Green groups sue for access to U.S. monument documents: lawsuit
Source: Reuters
#POLITICS NOVEMBER 3, 2017 / 9:56 AM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
Green groups sue for access to U.S. monument documents: lawsuit
Emily Flitter
2 MIN READ
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Sierra Club and five other U.S. environmental groups sued a White House advisory council and the U.S. Interior Department, saying they were illegally withholding information about a review of public land designations, according to court papers.
In the lawsuit filed on Thursday, the groups asked the court to compel the Interior Department and the White House Council on Environmental Quality to provide documents on the department’s review of a group of national monuments, where industrial activities like mining and oil drilling are prohibited.
Interior put more than a dozen monuments under review earlier this year. Several news outlets reported the department had determined which of those it would shrink, but it has not released a formal report.
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The environmental groups, which also include the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Wilderness Society, said Interior and the White House council were not meeting appropriate deadlines under the Freedom of Information Act. That law requires government agencies to release their documents to the public upon request and lays out a timeline for doing so.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-interior-lawsuit/green-groups-sue-for-access-to-u-s-monument-documents-lawsuit-idUSKBN1D31IZ