Court Requires Cheney to Disclose Energy Documents

WASHINGTON, DC, November 27, 2002 (ENS) - In a setback to the Bush administration's efforts to avoid handing over key Energy Task Force information, a federal judge Tuesday rejected an attempt by Vice President Dick Cheney to appeal a court order to release the documents. The White House has been resisting disclosure of the documents for months, but the court's earlier order requiring that the documents be produced by December 9 remains in effect.

Judge Emmet Sullivan of the Washington, DC Federal District Court ordered that The White House produce "non-privileged documents" in response to a lawsuit by Judicial Watch and the Sierra Club.

Vice President Dick Cheney (Photo courtesy U.S. Defense Department)

The defendants are also directed to produce "a privilege log" specifying which documents or categories of documents are being withheld pursuant to an asserted privilege, as well as the grounds on which they are being withheld.

The Sierra Club and Judicial Watch assert in their lawsuit that by refusing to tell the public about the influence energy industries had in crafting the National Energy Policy, the Cheney Energy Task Force violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

The plaintiff groups are asking the court to require Vice President Cheney and other defendants "to disclose to the American people what went on behind closed doors in the creation of the National Energy Policy," the Sierra Club said in a statement today.

Andrew Lundquist, executive director of the White House National Energy Policy Development Group) (Photo courtesy American Association of Small Property Owners)

"Today's decision brings the American people one step closer to finding out just who the Vice President's energy task force met with in drafting its dirty, dangerous energy plan," said David Bookbinder, senior attorney with the Sierra Club. "The Vice President should take this as a sign that the game is up, and come clean."

The defendants argued that Judge Sullivan's Orders reflect "clear error," and urged the Court of Appeals to order the lower court to dismiss Vice President Cheney from the action, and to decide the case on the basis of the administrative record alone, without further discovery.

Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Photo courtesy U.S. District Court)

The judge reinforced his earlier decision that more information is needed to satisfy the questions raised by the plaintiff groups. "This Court has already concluded that, in light of the delicate balancing of constitutional concerns required of the Court in this case, more information than is contained in the scant administrative record currently available, which consists in its entirety of the President's memorandum to the Vice-President establishing the NEPDG, the NEPDG's final report, and the affidavit of the NEPDG's former Deputy Director, is necessary to resolve the question of whether and how FACA is applicable to the NEPDG."

The Bush administration has presented the National Energy Policy as providing for "reliable, affordable, and environmentally sound energy for America's future."

But the plaintiff groups take issue with the environmentally sound portion of that characterization. "The energy policy that came out of the administration has serious impacts on the health and safety of American communities," said Bookbinder. "The public deserves to know who drafted that policy."

The Sierra Club and Judicial Watch are asking for a full accounting of what happened behind the closed doors of the Cheney Energy Task Force. They want to know who was in the room, what proposals did the energy industry executives and lobbyists make, what documents the energy industry submitted, and what Task Force documents they reviewed.

The National Energy Policy is online at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/energy/