Documents related to Cheney case ordered released

01 Apr 2004 19:22:24 GMT
Documents related to Cheney case ordered released

WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) - A federal judge ordered several government agencies to release documents related to an energy policy task force led by Vice President Dick Cheney.

In an opinion released late on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ordered seven government agencies including the Department of Energy, Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management to hand over pertinent documents by June 1.

He was ruling on a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch and the National Resources Defense Council. The two groups had sued to force the various departments involved in the energy task force to release documents related to the task force and its deliberations.

Friedman said the agencies had an obligation to release the data.

A spokesman said the Justice Department was reviewing the ruling.

The lawsuit is a separate one from another case involving Cheney that is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The high court agreed in December to hear an appeal from Cheney, who is resisting a judge's order to produce documents about White House contacts with the energy industry in 2001.

The environmental group Sierra Club and Judicial Watch sued in 2001 to find out the names and positions of members of the energy task force led by the vice president that year. They alleged that Cheney, a former energy company executive, drafted energy policy by consulting industry executives.

The task force produced a policy paper calling for more oil and gas drilling and a revived nuclear power program.