Blog Posts and Analysis / Open, Accountable Government

Open-Government Activist Seeks to Recover Legal Fees from FOIA battle

After winning a four-year legal battle for access to county documents concerning the Seahawks Stadium, a Seattle resident has returned to court seeking greater financial compensation for his efforts. King County Superior Court Judge Michael Hayden heard arguments on August 19, during which Armen Yousoufian sought an award of more than $1 million in compensation for his legal fees and as a deterrent to prevent other agencies from stonewalling citizen requests of public information.

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Town Seeks to Keep Secret Maps, Images

Officials in the town of Greenwich, Connecticut are compiling a list of vulnerable public buildings and utilities and plan to withhold aerial images and maps of these sites from the public, despite having been ordered by the Connecticut Supreme Court to disclose them. Mapping information has been a continual target for proponents of increased government secrecy, even though little evidence supports their claims that such information is too dangerous to remain public.

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Attorney General Considers Writing New FOIA Memo

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recently announced he would reconsider the government's position on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), previously established in a controversial 2001 memo by then Attorney General John Ashcroft. The Ashcroft memo, which has been criticized by open government advocates, directed federal agency officials to presumptively withhold information requested under FOIA if they were uncertain whether the information should be released.

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First Public Case of Critical Infrastructure Information

A New Jersey resident, requesting access to a township's electronic map of land parcels, has brought to light the first public example of a law that hides information that meets standards for "critical infrastructure information" (CII). The local municipal utility denied the resident’s request for land parcel information, because the data had been protected by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under the CII program.

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Cities Tackle Chemical Transportation Security

When a freight train accident took eight lives in South Carolina earlier this year because of unsafe and uninspected train cars carrying toxic materials, it heightened concerns about chemical security in our trains and trucks. Cities across the nation have begun addressing serious deficiencies on this homeland security issue because the federal government has done little. Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, and Baltimore are all considering legislation to mitigate the risks of shipping hazardous materials through their heavily populated centers.

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Chemical Security Legislation to Address Transport Issues Introduced

Sen. Joseph Biden, Jr. (D-DE) introduced a comprehensive chemical security bill addressing shipments of hazardous materials entitled "The Hazardous Materials Vulnerability Reduction Act of 2005" (S. 1256) on July 16. The bill, which comes after a flurry of recent legislative activity at the local level on chemical shipment security, promotes greater cooperation between agencies, as well as more input from state and local officials in securing hazardous chemicals.

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Gov't Biomonitoring Study Highlights Public Exposure to Harmful Chemicals

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, the most extensive assessment ever made of the US population's exposure to chemicals in the environment. The July 21 study found troubling levels of toxics, including metals, carcinogens and organic toxics like insecticides, are being absorbed by people around the country.

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