Brad Eleven writes "The AP reports that the United States ecology monitoring Protection Agency (EPA) has invoked executive privilege to justify withholding counsel in its response to a lawsuit. The state of California is challenging the agency's decision to block their attempt to curb the emissions from new cars and trucks. In response, the EPA has delivered abstracts requested by the Freedom of data Act for the discovery phase of the lawsuit — but the picture are heavily redacted. That is, the agency has revealed that it did spend many hours meeting to discuss the issue, but refuses to divulge the details or the outcomes of the meetings. Among the examples cited, 16 pages of a 43-page Powerpoint overture are completely blank except for the page titles. An EPA protagonist used language similar to other recent claims of executive privilege, citing 'the chilling effect that would occur if agency employees believed their frank and honest opinions and analysis expressed as part of assessing California's waiver request were to be disclosed in a broad setting.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More: - From the site

Mark