Description: Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking records related to the North American Energy Resilience Model project.
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Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Department of Energy
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 10/15/2020 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Environmental Group Filed FOIA Lawsuit Seeking Documents Related to Federal Grid Reliability Project. Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in federal district court in the District of Columbia alleging that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) failed to produce records in response to CBD’s August 2019 request for records related to the North American Energy Resilience Model (NAERM) project, which the complaint described as “an effort to model grid vulnerabilities across North America.” CBD alleged that it was concerned about “the extent to which NAERM may be biased to support reliance on gas, including fracked gas, as a resilience tool, at the expense of renewable energy sources, including wind and solar.” CBD sought records of communications between DOE and non-federal agency individuals, such as energy company employees, as well as records discussing NAERM’s costs, records regarding whether NAERM implementation would result in increased reliance on fossil fuels, and records mentioning or discussing the relationship between NAERM and wind and solar energy resources.