A March 5 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Inspector General's report revealed that EPA consistently misstated information on the quality of the nations drinking water over the years 1999 to 2002. EPA claimed in several documents during that time that that 91 percent of citizens had access to safe drinking water. According to other EPA documents reviewed by the Inspector General and interviews with state officials, however, only about 81 percent of the country had access to safe drinking water in 2002 much less than the published 94 percent estimate for that year.

A letter from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Mike Leavitt has urged the agency to respond to requests for information from both Democrats and Republicans on the committee.

The Alabama legislature recently introduced Senate Bill 205, which would exempt security information from public disclosure currently mandated under four laws. Alabama State Sen. Steve French (R-Birmingham) sponsored the bill.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) released a memo explaining the impacts of a new Critical Infrastructure Information (CII) rule on the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) throughout the federal government. The rule DOJ refers to was an interim final rule published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which restricts public disclosure and government action on voluntarily submitted information about infrastructure vulnerabilities and problems.