FOIA stories: 600 and counting

The SGI “FOIA Files” database has surpassed 600 entries, a testament to the persistence of journalists and the hard work of agency personnel who process Freedom of Information Act requests.  This database is a collection of news and other stories that relied on a FOIA request to inform the public.

In the last year, FOIA has enabled the public to understand more about the politics and policies that shape people’s lives:

The recent financial crisis and its ongoing impact on the economy:
#592: “How Hank Paulson’s inaction helped Goldman Sachs” (10/10/10)
#615: “Morgan Stanley Speculating to Brink of Collapse Got $107 Billion From Fed” (8/22/11)
#616: “Wall Street Aristocracy Got $1.2 Trillion in Secret Loans” (8/22/11)

Fallout from disasters, both natural and man-made, continues to confound government and affect people’s lives:
#589: “Spills raise fears about inspection of pipelines” (9/26/10)
#599: “Emails show struggle to estimate size of Gulf of Mexico oil spill” (11/25/10)
#613: “U.S. Nuclear Regulators Privately Doubted Power Plants Despite Expressing Public Confidence, Documents Show” (4/6/11)
#614: “Emails expose BP’s attempts to control research into impact of Gulf oil spill” (4/15/11)

War and its consequences continue to ripple through people’s lives:
#585: “Psych meds spike among younger troops” (9/3/10)
#586: “Veterans Agency Changes Terms for Prudential Claims” (9/14/10)
#602: “Documents raise questions on treatment of detainees” (1/22/11)

Law-enforcement agencies try to maintain a balance between effective, appropriate surveillance and respecting civil liberties:
#603: “Photographer Ernest Withers doubled as FBI informant to spy on civil rights movement” (9/12/10)
#604: “EFF obtains docs that reveal when authorities can get your data from social media companies” (1/20/11)
#605: “Civil Rights Activist Benjamin Hooks’ FBI File Details Racist Threats Against Him” (1/25/11)
#612: “APNewsBreak: File shows threats on abortion doctor” (4/5/11)

We look forward to finding more stories that use FOIA to inform the public as requests work their way through the pipeline and journalists continue to use government information to help explore and explain the world around us.

Groups sue for safety studies for oil spill dispersants

Okay, we said it was over.  We said the EPA disclosed the dispersant ingredients back in June:

• Details of the ingredients in the dispersant have been disclosed.  The Environmental Protection Agency took care of this in early June.   For the record, here’s the answer, from EPA:

What are the chemical components of the dispersants COREXIT 9500 and COREXIT 9527?

The components of COREXIT 9500 and 9527 are:

CAS Registry Number	Chemical Name
57-55-6	1,2-Propanediol
111-76-2	Ethanol, 2-butoxy-*
577-11-7	Butanedioic acid, 2-sulfo-, 1,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl) ester, sodium salt (1:1)
1338-43-8	Sorbitan, mono-(9Z)-9-octadecenoate
9005-65-6	Sorbitan, mono-(9Z)-9-octadecenoate, poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl) derivs.
9005-70-3	Sorbitan, tri-(9Z)-9-octadecenoate, poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl) derivs
29911-28-2	2-Propanol, 1-(2-butoxy-1-methylethoxy)-
64742-47-8	Distillates (petroleum), hydrotreated light
*Note: This chemical component (Ethanol, 2-butoxy-) is not included in the composition of COREXIT 9500. Learn more about CAS Registry Numbers from the American Chemical Society

A few environmental groups are not satisfied with the additional disclosures about the ingredients in the dispersants used in record numbers in the Gulf oil spill.  They want to know what the safety studies say about the chemicals in the dispersants.  They asked for the records from EPA back in May under the Freedom of Information Act, had their request logged and heard nothing.  So they’ve sued.

Maybe they could ask OGIS for help?  OGIS is supposed to mediate disputes.  If mediation doesn’t work, OGIS can issue an advisory opinion setting forth a way to resolve what should be disclosed or withheld.  It may be helpful and avoid costly and lengthy litigation.

Yes, we said it was over.  But it was too good to be true.  It turns out it’s not over until the FOIA lawsuit is filed.

MMS cuts red tape in document requests

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has been overwhelmed with requests for information about the Gulf oil spill and is responding by eliminating fees, expediting requests, and posting responses on its website, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) noted on June 22.

Our impact? Dispersants, spillcam & barrel counts

Back on May 19, we anticipated the public would demand more information from government agencies about the oil spill, so agencies should head off those FOIA requests and post material proactively. We went on to discuss three problems: The lack of information about the dispersant used, video of the spill site itself (the “spillcam”), and spill monitoring information.  To monitor the spill, the public focused on the size and locations of the plumes in the water and the rate that oil is gushing from the break in the well.

The next day, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), longtime champion of open government, called on agencies to disclose more about the oil dispersant, Corexit, and ensure the often mesmerizing spillcam was kept on.

FOIA helps fill in backstory to oil spill

While there are many angles and arguments to consider in evaluating and covering the recent oil spill and ensuing attempts at mitigation and clean-up, FOIA has been a vital tool in enabling journalists to connect government information with public analysis, enhancing our ability to understand both what has happened and what is happening. As the nation reacts to what may become the nation’s worst oil spill in history, we are pleased to see agencies releasing information in response to FOIA requests, as some of our new “FOIA Files” stories note.

For example, see:

• #503: “Documents Show Early Worries About Safety of Rig” (May 29, New York Times) — Engineers and officials were skeptical of solutions chosen by BP as early as the middle of 2009, but a culture of cooperation between industry and federal overseers let each hope for the best instead of preparing for the worst.
• #502: “Deepwater Horizon Inspections: MMS Skipped Monthly Inspections on Doomed Rig” (May 16, AP/Huffington Post) — The Minerals Management Service was not inspecting the Deepwater Horizon rig as often as their policy called for them to.
• #501: “Renegade Refiner: OSHA Says BP Has “Systemic Safety Problem”” (May 16, Center for Public Integrity) — Lost in the shock of so much oil spewing into the mile-deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico is the fact that BP seems to have learned little about preventing employee deaths or preventing “natural” man-made disasters by complying with environmental or workplace-safety regulations since a fatal explosion five years ago at Anacortes, WA.

Plenty of reporters’ experiences with FOIA involve frustration, denial, and delay, putting a damper on stories whose value lies at least in part in their timeliness. And journalists have reported trouble accessing places and people to report the story.

Reporters are rightfully reluctant to put themselves into their stories, but there may be no better way to explain how transparency and accountability are being undermined. And how FOIA has been an effective tool to help keep the public informed of what the government — and BP — are up to.

Anticipating FOIA requests & the oil spill: an update

Here’s an update on our earlier post urging agencies to affirmatively post online documents, videos, images and other information about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico before a FOIA request comes in.

It was a quick post, and it would have been a better piece if we had described what agencies have done to post information online.

BP operates a joint information center where many agencies, including the Coast Guard, Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), post information.  The joint website also includes BP and Transocean, which runs the Deepwater Horizon rig where the accident occurred.  The agencies themselves have a great deal of background information and daily updates on their response.

Despite this communications effort, two controversies have emerged: First, is the dispersant used, Clorexit, doing more bad than good when used in the unprecedented quantities that BP is pumping deep underwater in the Gulf?  EPA today ordered BP to select a less toxic dispersant, submit it to EPA within 24 hours, and begin using it on the spill within 72 hours.

Second, there are questions about how much oil is leaking into the Gulf each day, where the plumes of oil are sitting below the water’s surface, and whether the oil has reached the so-called “loop current” where it would hitchhike a ride around Florida and spread devastation up the East Coast.  By now, video images are widespread showing billows of a smoke-like substance rising from the broken pipe laying on the seabed.  Scientists reportedly are criticizing the lack of monitoring of the spill.

Despite BP’s efforts to clean up the spill, at this time, we did not see the video of the seabed (and archival footage from the start of the spill, for that matter) on the joint information center’s website.  This would be a good place to start. And keep up the work of keeping the public informed by anticipating other FOIA requests (or viewing the requests that have already come in and posting repeatedly requested information) and posting those responsive documents on the joint center’s website.

We can anticipate FOIA requests for oil spill documents. Why can’t agencies?

The oil spill in the gulf is lubricating the engines of lawsuits.  The Chicago Tribune reports that BP has hired a law firm to defend itself against what appears to be years if not decades of litigation.

And one could reasonably assume that with the national disaster will also come document requests.

Each agency with a hand in the gulf oil spill should set up a special public file online to deposit studies, correspondence and other information related to the government’s handling of this particular drilling operation.   In fact, back in 1996 Congress required agencies to do precisely that if they reasonably anticipated multiple FOIA requests to come for  the same information.  But this law has been widely ignored.

Or they could pool resources and follow the DocumentCloud model by copying documents that would be released in response to a FOIA request about the oil spill into a public vault where the public could view it.?

To be practical, the agencies could each day post documents they produce in response to the spill. The information would still be subject to a FOIA request, but since the agencies would have the telling documents online, fewer FOIA requests would arrive in their inboxes and they could focus on recovering the information they missed.

By building in access to the documents related to the spill response as the agencies are working on them (with limited redactions to protect personal privacy and other interests protected by FOIA), agencies would save future taxpayer dollars and the agency’s time as it goes back to reconstruct its actions in response to future FOIA requests.

Focus on oil dispersants clouded by secrecy

ProPublica digs into whether oil dispersants mitigate disastrous impacts from the massive oil spill in the Gulf or compound the disaster.

One sentence will catch the eye of transparency-minded readers:  “The exact makeup of the dispersant is kept secret under competitive trade laws.” (H/T Newspaper Association of America‘s Sophia Cope.)  Given the scope of the environmental and economic disaster unfolding in the Gulf, and the uncertainty about whether dispersants are doing more harm than good, the public has a right to know all that science can tell us about this particular strategy.