Energy Department Is Ordered To Release Papers on Meetings
By JOHN J. FIALKA
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
WASHINGTON -- A U.S. District Court judge ordered the Energy Department to release the "vast majority" of its documents relating to secret meetings held last year by Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.
But the court order in a case filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, is only a narrow victory for those who are seeking full disclosure of the closed-door operations of Mr. Cheney's task force.
The ruling applies only to Energy Department records; White House records weren't sought in the suit filed under the Freedom of Information Act, because they aren't subject to the act. For instance, Mr. Cheney's private meeting with Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay last year to discuss national energy policy isn't among the records subject to the court order, since the Energy Department wasn't a party to that meeting. The task force was run on a day-to-day basis by Energy Department officials.
The order from Judge Gladys Kessler doesn't address the far-reaching, fundamental conflict raised in a separate lawsuit filed last week by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. That case, which also seeks disclosure of task-force records, marks the first time the GAO has gone to court to force an executive-branch official or agency to release documents and could grant Congress significant new oversight to scrutinize White House activity.
Sharon Buccino, who represented the natural-resources group in the case, said the court's order enforces "the public's fundamental right to know what the government is doing."
White House officials didn't have any comment on the order, which requires the Energy Department to deliver records by March 25. The department, which already has turned over much of the same material to the GAO, doesn't plan to fight the order. "Of course we will comply with the court order," said department spokeswoman Jill Schroeder, adding that her agency had worked "diligently" to respond to the document request.
Judge Kessler called the material, which might run to 7,500 pages, "of extraordinary public interest," especially to consumers, Congress and industry. Although limited in scope, the documents could offer a glimpse into which industry lobbyists and executives had access to the key players shaping parts of the Bush administration's energy package.
Two other organizations -- the Sierra Club, an environmental group; and Judicial Watch, a conservative public-policy organization -- are also suing the task force for release of records. The Sierra Club is suing under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and the Judicial Watch case, which is scheduled for hearing today, is based on the Freedom of Information Act.
Mr. Cheney has declined to release the records, arguing that the environmental groups and GAO have no legal standing to demand them. In addition, the White House claims disclosure would represent an improper intrusion into White House policy deliberations.
Still, the administration has tried to limit the political damage from the court fights by voluntarily disclosing that task-force members met last year with Enron officials on six occasions, including the half-hour private discussion between Messrs. Lay and Cheney.
The White House has said that the task force also met with environmental groups, labor unions and other industry organizations.
"After being shut out of the process for nearly a year, the public will finally get to see if the administration acted on behalf of the public interest ... or for the exclusive benefit of a few industry friends," said Ms. Buccino, the lawyer who brought the suit for the natural-resources council.
Write to John J. Fialka at john.fialka@wsj.com
Updated February 28, 2002 |
