July, 01 2019, 12:00am EDT
Environmental Groups Release Thousands of Interior Department Emails Documenting Unlawful Changes to Basic Transparency Measures
Internal emails reveal efforts, led by Interior's top lawyer Daniel Jorjani, stifling the flow of information to the public under the Freedom of Information Act
WASHINGTON
Hundreds of Interior Department emails, gained through a year of litigation against the Trump administration, reveal harmful new practices at play at Trump's Interior Department. Earthjustice represented the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth in a lawsuit aimed at shining a light on a new culture of secrecy at the Interior Department. The organizations are publishing the entire collection to help reporters investigate the hidden ways in which political appointees at the Interior Department are newly restricting information to the public about the public lands and resources the agency stewards on our behalf.
One notable new practice is "awareness reviews," which allow political appointees in the Trump administration to screen and then delay or withhold a release of information mentioning them to the public. A whistleblower at the Interior Department initially went public about this unlawful practice in 2017, and the newly released collection of emails provides proof that the policy is in play.
Of especial interest is the role the Interior Department's lead attorney played in these new practices. At his confirmation hearing in May, Daniel Jorjani testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that "I myself don't review FOIAs or make determinations." He later followed that up in a written statement to Senator Ron Wyden with: "I typically did not review records prior to their release under the FOIA." In both instances, Jorjani misled members of Congress.
"Daniel Jorjani clearly misled members of Congress when he testified about how the Interior Department is filtering information to the American people about treasured public lands and public resources," said Yvonne Chi, attorney at Earthjustice. "We're being unlawfully kept in the dark, and we've had to go to court for a year to get the internal memos that prove it. It's well past time for an investigation."
Earthjustice, Sierra Club, and Friends of the Earth have sent a letter to Interior's acting inspector general requesting an investigation into the practice of political screening and Daniel Jorjani's statements to Congress. The emails show at least three instances where Interior did not meet court deadlines because they were waiting for political appointees to review Freedom of Information Act requests.
"These documents reveal a pervasive pattern at Interior of misleading Congress and withholding information from the public," said Louisa Eberle, Associate Attorney for the Sierra Club. "Daniel Jorjani has made it clear that he cannot be trusted to honestly or responsibly fulfill his duties, and it is critical that an investigation into his deception and lack of transparency begin immediately."
"These documents show the blatant and possibly illegal disregard top Interior officials have for government transparency, raising questions about what else they are hiding from the public," said Nicole Ghio, Senior Fossil Fuel Program Manager at Friends of the Earth. "Daniel Jorjani, the current nominee for Solicitor General at the Department of the Interior, is at the center of these new awareness reviews. Senators from both parties must stand up to this systematic attack on the Freedom of Information Act by stopping Jorjani's confirmation until his actions are fully investigated."
WHY THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT MATTERS IN OUR DEMOCRACY
Since 1967, the Freedom of Information Act has provided the public the right to request records from any federal agency. It is the bedrock transparency law that keeps reporters and the American people in the know about their government. The U.S. Supreme Court has found that the "basic purpose of FOIA is to ensure an informed citizenry, vital to the functioning of a democratic society, needed to check against corruption and to hold the governors accountable to the governed."
Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.
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Warning of 'Unprecedented Risks,' Scientists Say Mirror Bacteria 'Should Not Be Created'
"Our analysis suggests that mirror bacteria could broadly evade many immune defenses of humans, animals, and plants," according to a group of 38 scientists, including multiple Nobel Prize winners.
Dec 13, 2024
Dozens of scientists are calling in no uncertain terms for a halt on research to create "mirror life," particularly "mirror bacteria" that could "pose ecological risks" and possibly cause "pervasive lethal infections in a substantial fraction of the plant and animal species, including humans."
The group of 38 scientists, who include Nobel laureates and other experts, addressed research into "mirror life"—mirror-image biological molecules—in a piece of commentary published in the journal Science published Friday, which accompanied a technical report that was released earlier in December.
One of the scientists, synthetic biologist Kate Adamala at the University of Minnesota, was working on creating a mirror cell but "changed track last year" after studying the risks, according to the Guardian.
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To that end, the authors of the commentary plan to convene discussions on the risks of mirror life and related topics in 2025, with the hope that "society at large will take a responsible approach to managing a technology that might pose unprecedented risks."
The ability to create mirror life is likely over a decade away and would require sizable investment and technical progress, meaning the world has the opportunity to "preempt risks before they are realized," according to the scientists.
When broken down into simple terms, mirror life sounds like something out of science fiction. All the biomolecules that constitute life have a "handedness" to them—"right-handed" nucleotides make up DNA and RNA, and proteins are formed from "left-handed" amino acids.
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While publicly pledging to cooperate with reform efforts, Witty has defended his company's care denials in private and urged his employees not to engage with media outlets in the aftermath of Thompson's murder.
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At the national level, UnitedHealth has spent over $5.8 million this year lobbying the federal government, according to OpenSecrets.
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"In 2024, these billionaire families used their enormous wealth to make record-breaking political contributions to secure a GOP trifecta," reads a new report.
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The children of the richest families in the U.S. are well-known for spending their vast wealth on frivolous luxuries—constructing a replica of a medieval church on their acres of property, in the case of banking heir Timothy Mellon, or starting a brand of T-shirts described by one critic as "terrible beyond your wildest imagination," as Wyatt Koch, nephew of Republican megadonors Charles and David, did.
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At least 90 billionaires have passed away over the last decade, leaving their beneficiaries $455 billion in collective wealth.
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"Trump and his allies in Congress are doing their donors' bidding by rigging the system in their favor and pushing a $4 trillion giveaway to wealthy elites and giant corporations."
Without loopholes included the stepped up basis tax cut, the current estate tax on billionaires and centimillionaires would yield enough revenue to fund universal childcare, preschool, and paid family leave for U.S. workers, with hundreds of billions of dollars left over, according to ATF's report.
The wealthy heirs profiled in the report and their families are some of the Republican Party's top donors—contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to candidates including Trump in the hopes of securing even more tax cuts.
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A previous analysis by ATF found that as of late October, just 150 billionaire families had spent $1.9 billion on the 2024 elections.
As the Center for American Progress found earlier this year, Trump's plan to extend the tax cuts that he pushed through in 2017 would cost $4 trillion over the next decade.
"The vast wealth inherited by centuries-old billionaire families is staggering. While these heirs and their billions go undertaxed, enormous sums are squandered on lavish mansions, private jets, and vanity projects instead of funding crucial public investments," said ATF executive director David Kass. "In 2024, these billionaire families used their enormous wealth to make record-breaking political contributions to secure a GOP trifecta. Now, Trump and his allies in Congress are doing their donors' bidding by rigging the system in their favor and pushing a $4 trillion giveaway to wealthy elites and giant corporations—all while advocating for cuts to vital programs that working and middle-class Americans depend on."
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