WATCHDOG GROUP SUES DOE/NNSA OVER FOIA COMPLIANCE

A Livermore-based nuclear watchdog agency is suing the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration to compel the government to more promptly respond to Freedom of Information Act requests. Tri-Valley CAREs noted that the government is required to respond to information requests within 20 days, but the group said it has sometimes waited between one and two years for responses. The group asked a District Court for the Northern District of California judge to appoint a special counsel to investigate the compliance of DOE and NNSA with FOIA laws. The group said it has sought information from DOE/NNSA on plans to use plutonium in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility as well as proposed shipments of plutonium pits from Los Alamos National Laboratory to Livermore. “Many of the documents Tri-Valley CAREs requested contain information about the dangers faced by our community from spills, accidents, releases. Keeping this information hidden does nothing to protect the public,” Tri-Valley CAREs Executive Director Marylia Kelley said in a statement. “Instead, it robs the community of the opportunity to press for changes that would better safeguard worker and public health and the environment.”