March 22, 2006

FORESTWATCH TAKES AGENCY TO COURT OVER PUBLIC ACCESS TO OIL DRILLING DOCUMENTS

    SANTA BARBARA, CA – Los Padres ForestWatch filed suit today against a federal agency after the nonprofit watchdog group tried and failed to gain access to public documents surrounding an auction of lands near the Los Padres National Forest to oil companies.  Named in the suit are the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management, and Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

    “When our government ties to auction off our public lands to private oil companies, it is vitally important that the public be given the opportunity to see what goes on behind closed doors,” said Jeff Kuyper, Executive Director of ForestWatch.  “Just as we suspected, it appears that the agency has something to hide.”

    The lawsuit arose from a BLM announcement late last year to auction off nearly 20,000 acres of public lands to oil companies.  Nearly one-fourth of these lands are located directly along the boundary of the Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara and Kern counties.  Other lands slated for auction are located along the boundary of the Carrizo Plain National Monument in San Luis Obispo County, and the Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge and the Wind Wolves Preserve in Kern County.

    After the agency announced the lease sale in November, ForestWatch filed an administrative protest of the oil auction because the oil company failed to properly notify the public about it, and forgot to conduct any environmental studies as required by law. As a result of our challenge, the BLM cancelled the lease sale, but vowed to re-auction the very same parcels later this year.

    Around the same time, ForestWatch also submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for access to certain documents related to the lease sale.  The requested documents include biological data indicating whether rare plants and animals are located on the parcels to be leased, along with other environmental studies and correspondence between the agency and oil companies.

    The BLM ruled in January that it would deny ForestWatch access to many of the requested documents.  For the remaining documents, the agency agreed to release them only on the condition that ForestWatch pay the agency $1,502.60.  The agency claimed that it would cost this amount in search time and copying fees.

    ForestWatch appealed the ruling all the way to BLM headquarters in Washington, D.C. Under FOIA, the agency had twenty working days to respond to the appeal.  That deadline passed on February 15.  Over one month later, ForestWatch still has not received any formal response from the agency, leaving the watchdog organization with little choice but to bring the matter before an independent judge.

    "ForestWatch is a nonprofit organization working in the public interest, and as such, is entitled to unfettered access to these public documents," said Philip Tseng, attorney for ForestWatch. "The government's attempt to charge them exhorbitant fees only works to silence agency watchdogs who work so hard to protect our public lands from environmental harms."

    The agency has thirty days to respond to the ForestWatch lawsuit. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

    Click here to read more about the land auction.