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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Jan. 7, 2000
00-006
Contact: Jani Gilbert, Public Information Manager, 509-456-4464
SPOKANE - A Thurston County Superior Court judge found today that the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) did not willfully withhold any documents and did not act in bad faith in its handling of several public-disclosure requests submitted by clean-air activists early in 1999.
Judge Richard Strophy heard the case brought against Ecology by Save Our Summers (SOS), a local clean-air advocacy group. Save Our Summers asked the court to penalize Ecology, alleging that the agency had purposely withheld documents.
Because the agency did not willfully withhold documents or act in bad faith, the judge did not fine the agency.
The documents in question pertained to a wide range of activities related to wheat-stubble burning, including an agreement between Ecology, the Washington Association of Wheat Growers and the state Department of Agriculture for reducing emissions from wheat-stubble burning by 50 percent over seven years. The documents included about 100,000 pages that measured 71 linear feet when stacked- equal to a seven-story-tall building.
In October, Ecology announced it had found additional documents that should have been disclosed previously. In connection with this oversight, Judge Strophy awarded SOS "reasonable attorney fees and costs" associated with bringing the issue to court. The amount will be determined later.
"We worked very hard to fulfill SOS' enormous record request. We appreciate the judge recognizing that the omission was an oversight, not a deliberate act," said Mary Burg, who manages Ecology's air-quality program.
The judge also directed Ecology to work with SOS to make sure the group has all the information it needs.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
