IER Transparency Project Reveals FERC Coordination with White House

The Institute for Energy Research has launched a new website containing documents related to a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Beginning on March 29, IER submitted FOIA requests to FERC seeking correspondence of a handful of senior FERC appointees to or from White House email domains. Other requests sought routine information from the Commission including calendars and correspondence with outside groups who have actively promoted the restriction of natural gas pipelines.

In many cases, subsequent IER FOIA requests were driven by FERC’s responses (or lack thereof) to our initial early requests, often raising more questions than answers.

One major contributor to these delays, as acknowledged by a Department of Justice lawyer to IER’s attorneys, is FERC’s coordination with the White House on how to respond to IER.

IER has had to file now 10 lawsuits to date seeking the release of public information that FERC either ignored, insists on redacting claiming the White House has a privileged “deliberative” role in FERC decisions, or is withholding in its entirety often on that same basis. When FERC did respond, IER has also been forced to file numerous administrative appeals for those same reasons.

Review The Uncovered Documents Here