PO Box 390, Pinehurst Texas 77362
(800) 974-3684
For Immediate Release: June 7, 2016
Wild Horse and Burro Advocacy Group Funds Multiple Lawsuits over Bureau of Land Management Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Violations
Pinehurst, TX – Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) has announced that it is currently funding three Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits that allege the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated its duties under FOIA. Records sought are in connection with the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program. Debbie Coffey, V.P. and Dir. of Wild Horse Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation, is the Plaintiff. The lawsuits are pending in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, DC.
Attorneys Daniel J. Stotter of Corvallis, Oregon and C. Peter Sorenson of Eugene, Oregon filed the lawsuits.
R.T. Fitch, President and Co-Founder of WHFF states, “Wild Horse Freedom Federation serves in a “watchdog” capacity over the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program. Unimpeded transparency of federal government agencies is the cornerstone of democracy.”
On January 21, 2009, President Obama sent a memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies regarding an open and transparent government, stating that, “Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing.”
President Obama continued, “The government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by the disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears. Nondisclosure should never be based on an effort to protect the personal interests of Government officials at the expense of those they are supposed to serve.”
Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) is a registered, Texas non-profit corporation with 501c3 status in all 50 states. WHFF puts people between America’s wild equids and extinction through targeted litigation against governmental agencies whose documented agendas include the eradication of wild horse and burros from public, federal and state lands. WHFF is funded exclusively through the generosity of the American public.
###
Media Contact:
R.T. Fitch
President/Co-Founder of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
rtfitch@wildhorsefreedomfederation.org ~ rt@rtfitch.com
1-800-974-FOTH
(713) 632-4573
To Download Release Click (HERE)
Categories: Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Reblogged this on nk4g2.
LikeLike
This is excellent news! If the BLM was not doing anything illegal then they would have no reason to hide the facts … but they have operated on lies and deceit for so long that they don’t even know what is the truth anymore and they certainly do not want the public to have the proof. I personally have a FOIA request that has been ongoing since October of 2012 and is still not complete and information I requested has still not been provided to me – long story.
Even though it can often seem to be overwhelming, we MUST continue to do whatever little or big thing we can do to speak for our wild ones. Congratulations and thank you to Wild Horse Freedom Federation.
LikeLiked by 1 person
BLM refused to answer our FOIA on the Coyote Canyon Wild Horse herd as well. BLM transferred the Federally designated Coyote Canyon Herd and Herd Area to CA state Parks in 1993 as stated in the RMP…However neither Agency will produce the deed of transfer under all requests even FOIA.
LikeLike
Kathleen, please feel free to contact FOIAdvocates (via our web site) if you would like to discuss follow-up actions on your FOIA request BLM has ignored.
LikeLike
Hope your lawsuits work. The BLM AND DOI are out of control and our nation’s wild horses and mustangs need to be protected from them and from AMERICA’S BILLIONAIRE WELFARE RANCHERS AND THEIR FRIENDS OUT WEST, TOO. THE KOCH BROTHERS FROM MONTANA have done alot in getting rid of the horses for 50 years or so.they need to be stopped and the BLM AND DOI need to be held accountable, too.
LikeLike
The Koch brothers are from Kansas in everything I have read about them. Do you have some links to information about any of their efforts to remove wild horses in Montana or elsewhere?
LikeLike
“We have a shared responsibility to look directly in the eye of history.”
President Obama, May 27, 2016:
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/obama-hiroshima-visit-223645
LikeLike
Lest we forget, the (at least over 100) BLM wards who died and disappeared in Scott City KS under their well-funded “care.” When I called a few times to ask politely for a necropsy report (these were conducted within days) I was essentially told to go FOIA myself.
Despite vetted media being allowed a site visit, no reports were published that I could find, and though I checked the BLM website for promised “updates” for over a year, these never surfaced. The facts are buried as deep as those horses are.
LikeLike
Obama should follow his own rules as far a transparency goes because the man has ignored what he has said he would do when he was running claiming his administration will be the most transparent in history BS ! He could have stopped horse slaughter years ago but he didn’t you know why because he was paying to much attention to his donors which are actually the ones running the country through him. I’d like to know how much he has in offshore accounts? Plenty I’ll bet. What will happen to the horses that are “supposed” to be in the holding pens and pastures all over the U.S. if they are still there? I hope these law suits can find some answers to all of this.
LikeLike
ABSOLUTELY BEHIND YA! They need to anty up and provide answers!!!
LikeLike
By the way, if any employee of the Department of Interior / Bureau of Land Management is caught making false statements or concealing information, then they are in violation of Title 18 (18 U.S.C. § 1001). Making false statements (18 U.S.C. § 1001) is the common name for the United States federal crime laid out in Section 1001 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which generally prohibits knowingly and willfully making false or fraudulent statements, or concealing information, in “any matter within the jurisdiction” of the federal government of the United States, even by mere denial
18 U.S. Code § 1519 – Destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in Federal
investigations
Current through Pub. L. 114-38. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.)
US Code Per the US Department of Justice, the purpose of Section 1001 is “to protect the authorized functions of governmental departments and agencies from the perversion which might result from” concealment of material facts and from false material representations.
LikeLike
Looks like the lawsuits made it to Horsetalk
http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2016/06/09/wild-horse-advocates-take-on-blm-over-release-of-information/#axzz4B2VFYpL7
LikeLike
My donation to the Legal Fund is on the way
LikeLike
With all the ignored FOIA requests over the years you could have pretty much made this a class action suit.
LikeLike
Crooks
LikeLike
They are crooks taking advantage of our horses,burros,Americans,and our public land. Government is using us and all wildlife and land for their own use.
LikeLike