When Public Comments Aren’t Public: Land Agency Holding Records

Usually when public comments are filed with a federal agency, they are made, well, public. Not so for the Bureau of Land Management, which is demanding that in some cases, such comments only be obtained through the cumbersome Freedom of Information Act.

Critics say the BLM’s action is part of a pattern shaping up in the Interior Department over the past year or more of delaying or denying requests for basic information from journalists and the public.

At issue this time are “public scoping” comments related to a far-reaching grazing rule, a draft of which is expected ...