The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), claiming the agency illegally blocked access to documents relating to liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities throughout the country. CPI, an investigative journalism organization, filed its lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The organization requested access to and copies of all FERC’s correspondence, including meeting records, transcripts, schedules, minutes, and/or agendas between the agency and companies considering construction of LNG facilities. CPI originally requested the information from FERC under the Freedom of Information Act in February. However, the agency only released “a fraction” of the documents responsive to the organization’s request. Specifically, the organization wants reports on the safety and security of a proposed LNG facility that Hess LNG plans to build in Fall River, Massachusetts. However, Hess’s law firm, Baker & Botts labeled its correspondence with FERC about the reports as Critical Energy Infrastructure Information (CEII), thus sealing it away from the public. Under FERC regulations, access to CEII is restricted to those the agency deems have a need to know the information, and only after they sign an agreement of nondisclosure prohibiting them from making the information public. “It’s completely absurd that the folks in Fall River don’t have the reports already,” exclaimed Bob Williams, CPI project director, “It all comes back to the fact that we think the public’s business should be done in public.” CPI just released a report on LNG entitled, “Appealing to a Higher Authority,” which asserts that FERC “is aggressively undermining the authority of state and local governments to reject dozens of proposed liquefied natural gas facilities all across the country.” The report claims that over the past three years FERC commissioners have met inordinately more often with LNG industry representatives than with opponents of specific LNG projects.