National Resources Defense Council v. United States Department of Defense

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER REGARDING DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE’S AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY’S MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

I.

INTRODUCTION

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) obligates federal governmental agencies, upon request from any person, to disclose to that person all documents responsive to the request that are within the agency’s possession, custody or control. An agency may refuse to disclose documents only when the requested materials fall within one of nine statutorily specified exemptions. The present motion involves a dispute between an organization that has made an FOIA request, and two agencies that have refused to produce several thousand documents that allegedly fall within one or more of these exemptions.

In 2003, Plaintiff National Resources Defense Council (“NRDC”) submitted FOIA requests to the Department of Defense (“DoD”) and the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) for documents regarding perchlorate, a chemical used in rocket fuel. Though the agencies failed to meet the statutorily mandated deadlines for production, both agencies ultimately produced documents to NRDC, but also withheld several thousand additional responsive documents that the…