Environmental Defense Fund v. Department of the Interior

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), BLM, and the DOI Office of the Secretary and Office of the Solicitor seeking to compel disclosure of documents related to efforts to suspend, delay, repeal, or revise the Waste Prevention Rule. The Waste Prevention Rule imposes requirements to reduce waste of natural gas, including methane, from oil and gas production activities on public and tribal lands. EDF said it submitted six FOIA requests in May 2017 and November 2017 as part of its efforts “to understand the coordination between DOI, Congress, and industry groups” to roll back the rule, which included an unsuccessful attempt to revoke the rule using the Congressional Review Act as well as regulatory actions to suspend the effective date of key provisions. EDF alleged that the defendants failed to provide timely responses to its requests, failed to provide responsive documents, failed to adequately search for records, and failed to provide reasonably segregable portions of documents that were otherwise exempt from disclosure.