Constitutional Law

Judge to EPA: Stop destroying records Union Pacific wants

By By The Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. ? A federal judge ordered the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday to stop destroying records Union Pacific requested about lead contamination in Omaha. An expert was appointed to make sure the agency complies.

The judge's order resolved several issues the railroad and EPA couldn't agree on when discussing the rules to protect records while Union Pacific's lawsuit progresses. The Omaha-based railroad sued in June after obtaining e-mails in which EPA officials discussed deleting records.

U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp picked the records expert EPA lawyers recommended, but she established a broad scope for the expert's work, as the railroad requested. Camp also ordered the EPA not to reuse any of its backup tapes until the expert had reviewed the agency's plan to protect relevant data.

The information Union Pacific seeks relates to 5,600 lead-contaminated properties in Omaha. The EPA and Union Pacific have been trying for years to settle who should pay more than $200 million to clean up the lead. The EPA and the railroad disagree about the contamination's source, with the EPA blaming industrial sources of lead and Union Pacific arguing lead house paint is the real problem.

Railroad officials hope the records they are requesting will prove that Union Pacific isn't responsible for the contamination.

"The most important thing is that the right cause for the lead issue in Omaha is identified," Union Pacific spokesman Tom Lange said yesterday.

EPA officials did not respond to a message left yesterday.

Union Pacific said in its lawsuit that the document destruction may date back to at least 2004. UP quoted several e-mails where an EPA supervisor encourages employees to delete messages so the railroad won't be able to obtain the information under the Freedom of Information Act.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on August 26, 2010 (boomark / email).