Description: Action seeking to compel BLM to respond to Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the federal coal program.
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Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 03/09/2021 Memorandum Opinion Download Department of Interior's motion for summary judgment and plaintiff's cross-motion for partial summary judgment denied without prejudice and Department of Interior directed to either supplement its declarations or undertake additional searches for responsive records. D.C. Federal Court Directed Department of Interior to Search for Drafts of Zinke Order Rescinding Moratorium on Coal Leasing Program . The federal district court for the District of Columbia directed the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to undertake additional searches for records in response to Center for Biological Diversity’s (CBD’s) requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for records of discussions and correspondence related to President Trump’s March 2017 executive order directing the Secretary of the Interior to lift the moratorium on the federal coal leasing program. The court agreed with CBD that the absence of drafts of then-Secretary Ryan Zinke’s order implementing the executive order, along with the absence of Secretary-level communications about the order, gave rise to “material doubt” about the adequacy of the agency’s declarations regarding the searches it conducted. The court determined that DOI must either supplement its declarations or take additional steps to confirm it completed an adequate search for Secretary-level communications and drafts of the order, including by requesting that Zinke search his own files and asking him whether he used additional personal platforms beyond the email address already searched to conduct agency business. In addition, the court concluded that FOIA obligated DOI to take additional steps to search Zinke’s government-issued phone. The court rejected CBD’s contention that DOI should undertake a specific search of Trump transition team records but directed DOI to clarify the extent to which its searches encompassed and identified correspondence between DOI and the transition team, or to expand its search to include such records. 07/26/2017 Complaint Download First amended complaint filed. 06/20/2017 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Center for Biological Diversity Asked Court to Compel FOIA Response Regarding Federal Coal Program. The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit seeking to compel the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to respond to the Center’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for communications and records related to federal lands coal policy. The lawsuit was filed in the federal district court for the District of Columbia. Department of the Interior Secretarial Order No. 3338 in 2016 ordered a programmatic environmental review of the federal coal program and place a moratorium on federal coal leasing pending completion of the review. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke revoked the order.