Frequently, DOE and their contractors classify documents as Official Use Only (OUO) when those documents contain the detailed information necessary to support their (DOE) decisions when chosing between alternative approaches to solving a problem. As a result, the public cannot examine those data and the bases for the decisions that are made. Requesting these types of documents via FOIA is generally a futile exercise, since usually the document that is finally provided is severely redacted, to the point of being useless. In a recent example, the report titled "Interim Pretreatment System Pre-Conceptual Cost Estimate" was so severely redacted that ALL cost information was blacked out (about 95 pages out of about 100 pages).
Federal agencies should be required to document in detail why any particular document should be classified as OUO, thereby requiring its contents to be hidden from public review. The rules under FOIA should be reviewed and revised to prevent arbitrary and unwarrented redaction of information from documents without explicit documentation of why that information should not be made public.
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