Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: Public Right to Know and EPA's Worst Case Scenarios
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 04:20:12 -0500
Please note for record I am on the Board of Trustees for EFF and Board of Advisors for CDT To: farber () cis upenn edu From: Ari Schwartz <ari () cdt org> There is a Commerce Committee hearing on this issue at 10:30 tomorrow entitled "Internet Posting of Worst-Case Scenarios: A Roadmap for Terrorists." Environmentalists have been working on the issue, but it has only recently been suggested that limits on FOIA will be proposed causing concern amongst civil liberties, academic, journalist and public interest organizations. Ari ----- February 9, 1999 The Honorable Thomas Bliley Chairman House Committee on Commerce United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Chairman Bliley, As organizations committed to preserving the public's right to know, access to government information, and the free flow of information, we are writing to express our concern and opposition to proposals to limit public access to information concerning accidents at chemical plants (EPA's unclassified Worst Case Scenarios data). It is our understanding that you are considering the creation of a new exemption to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), or amending the Clean Air Act to exempt this information from the provisions of FOIA, and have discouraged the EPA from using the Internet to provide public access to this publicly available data. FOIA was designed to allow the public to inquire about and monitor government activities. Since its passage, individuals, journalists, academics, community leaders have used FOIA to research, study, and utilize public information created or collected by the government. FOIA gave government the affirmative responsibility to make information widely available to the public. Three years ago, Senator Patrick Leahy's amendments to FOIA, EFOIA, expanded the rights of individuals, assuring public access to information in all media, and encouraged the use of the Internet for the dissemination of government information. EFOIA ensured that the public's interest in access to information would benefit from advances in technology and that information could not be withheld simply because it was in electronic form. The Clean Air Act, like FOIA, seeks to empower citizens by providing information critical for communities to assess the safety of companies operating in their midst by planning and comparing information about their communities in order to make informed decisions about their lives. The dissemination of information is critical to the success of the Clean Air Act, giving individuals the ability to monitor the toxins in their community. The Internet and other digital media have given individuals an unprecedented ability to access information and utilize their right to know with ease and efficiency. Congress recognized, in passing EFOIA, that technology has great power to "foster democracy by ensuring public access to agency information." The amendments expanded the information actually - not just legally - available by making frequently requested records more readily available "through computer telecommunications." Exempting specific information from the FOIA, or any effort to set medium-based limits on the release of government information to the public, has an impact on the public's right to access information. We urge you not to put forward such proposals or, at the very least, to help ensure that there is a full hearing with input from all of the affected communities including public interest groups, journalists and other frequent FOIA requesters. Sincerely, American Association of Law Libraries American Civil Liberties Union Association of Newspaper Editors Center for Democracy and Technology Electronic Frontier Foundation OMB Watch Cc: Chairman Steve Horn, House Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology Representative Robert Goodlatte, Internet Caucus Co-Chair Representative Rick Boucher, Internet Caucus Co-Chair Senator Conrad Burns, Internet Caucus Co-Chair Senator Patrick Leahy, Internet Caucus Co-Chair Representative W.J. "Billy" Tauzin Representative Michael G. Oxley Representative Michael Bilirakis Representative Joe Barton Representative Fred Upton Representative Cliff Stearns Representative Paul E. Gillmor Representative James C. Greenwood Representative Christopher Cox Representative Nathan Deal Representative Steve Largent Representative Richard Burr Representative Brian P. Bilbray Representative Ed Whitfield Representative Greg Ganske Representative Charlie Norwood Representative Tom Coburn Representative Rick Lazio Representative Barbara Cubin Representative James E. Rogan Representative John Skimkus Representative Heather Wilson Representative John B. Shadegg Representative Charles W. "Chip" Pickering Representative Vito Fossella Representative Roy Blunt Representative Ed Bryant Representative Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Representative John D. Dingell Representative Henry A. Waxman Representative Edward J. Markey Representative Ralph M. Hall Representative Edolphus Towns Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. Representative Sherrod Brown Representative Bart Gordon Representative Peter Deutsch Representative Bobby L. Rush Representative Anna G. Eshoo Representative Ron Klink Representative Bart Stupak Representative Eliot L. Engel Representative Thomas C. Sawyer Representative Albert R. Wynn Representative Gene Green Representative Karen McCarthy Representative Ted Strickland Representative Diana DeGette Representative Thomas M. Barrett Representative Bill Luther Representative Lois Capps
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- IP: Public Right to Know and EPA's Worst Case Scenarios Dave Farber (Feb 10)