[CTRL] Cheney's Secret Energy Task Force

[William Shannon]

U.S.http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=41654&group=webcastDOE PUBLICLY REFUSES TO REVEAL industry groups on Cheney's energy task force (english) by wash post 2:35am Fri May 18 '01 Despite the use of the Freedom of Information act, the DOE has blocked an attempt for Americans to find out exactly which private interests are making up their so called 'public' energy policy. So this information is classified? How would you like it if you were told that it was 'classified' when you asked who were members on a House or Senate Committee? Sheesh. Quick, somebody invade us and save us. I'll wave any flag you got. DOE Silent On Energy Task Force Contacts Reuters Friday, May 11, 2001; Page A12 (wash post) The Department of Energy has rejected a Freedom of Information Act request to identify interest groups that are helping shape Vice President Cheney's energy task force plan, an environmental group said yesterday. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) requested records identifying the members of the task force and all working groups reporting to the task force, along with other information, in a late April request to the Energy Department under the FOIA. The environmental group is appealing the Energy Department's rejection, and a group advocating open government complained that the DOE overstepped its authority. The DOE said those documents were "pre-decisional" -- preceding its final plan -- and therefore not subject to public disclosure. But attorneys for the Freedom of Information Service Center, part of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the Energy Department may have overstepped its power in using that exemption. "That exemption is primarily to protect the candid exchange of information," said Rebecca Daugherty, the director of the FOI Service Center. "But it doesn't exist to protect the identity of people influencing the decision-making." "There's been a lot of talk about how industries have been influencing the task force plan but no information on who," said NRDC attorney Robert Perks. "We want to know exactly who is going to influence our energy plan." The DOE's task force plan is expected out on May 17.