Freedom of Information

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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Senate Committee Approves Leaving Millions at Unnecessary Risk

Jul 29, 2010 by Brian Turnbaugh*

Yesterday the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (HSGAC) failed to take action to protect the public, instead choosing to let millions of Americans remain at unnecessary risk of chemical disasters. The committee members chose to gut a House-passed bill that would have reduced the consequences of a terrorist attack on chemical plants and water treatment facilities. The committee also refused to consider a similar bill from Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). Both the House bill and the Lautenberg bill would have protected workers and communities by driving the adoption of safer, cost effective technologies that eliminate the threat of an intentionally released cloud of poison gas from a chemical plant.

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Chemical Security Bills Reduce Risk, but Secrecy Weakens Program

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has introduced two related chemical facility security bills that would reduce the consequences of a catastrophic accident or terrorist attack at many of the nation's chemical plants and drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities. The legislation addresses many of the issues raised by a coalition of environmental and openness groups, but it fails to provide the accountability and transparency needed to ensure the government's chemical security program would actually make facilities and communities safe.

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Kagan's Impact on Transparency Difficult to Predict

Elena Kagan, President Obama's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, is currently undergoing her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During the hearing, she will be questioned about a wide range of legal and political issues, which may include government transparency. Kagan's arguments in several transparency-related cases as Obama's Solicitor General may offer some insight into her approach to open government. However, because she has argued those cases from the administration's perspective, her personal legal views on transparency are difficult to assess. It is, therefore, hard to predict how she may rule in transparency-related cases if confirmed as a justice.

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House Moves to Increase Oversight of Intelligence Community

On May 28, the House approved an amendment to the defense authorization bill that requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to cooperate with audits and investigations conducted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The measure was passed despite threats by the White House to veto what the Obama administration perceived to be an expansion of GAO authority.

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Data.gov Celebrates First Birthday with a Makeover

May 24, 2010 by Roger Strother*

Happy Birthday, Dear Data.gov! The website that currently stores thousands of databases containing federal agency information received a welcome makeover last week as its first birthday present. Since its launch last year, the Data.gov has sparked a national and global movement amongst governments interested in increasing their transparency.

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Public Online Information Act Introduced in Senate

On May 6, Sen. John Tester (D-MT) introduced the Public Online Information Act (POIA) (S. 3321) to require the federal government to post currently available public information on the Internet. Although this legislation would increase the amount of federal information that is posted online, some open government groups have concerns regarding certain provisions in the bill.

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One Small Policy Step, but One Huge Leap for Government Openness: Statement of Gary D. Bass

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2010—The Obama administration took several actions today that will likely have a lasting and positive impact on government transparency. Each federal agency announced its Open Government Plan, complemented by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) policy changes to reduce certain impediments to transparency and to improve both regulatory and federal spending transparency.

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Open Government Day Arrives April 7

Several key requirements of the Open Government Directive are due on April 7, turning the day into a critical moment for government transparency. The main materials being released are specialized Open Government Plans that federal agencies are mandated to produce based on stakeholder input. There will also be a document to address federal spending transparency, as well as a review of policies that impede open government efforts.

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Court Rules Fed Must Release Bailout Recipient Names

Mar 23, 2010 by Sam Rosen-Amy

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan handed down a ruling ordering the Federal Reserve to give up the names of the financial firms that used the Fed's emergency lending window during the financial meltdown in 2008. Bloomberg News requested the names in November 2008 through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which the Fed denied. The Fed argued that releasing this data would discourage companies from using the program, as it would essentially identify which banks were in danger of failing. With its ruling, the Appeals court rejected this argument, and upheld a lower court ruling also ordering the Fed to disclose recipient names.

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Sunshine Week 2010 Concludes with a Number of Federal Initiatives

Each year, advocates of open and accountable government celebrate the birthday of former president James Madison, a founding father and advocate of open government, by hosting a week of events and increased public advocacy called Sunshine Week. In 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder released a memo during Sunshine Week regarding Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) implementation that encouraged disclosure of agency records. This year, transparency was highlighted through public events, legislative initiatives, and op-eds.

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