Natural Resources Defense Council v. United States Department of Defense

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER REGARDING CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

I.

INTRODUCTION

On March 25, 2004, the Natural Resources Defense Council (“NRDC”) filed suit in this Court against the United States Department of Defense (“DoD”), Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), and Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 552 , et seq. (“FOIA”) to compel production of documents it requested from these three agencies in 2003 related to perchlorate, a chemical used in rocket fuel. NRDC believes that perchlorate poses extensive public health risks and has contaminated groundwater and drinking water in the United States, and seeks the requested documents to assess the health risks resulting from these releases.

EPA and DoD moved for summary judgment last year. The Court denied the motions on May 25, 2005 and held that EPA and DoD had not provided sufficient information to demonstrate that documents or portions of documents that were withheld were actually exempt from disclosure. A narrow exception to the Court’s holding pertained to maps of water wells, which the Court held had been properly withheld by EPA under Exemption 9 which governs…