CEI v. EPA – No. 15-466

Today CEI filed a new FOIA lawsuit against the EPA in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia—one lawsuit over two different FOIA requests.

On February 27, 2015, CEI requested copies of  correspondence sent to or from four identified employees in EPA’s Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. The correspondence in question was exchanged with the offices of U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer, Ed Markey or Sheldon Whitehouse, and contains keywords specified by CEI’s FOIA request. These keywords are related to letters the Senatorial offices sent to certain organizations, including CEI, about climate research funding. To date, the EPA has failed to respond to this FOIA request.

On March 2, 2015, CEI requested copies of correspondence sent between five identified employees in EPA’s Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs and Rep. Raul Grijalva or his office. The correspondence in question also contain certain keywords relevant to letters from Rep. Grijalva to various universities demanding financial information about seven professors who have been skeptical of climate science and research. See related news coverage on these letters at the National Journal. Again, the EPA has failed to produce these documents.

Legal Filings: 
April 1, 2015 – Complaint filed

Original FOIA Requests:
March 2, 2015 – FOIA request for correspondence between EPA and the office of Rep. Raul Grijalva 
February 27, 2015 – FOIA request for correspondence between EPA and the offices of Sens. Barbara Boxer, Ed Markey or Sheldon Whitehouse