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Conservatives send FOIA request for Senate climate bill
UPDATED at 6:35 p.m.to clarify that the American Energy Alliance made the Freedom of Information Act request.
By Juliet Eilperin
The American Energy Alliance -- an affiliate of the Institute for Energy Research, a conservative think tank partly funded by the energy industry -- wants a peek at the bill written by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.).
The senators sent their compromise climate proposal Wednesday to the Environmental Protection Agency for a detailed analysis. That gave the Institute's spokesman Patrick Creighton an opening to file a Freedom of Information Act request in order to see the document.
"If these three senators aren't going to share this legislation with the American people - who it will impact most - here's to hoping the 'most open and transparent' Administration will," Creighton wrote in an e-mail.
But according to the agency, there may not be that much to see, after all.
When asked about the request, the EPA issued the following statement: "Staffs of senators Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman today sent EPA a description of their draft bill, and they asked EPA to start the economic computer modeling effort. EPA's modelers are now examining the description to determine whether it contains all of the information that EPA needs in order to run its models. Once EPA starts the effort, it will take between six and eight weeks to generate a modeling report. The offices have not sent EPA any actual legislative text."
Juliet Eilperin
| April 29, 2010; 6:00 AM ET Save & Share:
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Posted by: AGWsceptic99 | April 29, 2010 10:08 AM
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It is difficult to manage the backroom bargaining and deal making if the public gets a view of what is being discussed before the deals are made. Some voters might get the impression that campaign money flowing to the politicians and EPA mandated rules crafted to benefit favored contributors have a higher priority than the interests of the citizenry.
So much for openness and honesty in Government. Doesn't seem to make much difference whether an elephant or a donkey sits in the Oval Office.