EPA's Executive Privilege Withholds Documents

In response to a request for documentation about why the EPA recently rejected greenhouse gas regulations in California, the agency has handed over limited and censored documents and citing an executive privilege in doing so.

1 minute read

January 21, 2008, 11:00 AM PST

By Nate Berg


"Invoking executive privilege, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday refused to provide lawmakers with a full explanation of why it rejected California's greenhouse gas regulations."

"The EPA informed Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., that many of the documents she had requested contained internal deliberations or attorney-client communications that would not be shared now with Congress."

"More than a week after a deadline set by Boxer, the agency gave her environmental committee a box of documents with numerous pages left almost entirely blank and others with key information redacted, Boxer said."

"The documents provided Friday by the EPA omitted key details, including a presentation that Senate aides said predicted EPA would lose a lawsuit if it went to court for denying California's waiver."

Monday, January 21, 2008 in Associated Press

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