THE VALUE OF FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
LAWS
The following appeared in the January 24, 2004 Parade Magazine section of the Hartford
Courant. The story expounds upon the
value of Federal and State Freedom of Information Laws which provides citizens
with access to their government and the information produced and received by
their government. Also, visit these three
valuable websites:
State of Connecticut Freedom
of Information Commission: http://www.state.ct.us/foi/
Open Doors: Accessing Government Records http://www.spj.org/foia_opendoors.asp
Using The Freedom Of Information
Act: A Step-By-Step Guide http://archive.aclu.org/library/foia.html
Start your own FOI
search
How They Uncovered The Truth
By Micah
Morrison
At
first glance, they don’t look like activists. Mike and Linda Raymond of Woburn, Mass.—a blue-collar community
north of Boston—are both in their
mid-50s. They have been married 35 years, with two grown sons and four
grandchildren. Mike teaches computer and fitness classes at the local high
school. Linda is a secretary with the public school system. But these
self-described “everyday working people” took on City Hall in a battle to
protect their community.
Family pictures are on proud
display in the Raymonds’ comfortable home on North Maple Street in one of Woburn’s many close-knit neighborhoods. “It’s a good place
to raise kids,” Mike Raymond says of his town. “It has excellent schools and a
good health-care system.” Yet, on an autumn day three years ago, the Raymonds discovered something about their community that
troubled them deeply.
The Raymonds took a walk down the wooded path at the
end of their street. Past small ponds and a rise of trees, they came upon an
astonishing sight: Trucks loaded with debris were rumbling up the 60-foot
slopes at the Woburn Landfill. The 40-acre mountain of trash had been dormant
for more than 15 years—now, mysteriously, it was growing again.
“I
worried,” Linda Raymond recalls. “Who had opened the landfill? Was it toxic?
Why hadn’t people in the neighborhood been told?”
Given Woburn’s history, the Raymonds had
reason for concern. In the 1980s, the town was rocked by a lawsuit against
local industries claiming that water pollution had led to an increase in
leukemia deaths. The story was revived in the ’90s with the book and movie A
Civil Action. Today, Woburn Mayor John Curran says the city “has worked
hard to overcome the Civil Action stigma. Our drinking water has been of
the highest quality for over 20 years.”
Getting no answers
But when Linda Raymond contacted town officials to find out what was going
on, she hit a stone wall. “I couldn’t get a straight answer from anyone,” she
says. “It was very frustrating.” So, to get answers—and action—the Raymonds turned to a powerful set of tools: federal and
state Freedom of Information (FOI) laws.
As the Raymonds discovered, FOI requests can be made
by anyone. “There are a million ways the public can use FOI laws,” says Robert
Freeman of the New York State Committee on Open Government. “When property taxes
are raised, you can review the assessment rolls to ensure that you’ve been
treated fairly. You can find out if your child’s teacher is really certified to
teach math. You can find out if a restaurant has health-code violations.”
First steps
After researching FOI laws, Linda Raymond figured that her first letter
should go to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. She
wrote asking for “any and all documents pertaining to the Woburn Landfill,”
noting that she was making the request under the state’s Freedom of Information
laws. The agency quickly complied, inviting Linda to come review the files.
Speedy cooperation from government agencies is not always the norm. “There will
be delays,” Linda says. “Sometimes you have to be persistent. And it’s
important to know your rights—including the right to an appeal when documents
are denied.”
Looking over the files, Linda made some important discoveries. Under state law,
the city was required to bring in material to “cap” the landfill and close it
with a protective lining of topsoil, loam and netting. She found that, to pay
for the multimillion-dollar project, Woburn had hired a private
contractor who was hauling in soil and debris from construction sites to cover
the capping costs. In reading through the documents, Linda also discovered that
the bottom of the landfill did not have a protective lining.
That’s when the Raymonds really began to worry,
because the landfill sits on top of a watershed feeding into the nearby Aberjona River. “We found medical
waste, coal ash, construction debris and oil seeping into the wetlands,” Mike
recalls. Were contaminants polluting the watershed?
Digging deeper
The Raymonds zeroed in with more specific
requests. A second FOI petition went to the Woburn city clerk for the
contract the town had signed with the waste-management firm. The response
brought some startling news: “The original contract called for 300,000 tons of
waste to be brought in,” Mike explains, “but the town was looking to expand the
landfill by another million tons.”
A
third request, to the Woburn Board of Health, brought documents revealing that
the former mayor had quietly assembled a panel to advise him on landfill
issues, with no public input. The documents also showed discussions of plans
for the future of the site, including turning it into a picnic area or police
shooting range.
“We got very angry,” Linda recalls. “We felt the politicians were making plans
without anyone knowing about it. And there were possible health risks.”
Taking action
The Raymonds swung into action. They organized
their neighbors, contacted the media and raised the issue at public meetings.
“The documents we obtained under FOI educated us,” Linda says. “And we in turn
were able to educate the community.”
At first, their aims were modest. “We wanted to postpone the capping until the
landfill could be tested and deemed environmentally safe,” Mike says. But the Raymonds had hit a nerve. Under mounting pressure, plans
for the landfill were shelved.
“Without FOI laws,” Linda says, “we couldn’t have done it.”
A threat to access?
Next time, it might be more difficult. Some journalists and civil liberties
defenders believe that fences have gone up around FOI laws in the aftermath of
9/11. “Freedom of Information is under threat,” says Woburn Daily Times
Chronicle columnist Marie Coady. “Across the
country, it’s becoming harder to access documents.”
On the federal level, “there has been a major change in atmosphere since 9/11,”
says Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Federal officials “are not
releasing information they would have provided five years ago.”
Still, thousands of Freedom of Information requests continue to be routinely
processed every year. And with legal challenges under way, ultimately the
courts will decide whether the new restrictions are a reasonable response to a
changed world.
The Raymonds say they’ll keep using FOI laws.
Although the state of Massachusetts has given the Woburn
Landfill a clean bill of health, the couple plan to
closely watch the results of the elaborate pollution-monitoring procedures
established at the site.
“We’re just everyday people,” Linda says, “but we stopped a landfill from
expanding and raised environmental awareness. Any community can do what we
did.”
Mike agrees. He cites his favorite quote, from anthropologist Margaret Mead:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever
has.”
A Powerful Tool Everyone Can
Use
It’s not difficult to use Freedom of Information laws, and there’s no telling
what you might turn up. Here are some tips on getting the information you want:
RESEARCH FIRST. Who has the information you’re seeking? Identify your targets.
Ask your local librarian for help. Check municipal, state and federal Web
sites. Most states have a designated office to help with public-records
searches. Federal agencies have FOI officers. The Reporters Committee for
Freedom of the Press (www.rcfp.org) publishes guides to using state and federal
Freedom of Information laws.
PUT IT IN WRITING. While some states allow oral requests, it’s best to write a
short letter stating what information you’re seeking. Note that you’re making
the request under a state or federal Freedom of Information statute. Be as
specific as possible. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has a
helpful sample letter at its Web site.
SHOW THEM THE MONEY. Often there will be a photocopying fee and other costs
related to your request. You can speed the process by stating in your letter
how much you’re willing to pay and asking to be notified if costs exceed that
amount. You also can request a fee waiver. In some cases, you can go to a
government office to view the documents and do your own copying.
EXEMPTIONS AND APPEALS. Many public records are exempt
from FOI laws. The U.S. Congress did not make itself or the courts subject to
the statute. Most documents impacting minors, criminal investigations, trade
secrets and personal privacy are off-limits. But you also may be denied
documents that you have a right to see. If you are denied access, be sure to
use the FOI appeals process. A brief letter to the agency head requesting a
review of the decision will get the ball rolling. Meanwhile, make photocopies
of everything you send out. Above all, be patient and persistent. You may be
pleasantly surprised!
There’s More
You Can Discover
There’s a common belief that FOI laws are used mainly in environmental cases.
Not true. Here are examples of other uses of this powerful tool:
IN GRAND RAPIDS, MICH., a high school government class used Freedom of
Information laws to expose flaws in the county’s jury-selection system.
IN FULTON, MO., a concerned citizen used state open-government laws—kissing
cousins to FOI statutes—to force disclosure of town-council discussions about
building a golf course at taxpayer expense.
IN WASHINGTON, D.C., a woman used FOI laws to find out about the
ownership of some drug-infested, abandoned buildings. The
owner? The District
of Columbia
government!
THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE—as a result of an FOI request—revealed
accounts of the mistreatment of circus elephants.