Southern Environmental Law Center v. EPA

Southern Environmental Law Center and Environmental Defense Fund filed a filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) action against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for allegedly failing to respond to requests for EPA’s communications with the Heartland Institute, a non-profit think tank “with the self-described aim of promoting ‘free-market solutions to social and economic problems.’” The complaint alleged that Heartland had recommended that the Trump administration take a number of actions to halt or reverse climate change initiatives and that EPA had reached out to Heartland for help identifying scientists to participate in a potential “red team/blue team” exercise to review climate science. The plaintiffs said reports of the correspondence between EPA and Heartland about the red team/blue team exercise had “surfaced through unofficial channels,” but that “the public remains in the dark about the extent of those communications and any other topics that may have been addressed.”