Repost from The Virginia Star.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation filed lawsuits against three federal agencies accusing them of failing to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests about their involvement with implementing the Biden administration’s climate policies in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden accepted the terms of the Paris Climate Agreement on behalf of the United States. He later announced his administration would set a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) number, pledging an “economywide target of reducing America’s net greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent.”
Former President Donald Trump terminated all implementation of the accord, which had been agreed to by the Obama administration.
When the U.S. officially rejoined, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was an “unprecedented framework for global action. We know because we helped design it and make it a reality. Its purpose is both simple and expansive: to help us all avoid catastrophic planetary warming and to build resilience around the world to the impacts from climate change we already see.” He also said “climate change and science diplomacy” need to be part of U.S. foreign policy.
To learn how the administration planned to do this, TPPF filed FOIA requests with the departments of Commerce, State and Energy in February and received no information it requested.
By not responding within the statutory time frame, the agencies violated the Freedom of Information Act, TPPF’s lawsuits allege. The lawsuits were filed separately against each agency on Nov. 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas Austin Division.
“Setting a Nationally Determined Contribution Number is an ambitious goal, one that will impact all Americans and their livelihoods. Americans have a right to know how government agencies are coming up with that number and implementing other climate related goals,” TPPF executive director and general counsel Robert Henneke said. “The failure of the government to respond at all is a common tactic to hide records for the public view. We are suing to ensure those records see the light of day.”