The coal ash spill at a TVA power plant in Tennessee two years ago has spawned an open records battle in Perry County, Alabama, where much of the ash was deposited in a commercial landfill.
The Tuscaloosa News has the story, which includes the local water board now being ordered by a judge to hand over records. It's an open records battle that's common between the media and government entities, but in this case it's a local activist group that is on the winning side.
The group that filed the suit also is suing the Perry County Commission, thought the paper reports all of the documents have finally been provided. The excuse? According to the News story, the lawyer for the County....
...said the county delayed giving the group the requested records because it was in the process of developing a policy for records requests.Uh, the open records laws in Alabama state quite clearly "Every citizen has a right to inspect and take a copy of any public writing of this state, except as otherwise expressly provided by statute."
And the laws date to 1975. So Perry County is developing a policy 35 years later?
Why is it that government bodies think they can keep the business they conduct as employees of the voters, secret from those voters?
The information fight is a reminder that the media have no real powers above and beyond non-journalist citizens (except the ability to easily publicise what they find!). Anyone can use the state's open records laws. Anyone can demand that the state's open-meeting laws are obeyed. It's just that journalists can do it full time because it's their job.
Longtime media attorney Dennis Bailey represented the activist group in their suit.
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