Energy Dept releases more documents on energy plan
Date: 12-Apr-02
Country: USA
DOE produced the documents to comply with a federal court's schedule for turning over information requested by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, and Judicial Watch, a public interest law firm, under the Freedom of Information Act.
The department on March 25 released the first set of 11,000 pages of documents related to the White House energy plan.
Wednesday's release includes about 950 pages providing more details on contacts between Energy Department officials and energy industry representatives, as well as environmentalists.
The NRDC and Judicial Watch say they will contest in court the Energy Department's claim that it could not release another 15,000 pages of documents because they reflects internal communications and therefore did not have to be made public.
The latest installment does not include any of the those 15,000 pages under dispute. Later this month, the department is required to provide a description of the documents it has refused to hand over.
The papers released last month showed that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham consulted dozens of energy industry representatives last year before the Bush administration released its energy policy in May 2001.