Ecological Rights Foundation v. United States Environmental Protection Agency

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 ECOLOGICAL RIGHTS FOUNDATION, Case No. 18-cv-00394-DMR

Plaintiff, ORDER FOLLOWING IN CAMERA

REVIEW

v. Re: Dkt. Nos. 97, 100 UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION AGENCY,

11 Defendant. 12 I. BACKGROUND Plaintiff Ecological Rights Foundation (“ERF”) and Defendant United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) filed cross motions for summary judgment. [Docket Nos. 97, 100.] As described in the court’s September 16, 2020 order, their briefs and supporting materials were organized in a way that “seem[ed] engineered to make the court’s review of the motions as difficult and complicated as possible,” including EPA’s submission of a 1172-page unnumbered Vaughn index, the parties’ inclusion of argument in supporting documents, and their mutual failure to organize their discussion of the withheld documents in a way to facilitate the court’s review. [Docket No. 105.] The court also noted that EPA’s Vaughn index was problematic with respect to the …