‘Environmental justice’ EPA rule drives unequal FOIA treatment, conservative legal group says
By Kaelen Deese, Wash. Exam’r, Dec. 11, 2025
A prominent conservative legal firm with close ties to the Trump administration took aim on Wednesday at a little-noticed Environmental Protection Agency rule from the Biden administration that it says created an improper, preferential fast-track for certain public records requests under the banner of “environmental justice.”
America First Legal, the firm founded by President Donald Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller, filed a major Freedom of Information Act request and a companion petition for rulemaking challenging the EPA’s 2022 decision to let requesters claim a so-called “environmental justice–related need” as a basis for expedited processing. The group says that carveout opened a political pathway to faster access to federal records, contradicting FOIA’s requirement that agencies handle requests in a content-neutral manner.
Read more here.
P.S. In October, FOIA Advisor cited reporting from E&E News that EPA planned to rescind its environmental justice FOIA rule.