Judge Dings EPA for Trying To Sidestep Freedom of Information Law

Bogus email accounts raise eyebrows

A federal judge said Wednesday that the Environmental Protection Agency may have tried to evade a Freedom of Information Act request and added that "numerous inconsistencies" in the agency's court filings "undermine confidence in their truthfulness."

As a result, Judge Royce C. Lamberth granted the conservative Landmark Legal Foundation, which filed the request for e-mails of current and former top EPA officials, the right to question them in person and in writing.

"The possibility that unsearched personal email accounts may have been used for official business raises the possibility that leaders in the EPA may have purposefully attempted to skirt disclosure under the FOIA," Lamberth wrote.