Washington, DC - Following numerous press reports that Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) submitted their climate change legislation to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for analysis, the American Energy Alliance filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the EPA to obtain a copy of the legislation.

 "The American people have the right to know what's in this bill," said Thomas J. Pyle, president of AEA, a market-based energy advocacy organization. "While Senators Graham, Kerry and Lieberman have been meeting behind closed doors with the utility industry, big business, environmental groups and big oil, the American consumer has been shut out of the process.  Not surprisingly, it is the American consumer that will foot the bill when this legislation forces gasoline, diesel and utility bills to increase." 

Senators Kerry, Graham and Lieberman have worked for nearly six and a half months to craft legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the price of coal, oil, and natural gas - 85 percent of our energy supply. While the specific contents of this legislation seem to be top secret, we do know that for any energy rationing scheme to work, it will lead to considerably higher energy costs for American families and businesses.

"We filed this request on behalf of the American people," continued Pyle.  "Since Senators Graham, Kerry and Lieberman have refused to share this job-killing legislation with the public, maybe the "most open and transparent" administration in history will honor our request. After all, what do they have to hide?" 

 Following is an excerpt of the FOIA request:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, I hereby request a copy of any and all energy legislation from Senator Kerry, or Senator Graham, or Senator Lieberman, or all three collectively, sent to EPA to be analyzed or modeled within the past month. This includes requests from staffers working for Senators Kerry, Graham, or Lieberman. Colloquially, this draft legislation is known as the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman climate bill and various media sources (including the Washington Post, L.A. Times and Politico) have reported draft legislation has been sent to EPA to be modeled. 

As President Obama has emphasized, "a democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency," and "the Freedom of Information Act . . . is the most prominent expression of a profound national commitment to ensuring open Government." Accordingly, the President has directed that FOIA "be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails" and that a "presumption of disclosure should be applied to all decisions involving FOIA."

To view the entire FOIA request, click HERE.

Updated 4/30/10: AEA submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration (EIA) in addition to the EPA FOIA request. 

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