The Niskanen Center, along with and on behalf of 13 landowners and landowner organizations, filed a FOIA lawsuit against the FBI, the DOJ, BLM, DOI, and CBP on the unlawful surveillance of civilians opposed to a proposed fossil fuel export project in Oregon, Jordan Cove. There is evidence that these government agencies coordinated for years with a sheriff’s unit that was funded by millions of private dollars from the Canadian fossil fuel company Pembina. There is additional evidence that these federal agencies also worked directly with private security firms employed by Pembina to monitor and investigate people who lawfully opposed the export project. Niskanen and landowners submitted freedom of information act requests to these agencies to obtain information related to the unlawful surveillance and to shed much-needed light on the degree of our federal government’s engagement with and deference to foreign, private interests. Niskanen and landowners filed this lawsuit to compel disclosure after the agencies failed to adequately respond, as required under the law.
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