"Federal officials yesterday asked the Supreme Court to keep records related to Endangered Species Act decisions under lock and key.
The government said a lower court's ruling that certain draft documents should be publicly disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act could have a chilling effect on discussions around federal decisionmaking.
"If the decision below is left standing, it has the potential to inhibit the frank deliberations between agencies that are essential to ... the wide range of federal agency actions that may affect ESA-listed species," the government wrote in its brief to the court.
The case, Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club, stems from consultations by the Interior and Commerce departments ahead of EPA's 2014 regulations for cooling water intake structures at power plants. Ahead of the rule's release, Interior and Commerce determined it would not harm animals, plants and habitats protected under the Endangered Species Act."
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