Documents / Official release
This file from the Clinton Presidential Library, dated September 1998, holds National Security Council records for Presidential Determination 98-36. President Clinton signed the determination on September 25, 1998. It renews for one year an exemption under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, so classified information about the Air Force operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, does not have to be disclosed. The litigation behind it is Kasza v. Browner and Frost v. Perry. Also included are memos from James Baker and Samuel Berger recommending renewal, with EPA and Justice concurring.
6405 THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON ACTION 98 5tH2ypMl:14 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT THE EXECUTIVE CLERKTHROUGH: SAMUEL R. BERGERFROM: SUBJECT: Purpose Background President • To continue to exempt the Air Force from public disclosure requirements concerning the inspection and inventory of hazardous waste at the Air Force "operating location near Groom Lake." Presidential Determination on RCRA Exemption for the Operating Location at Groom Lake Deputy Secretary of Defense Hamre and Acting Secretary of the Air Force Peters recommend that you renew the exemption to provide continued protection for national security information. EPA Administrator Browner and Department of Justice, Environmental and Natural Resources Division, concur in this recommendation as does Katie McGinty. As with last year's exemption, the attached document is worded to exempt the location only from disclosure requirements and not from applicable environmental standards. Since 1995, you have issued an exemption under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) protecting from disclosure classified information concerning an Air Force location near Groom Lake, Nevada. By statute, the exemption is effective for one year, unless renewed. As a result, the attached exemption should be signed by September 25. 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. On appeal, the circuit court declined to reach this issue and, consequently, an exemption continues to be required. cc: V^Ce Chief of Staff c- C/PS
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Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 10 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.