Documents / Official release
This Clinton Presidential Library file from the National Security Council holds Presidential Determination No. 97-35, dated September 26, 1997. It renews the exemption for the Air Force's operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The file also contains memoranda from Samuel Berger, James Baker, the Deputy Secretary of Defense and Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall. They describe the Kasza v. Browner litigation and say the exemption shields classified information from disclosure but leaves environmental standards in force.
“The Pentagon”3 pages
Xv 2d SEP IM? MEMORANDUM FOR SUBJECT: * ill Attachment: SECAF Memo PRESIDENT CLINTON THROUGH: MR. BERGER DEPUTY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE 1010 DEFENSE PENTAGON WASHINGTON. DC 20301-1010 Classified Information Concerning the Air Force’s Operating Location Near Groom Lake, Nevada I note that EPA Administrator Browner and the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division concur in this recommendation. On September 28, 1996, you issued an exemption under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) protecting from disclosure classified information concerning an Air Force operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada. By statute, the exemption is effective for one year, unless renewed. The exemption was necessitated by a Federal district court ruling that held that classified information could not be withheld from public disclosure under RCRA absent such an exemption. That ruling is now being appealed. In the meantime, and for reasons addressed in the attached memorandum from Secretary Widnall, I concur in her request a^id recommendation that you renew the exemption to provide continued protection for the full one-year statutory period while the matter is on appeal.
Not linked to a story yet.
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 24 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.