dozens of FOIA requests every year

– Drinking water contamination– Water and air pollution (mercury, lead)– Disposal of nuclear waste– “Cheney Energy Task Force” meetings

• Filed with almost every federal agency• State FOIA requests also• Often lead to lawsuits• Major news stories

What to Ask For

• General requests– To get a lot of information about a problem

• Specific requests– When you know exactly what you’re looking

for

• Talk to friendly government officials to get suggestions

How to Ask for it

• Create templates or models

• Give as much detail as you can

• Include the names of people who might have the documents

• Show that you know the law

• Offer to clarify if necessary

How to Get it

• Be persistent

• Negotiate

• Appeal

• File a lawsuit

• “Vaughn index”

How to Use the Information

• Media– Digest the information– Present it to reporters– Press release or newsletter– Publish reports

• Lawsuits– Violations of environmental laws– To support other claims

• Community meetings– Disclose contamination in a community

• Reform the process– Prevent secret meetings

Common Obstacles

• Delay

• Cost

• Inadequate search

• Withholdings

• Too much information

Case Study -- Perchlorate

• Drinking water pollutant

• In vegetables, fish, and milk

• Dispute between Environmental Protection Agency, military, and White House

Perchlorate contaminates the water in almost every state in the U.S.

In 2003, perchlorate was detected in all seven samples of supermarket milk in Texas

In 2005, perchlorate was also detected at high levels in mother’s breast milk.

Perchlorate FOIA requests

• More than 20 separate requests so far

• 8 federal agencies

• Follow new leads to find out who might have more information

• Narrow the requests once you start to get information

Example – request filed with the Pentagon

Perchlorate FOIA lawsuits

• Make the problem real to the judge• Say why the information is important

– Looking for three things only:• Scope of contamination (where is it)• Health effects (how does it harm people)• Cleanup efforts (how can we clean it up)

• Credibility• Lawsuit is a last resort• Themes:

– Necessary to protect public health– Equal access to information

Federal Lawsuit

Court orders

• Several victories in court so far– Air Force records– Private contractors– Missing documents– Contamination data

Government must disclose information about health effects

Air Force must explain missing records

Documents released so far

• Tens of thousands of documents released– “Gag order”– Ignoring the problem – refusal to look for

contamination– Pollution problems in specific communities– Contamination in food– Industry pressure– Political interference to prevent cleanup– Intimidating independent scientists– Coverup – missing or destroyed records

Additional information

• Sample FOIA requests and court filings

• acolangelo@nrdc.org

• (202) 289-2376

• Thank you!