Opinion
Case No. C-11-0846-MEJ
11-21-2011
THE SIERRA CLUB and ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY PROJECT, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, Defendant.
MELINDA HAAG United States Attorney ABRAHAM SIMMONS Assistant United States Attorney Attorneys for Federal Defendant
David A. Bahr (Oregon Bar No. 90199)
Bahr Law Offices, P.C.
1035 ½ Monroe Street
Eugene, OR 97402
(541) 556-6439
davebahr@mindspring.com
Kristin Henry (California Bar. No. 220908)
Sierra Club Environmental Law Program
85 Second St., 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 977-5716
Kristin.Henry@Sierraclub.org
Attorneys for Plaintiffs
MELINDA HAAG (132612)
United States Attorney
JOANN M. SWANSON (SBN 88143)
Chief, Civil Division
ABRAHAM A. SIMMONS (SBN 146400)
Assistant United States Attorney
450 Golden Gate Avenue, 9th Floor
San Francisco, California 94102-3495
Telephone: (415) 436-7264
Facsimile: (415) 436-6748
Email: abraham.simmons@usdoj.gov
Attorneys for Federal Defendant
GRANTED
Judge Maria-Elena James
JOINT CASE MANAGEMENT
REPORT
This is an action brought by Plaintiffs pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, to compel production of documents. The information request upon which this suit is based, sought information submitted to defendant relating to the operations of coal-fired power plants owned by the Luminant corporation. On June 6, 2011, the Court referred the parties to a formal mediation process and appointed mediator Daniel Bowling, to provide guidance for settlement discussions. Dkt. Nos. 17 and 18, respectively. On June 27, 2011, the Court adopted the parties' proposed stipulation on mediation and briefing schedule. Dkt. No. 20. The order adopting the parties' stipulation called for the parties to report back to the Court regarding the status of their mediation efforts by October 1, 2011. The parties apologize to the Court that they did not submit this report by October 1, 2011.
The parties report to the Court that, with the assistance of mediator Daniel Bowling, they have engaged in a number of formal settlement conference calls, have exchanged proposals and have attempted to involve the Luminant corporation in the formal mediation process. The parties hoped that with Luminant's participation, defendant might be released from the time consuming process of independently evaluating Luminant's claims of confidentiality for the records at issue. Unfortunately, after an extended period, Luminant, declined to voluntarily participate in the mediation process.
The parties report that despite their efforts to explore settlement options, they do not believe that further resort to the Court's mediation program is reasonably likely to resolve this matter and therefore jointly request this matter be placed back on a briefing schedule. The parties propose the following schedule for briefing dispositive motions in this case:
Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment: January 13, 2012
Plaintiffs' Opposition, Cross-Motion: February 10, 2012
Defendant's Reply, Opposition: March 9, 2012
Plaintiffs' Reply: April 6, 2012
Hearing: May 10, 2012, at 10:00 a.m.
Respectfully submitted for the Court's consideration, this 17th day of November, 2011.
MELINDA HAAG
United States Attorney
David Bahr (Oregon Bar No. 901990)
Bahr Law Offices, P.C.
1035 ½ Monroe Street
Eugene, OR 97402
(541) 556-6439
davebahr@mindspring.com
ABRAHAM SIMMONS
Assistant United States Attorney
Attorneys for Federal Defendant