July, 09 2019, 12:00am EDT
Trump EPA Warned That New Rule Curbing Public Access to Environmental Records Is Dangerous, Unlawful
WASHINGTON
A new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule gives Trump administration appointees dangerous and unlawful new power to curb the public release of crucial environmental records, nonprofit conservation and transparency organizations warned today.
In today's letter to the EPA, the Environmental Integrity Project, Center for Biological Diversity and more than a dozen other public-interest groups say the agency's new rule governing responses to Freedom of Information Act requests "significantly increases the potential for abuse of the FOIA process." The new rule, the letter notes, will impair the public's right and ability to learn about important agency actions.
"The EPA's radical new public records rule will make it much harder for people to understand the Trump administration's harmful environmental policies," said Meg Townsend, the Center's Open Government attorney. "These changes, made without an opportunity for public comment, are aimed at hiding policies that pollute our air and water and harm endangered wildlife."
EPA's new rule explicitly authorizes EPA officials appointed by the president -- including (but not limited to) the administrator, deputy administrators, assistant administrators, and any of "those individuals' delegates" -- to make FOIA determinations. This is an about-face from EPA's prior statements that reviewers are not permitted to issue or alter FOIA determinations made by career staff, and that only "FOIA staff, program staff, and program managers will . . . determine whether information should be released or withheld under FOIA's exemptions."
The EPA issued its new rule on June 26, 2019 without providing any opportunity for public feedback, as is typically required under federal law. The changes come after public records revealed scandalous behavior by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who left the agency after months of controversy and investigations into his misuse of public money and EPA personnel and unethical relationships with lobbyists and polluting industries.
Today's letter addresses specific issues with EPA's new FOIA rule, including the agency's authorization of political appointees to issue FOIA determinations and of the ability to withhold agency records based on their "responsiveness," which contradicts both FOIA and legal precedent. The groups also highlight the issues with the lack of public notice and comment as required by the APA.
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
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Dec 13, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump and his advisers are reportedly considering plans to weaken—or abolish altogether—top bank regulators, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The Wall Street Journalreported Thursday that members of Trump's transition team and the new Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency have asked nominees under consideration to head the FDIC and OCC if the bank watchdogs could be eliminated and have their functions absorbed by the Treasury Department, which is set to be run by a billionaire hedge fund manager and crypto enthusiast.
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"The next recession starts here," tech journalist Jacob Silverman warned in response to the Journal's reporting.
Eric Rauchway, a historian of the New Deal, wrote that "even Milton Friedman appreciated the FDIC," underscoring the extreme nature of the incoming Trump administration's deregulatory ambitions.
Musk, the world's wealthiest man, is also pushing for the elimination of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency established in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
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"What you're seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current healthcare system."
"What you're seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current healthcare system," he continued, noting the tens of thousands of Americans who die each year because they can't get to a doctor.
"Killing people is not the way we're going to reform our healthcare system," Sanders added. "The way we're going to reform our healthcare system is having people come together and understanding that it is the right of every American to be able to walk into a doctor's office when they need to and not have to take out their wallet."
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