Wild Virginia Sends FOIA Request to Gov. Northam’s Office Related to Voting Status of New Air Pollution Control Board Members

I just was forwarded the following FOIA request to Gov. Northam’s office from Wild Virginia, requesting “All records including or describing communications between [newly appointed members of the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board] Ms. [Gail] Bush and/or Ms. [Kajul] Kapur and any of the following: the Governor; the Governor’s chief of staff, counsel, director of policy, the Assistant to the Governor for Intergovernmental Affairs, and the Secretary of the Commonwealth.” Specifically, the FOIA request wants answers to the following important questions:

1. “If these two people have been sworn in as members of the Board, what prevents them from participating in the upcoming vote on the Dominion/ACP permit?”
   2. “Have you ordered Ms. Bush and Ms. Kapur not to participate in the vote?”
   3. “If the answer to 2. is yes, under what authority have you made that order.”
   4. “If the answer to 2. is no, have Ms. Bush and Ms. Kapur communicated their intentions to you not to participate in this case? If not, how can your office assure the public that these
   two officials will not participate in the vote?”

Great questions; high time for some answers!