Several states and the District of Columbia filed Freedom of Information Act requests Dec. 4 with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Energy, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality in order to obtain information about proposed changes to the Clean Air Act. The requests are part of a larger lawsuit aiming to overturn the recent rollback of New Source Review standards that would significantly increase pollution from power plants and other facilities. Wisconsin, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Connecticut, and D.C. filed the FOIA requests seeking communications on the new rule between federal agencies and utilities. The request targets specific communications from Vice President Dick Cheney’s Energy Task Force, the Utility Air Regulatory Group, First Energy Corporation, Edison Electric Institute and several others. In a Dec. 4 press release, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal pointed to the need for open government to determine whether special energy interests influenced the decision to exempt some facilities from installing pollution control equipment. He cited the rule as “the most significant sellout of environmental interests in our nation’s history” and believes the public has a right to know how the decision was made. For more information about the lawsuit, see the Nov. 3 Watcher article.