Editorial: Defense of secrecy a losing bet

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2002 | 8:37 a.m.

In May 2001 the Bush administration unveiled its national energy strategy, a plan that tilted heavily in favor of the energy industry at the expense of the environment. A month later the General Accounting Office told Vice President Dick Cheney that he would have to comply with a congressional request to release the names of lobbyists and business executives who met with his energy task force, which played a large role in drafting the administration's plan. But more than a half-year later, Cheney and the Bush administration still have refused to turn over the names to the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress. Over the weekend Cheney showed no signs of backing down, based on the comments he made during appearances on the Sunday morning television news programs. The vice president insists that the White House is ready to go to court to block the release of the records, a fight that is hard to see the president winning.

Cheney contends that if he is ordered to release the names, future vice presidents would be unable to have a conversation in confidence with anyone because of the possibility that what was talked about ultimately would have to be disclosed to Congress. But Cheney is muddying the waters, as has been pointed out by David Walker, the head of the GAO. The fact is that a governmental task force has to abide by federal open meeting laws, which would include the release of the names of those people who met with the group. "It's about his capacity as chairman of the national energy policy development group," Walker told the New York Times. "From day one, this has not had anything to do with the constitutional position of the vice president." Indeed, Walker believes that the White House intentionally put the vice president in charge of the task force so that a clai m of executive privilege could be made in an effort to duck oversight.

In light of the collapse of Enron, one of the nation's largest companies and a big contributor to George W. Bush, there is an effort by members of Congress to find out what influence the former energy giant might have played in setting public policy. Nevadans have more than a passing interest in whether the records are released, but for a different reason: Yucca Mountain. One of the key components of the Bush-Cheney energy plan was a renewed emphasis on nuclear power and the need to build a nuclear waste dump. President Bush soon will have to make a decision on Yucca Mountain now that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has recommended that 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste be buried just 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Just which executives of the nuclear power industry met with members of the task force and the vice president? Exactly what kind of favorable treatment did the nuclear power industry ask for? Before the president makes his decision on Yucca Mountain, Neva! dans should know just how much influence the nuclear power industry had with the task force, especially since the Bush administration has placed a nuclear waste dump on a fast track.

In order for government to maintain the confidence of its citizens, it has to operate in the open. The White House's refusal to let the public know exactly which industry executives played a role in setting the administration's energy policy does nothing to improve confidence in government. It only serves to reinforce the impression that big campaign contributors will have the most access and will be able to shape policy. The electric, gas and nuclear power industries got just about everything they wanted in the Bush administration's energy plan, a strategy developed by a task force that didn't hold public meetings.

It could take years to decide the court case, which certainly isn't in the public's interest. Unless the president wants public confidence in his energy policy to drop even lower than it currently is, he should end the stonewalling and agree to the GAO's request for the names of people who met with Cheney's task force.