By Rebecca Rotenberg and Bryan Rahija
Just last week, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) launched The FOIA Project, a new undertaking that sheds light on agency decisions to withhold information requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Project serves as a database of instances in which an agency’s decision to withhold government information became the subject of a lawsuit under FOIA. Users can find dockets, complaints and other court documents, and can search for cases by district, plaintiff, and defendant.
There’s also a nifty mapping feature showing the geographic distribution and duration of cases across the country. And more fun features are on the way: TRAC writes that it will soon invite the public to nominate and vote on egregious examples of improper withholding for induction into the “FOIA Hall of Shame.”
In the end, the Project's creators hope that, as stated on The FOIA Project's website, “Full documentation of each instance of improper withholding will force bureaucrats to publicly justify their unjustifiable decisions.”
Overall, this looks like it will prove to be a fantastic resource.
Full disclosure: TRAC's office is just down the hall from POGO, and TRAC co-director David Burnham is a member of POGO's board.
Don't know whether my cases fit into your reporting scheme or not. I have been trying to get the federal agency, the Tennessee Valley Authority, to respond to my requests for information that well could be embarrassing to the TVA. My first FOIA request began last June 2010.
The first case involves TVA's so-called Green Power Switch where TVA sells imaginary electricity (millions of dollars worth)for "green" purposes yet they cannot (or will not) account for where this money is actually spent. All TVA will say is that those funds go into TVA's "general power mix" meaning it may or may not go toward environmental purposes.
The second FOIA request involves the TVA Office of the Inspector General who certifies the Green Power Switch to an outside certifying agency for the Green-E Energy certification. Now TVA wants me, a private citizen, to pay $1,000 for that lookup. Outrageous.
The problem is that TVA appears to be hiding information from the public and is trying to put me off. Now, the TVA FOIA office will not even respond to me about the status of my two requests.
My web site Norsworthy Opinion http://norsworthyopinion.com has lots of information I have written about the TVA.
Ernest Norsworthy
emnorsworthy@earthlink.net
Posted by: Ernest Norsworthy | Apr 08, 2011 at 07:29 PM