Groups sue EPA over lack of records

[babylonsister]

Groups sue EPA over lack of records
By Miranda Green - 02/22/18 04:49 PM EST


A pair of environmental groups representing public employees sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday, claiming officials failed to adequately take and maintain public records in violation of federal law.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a joint lawsuit against the EPA and Administrator Scott Pruitt for failing to keep records in accordance with the Federal Records Act (FRA).

The groups charge that the Trump administration operated in "secrecy" to avoid creating a paper trail of notes that would be considered public records under the FRA. Those notes would also be open to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by the public and journalists.

"Under Scott Pruitt, the EPA has assumed a bunker mentality where paper trails are religiously avoided unless penned in invisible ink,” PEER counsel Adam Carlesco said in a statement. “By law, the American public has a right to know the basis for public health and anti-pollution decision-making that affects their lives.”

The suit also accuses David Ferriero, the federal archivist, and the National Archives and Records Administration of failing to enforce the law to take and maintain public records.

more...

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/375150-groups-sues-epa-over-lacking-record-keeping

[secondwind]

1. Kicked!! RESIST

[justhanginon]

2. This is really an important lawsuit. As another example, Gov. Greiten's (mini-trump) top

staff have been using an app called "Confide" for government communications which erases any trace of the message after it is read. Much like the trump administration, no paper trail is available for the public to see what has transpired. Greitens is as dirty as they come and also has some "dark money" problems along with his felony indictment.

[babylonsister]

3. I just hate they're getting away with it, so far. nt