Notice of Appeal – FOIA Request – Communications Regarding “Cap-and-Trade”
Excerpt Listed Below
Dear Treasury FOIA Staff,
Pursuant to our Freedom of Information Request seeking documents relating to Treasury’s deliberations over hypothetical efforts to administer or otherwise manage elements of a greenhouse “cap-and-trade” scheme, and related communications, please be informed that response of five documents respectively produced on September 11 (redacted) and 18 (unredacted, if partially withheld), and no emails fails any reasonable test for compliance with the FOI Act.constitutes an effective denial of our Request.
As such, please consider this Appeal and notice of intent to sue if Treasury does not come into compliance with its legal obligations in a reasonable period of time.
Specifically, we note our numerous communications with Treasury’s Office of Environment and Energy from April through July 2009, including its Director’s stated belief in a telephone conversation of April 30, 2009 that our Request covered nearly every document and email created by the Office of Environment and Energy.
CEI believes that Treasury is withholding numerous documents responsive to our Request, and that as such Treasury is in violation of FOIA’s requirement of identifying responsive documents. Further, Treasury is demonstrably withholding portions of those documents excerpted in its response in violation of FOIA. As such, Treasury is in violation of its obligations to also produce an index and description of those responsive documents being withheld in whole or in part and Treasury’s basis for such withholding
Due to these failures to comply with the FOI Act’s requirements, CEI has prepared a Complaint seeking Treasury’s immediate compliance. We intend to file this by October 15, 2009, if by then Treasury has not altered its failure and/or refusal to comply.
Please promptly provide any response including index and/or responsive documents addressed to me and/or CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman by email ([email protected], [email protected]) and/or fax at 202.331.0640.
Sincerely,
Christopher C. Horner, Esq.