As seen in Fox Business
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A Washington D.C.-based energy research group filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday, alleging that the Biden administration has improperly blocked information requests.
The Institute for Energy Research (IER) accused the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) of redacting factual, non-exempt information from record requests to protect its chairman Rich Glick, who President Biden has re-nominated for a second term, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The group suggested the information may reveal Glick lied under oath during a Senate hearing when asked if he consulted the White House about a high-profile natural gas policy change earlier this year.
In response to record requests following Glick’s testimony on March 3 that he didn’t consult the White House, the IER received a FERC meetings calendar and emails between FERC and White House officials, both of which were heavily redacted. However, the group was able to ascertain that some redacted information was “purely factual information,” not privileged as FERC said, after examining both the calendar and email exchanges.
For example, the emails showed FERC Commissioner Allison Clements requested an email with White House climate czar Gina McCarthy to “check in on some FERC items,” but that this meeting was obscured on the calendars.
“We have given FERC every opportunity to provide records confirming that Commissioner Glick and Commissioner Clements are not coordinating with the White House on the Biden Administration’s ‘whole of government’ approach to imposing a climate agenda despite lack of congressional instruction to do so,” IER President Tom Pyle said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “So far, FERC has failed to give us anything probative.”
“It’s sad, and it’s telling,” Pyle continued. “People who have done no wrong usually don’t hide behind legal processes.”
The IER initiated its record requests in March to investigate whether Glick was truthful when he denied coordinating with White House officials on the natural gas policy shift. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., had asked the FERC chairman whether he communicated about the policy with “anyone higher up in the administration” during the March 3 hearing.
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Read the full article here, at Fox Business.
Read documents uncovered by IER’s FOIA lawsuits against FERC here.
