Environmental Defense Fund v. U.S. Department of the Interior

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Columbia to compel the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to produce correspondence and records related to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) 2009 Endangerment Finding regarding greenhouse gases. After President Trump signed an executive order on Inauguration Day directing the EPA administrator to collaborate with other agency heads to submit recommendations on the legality and continuing applicability of the Endangerment Finding, EDF submitted FOIA requests to the agencies on February 3, 2025 seeking correspondence and records of Trump administration transition team members and political appointees related to the Endangerment Finding. In its lawsuit, EDF asserted that the agencies had failed to comply with FOIA’s statutory deadlines.