EPA

Journalists covering an Arkansas oil spill in a suburban neighborhood said they were threatened with arrests, kicked out of the disaster site and had to seek permission from ExxonMobil to fly over the evacuated area.

An ExxonMobil pipeline ruptured in Mayflower, Ark., on March 29, causing 22 homes to be evacuated in the small town located north of Little Rock. So far, more than 19,000 barrels of oil have been collected.

The Environmental Protection Agency responded to various document requests that Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has been seeking from the agency with a records request of its own regarding interviews that Waxman himself conducted.

The chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee sent a letter to the EPA, asking the agency to hand over hundreds of internal  documents regarding its refusal to let California regulate its greenhouse gas auto emissions.

In the letter that Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) submitted Monday, he demanded the EPA release documents involving the White House and Justice Department, specifically those concerning the federal waiver, which California was seeking to regulate its emissions.

It was a good day for FOIA advocates. The Associated Press reports that 12 states filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Environmental Protection Agency to block new federal rules the states say would result in less public disclosure about toxic chemicals that companies store, use and release into the environment.