Documents / Official release
This Clinton Presidential Library file holds National Security Council records on Presidential Determination No. 98-36, which President Clinton signed on September 25, 1998. The determination renews for one year an exemption that keeps classified information about the Air Force's operating location near Groom Lake, Nevada, out of hazardous waste disclosure rules under RCRA. Supporting memos from James Baker and Samuel Berger say the exemption has been in place since 1995 and grew out of the Kasza v. Browner and Frost v. Perry litigation.
6405 ACTION 98 SEP 23 PM 1:14 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT THE EXECUTIVE CLERKTHROUGH: SAMUEL R. BERGERFROM: SUBJECT: Purpose To continue Background President THE WHITE HOUSE WASH INGTON 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 Admi ni strator 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. cc: Chief of Staff Since 1995, you have issged 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. 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." PS
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Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 8 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.