On January 8, 2019, the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) sued the Office of the Secretary at the Department of Interior (DOI) over its failure to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request related to its offshore drilling plans. In January 2018, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the Trump administration announced its proposal to lease 90 percent of the U.S. offshore area for oil and gas drilling, threatening massive oil spills, chronic oil contamination, dumping of toxic drilling muds, and loud noise from air gun blasting of sediments and oil drilling operations. Despite minimal public outreach in the states affected by offshore drilling and overwhelming public opposition, the administration moved forward with its proposal. IMMP submitted a FOIA request in March 2018 in order to shed light on which third parties Secretary Zinke met with prior to its offshore drilling decision, how DOI developed its public outreach plan, and whether DOI actually took into consideration comments received from the public. Prior to filing our complaint, the Office of the Secretary had not provided a single document.
The Office of the Secretary at the Department of Interior releases its ninth and final set of documents in response to our FOIA request.
The Office of the Secretary at the Department of Interior releases its eighth set of documents in response to our FOIA request.
The Office of the Secretary at the Department of Interior releases its seventh set of documents in response to our FOIA request.
The Office of the Secretary at the Department of Interior releases its sixth set of documents in response to our FOIA request.
The Office of the Secretary at the Department of Interior releases its fifth set of documents in response to our FOIA request.
The Office of the Secretary at the Department of Interior releases its fourth set of documents in response to our FOIA request.
The Office of the Secretary at the Department of Interior releases its third set of documents in response to our FOIA request.
The Office of the Secretary at the Department of Interior releases its second set of documents in response to our FOIA request.
The Office of the Secretary at the Department of Interior releases its first set of documents in response to our FOIA request.
Complaint filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia over DOI's failure to respond to IMMP's FOIA request.
International Marine Mammal Project
Institute for Public Representation, Georgetown University Law Center
Oceans and Water
