Documents / Official release
This is a Clinton Presidential Library release from the NSC email collection, filed under Area 51 and covering September 1997 to February 2000. It contains withdrawal sheets for redacted emails along with released messages. Staff are told not to use the term Area 51, and draft press guidance says the President renewed an exemption for the Air Force operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, from disclosure requirements under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. One message jokes about jury duty summonses sending staff to Area 51.
7961 Fl.FIN Page 2 of 2 2 - The exemption relates to two lawsuits under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; beyond that I am not going to comment on a matter potentially involving classified information and that is the subject of litigation. Oral arguments are scheduled for November 5. Among other things, the Government will appeal the court's decision that a Presidential exemption is required to protect classified information. Plaintiffs will seek to over-turn the court's decisions to proceed with exhibits under seal and on attorney's fees in addition to challenging the lower court's dismissal of both cases. The 9th Circuit would likely rule six to twelve months later. information concerning the location. The exemption does not limit the applicability or enforcement of any requirement of law other than those that might require the disclosure of classified information. FYI BACKGROUND ONLY: This is the third such Presidential exemption. The exemption was necessitated by litigation over RCRA compliance at the facility. While ruling that the information in question was appropriately classified, the Federal district court ruled that under RCRA classified information could only be protected from public disclosure pursuant to a Presidential exemption. That ruling remains under appeal by both the plaintiffs and government, which argues among other things that a Presidential exemption under RCRA is not required in order to protection classified information.
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Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 86 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.