Book contents
- The Right of Access to Environmental Information
- The Right of Access to Environmental Information
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Cases
- Table of Decisions of the Information Commissioner (England and Wales)
- Table of International Instruments
- Table of Findings and Recommendations of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee and Decisions of the Meeting of the Parties
- Table of European Union Legislative Instruments
- Table of National Legislative Instruments
- Table of Official Documents, Explanatory Memorandum and Guidance Documents
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Bridging the Gaps between Jurisdictions
- 3 The Aarhus Convention
- 4 The Environmental Information Regime in England
- 5 The Right of Access to Environmental Information in the United States
- 6 East Meets West
- 7 The Future Development of the Right of Access to Environmental Information
- 8 Conclusions, Key Findings and Future Directions
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - The Right of Access to Environmental Information in the United States
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 November 2021
- The Right of Access to Environmental Information
- The Right of Access to Environmental Information
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Cases
- Table of Decisions of the Information Commissioner (England and Wales)
- Table of International Instruments
- Table of Findings and Recommendations of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee and Decisions of the Meeting of the Parties
- Table of European Union Legislative Instruments
- Table of National Legislative Instruments
- Table of Official Documents, Explanatory Memorandum and Guidance Documents
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Bridging the Gaps between Jurisdictions
- 3 The Aarhus Convention
- 4 The Environmental Information Regime in England
- 5 The Right of Access to Environmental Information in the United States
- 6 East Meets West
- 7 The Future Development of the Right of Access to Environmental Information
- 8 Conclusions, Key Findings and Future Directions
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Chapter 5 analyses how the United States’ environmental information regime, set out in the Freedom of Information Act of 1966 (FOIA), has guaranteed the right of access to environmental information. Similar to Chapter 4, this chapter provides an overview of the FOIA regime and concludes that the US’ conceptualisation of the right is different from that of the Aarhus Convention in two key ways: first, the FOIA regime is primarily based on promoting transparency rather than protecting the environment; second, the regime has adopted an identity-driven conceptualisation that emphasises the role of information disseminators. This alternative conceptualisation does operate to guarantee the core elements of the right, challenging the substantive normativity of the Aarhus Convention. However, the US also shares, and has adopted, various procedural elements from the Aarhus Convention, evidencing the procedural normativity of the Aarhus Convention.
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- Information
- The Right of Access to Environmental Information , pp. 99 - 135Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021