For Immediate Release:
May 30, 2002

Contact:
David Willett, 202-675-6698

               Enron, Others Ordered to Preserve Documents
        Related to Secret Meetings with Cheney Energy Task Force

Sierra Club serves subpoenas to industry groups in lawsuit against Cheney,
                                 others

Washington, DC:  Subpoenas began arriving today at polluting industries and
industry groups, like Enron and the National Mining Association, as part of
efforts by the Sierra Club to discover how they influenced Vice President
Cheney's Energy Task Force.   The Sierra Club is serving these subpoenas as
part of its efforts to discover what happened in secret meetings between
Administration staff and energy industry officials, following last week's
decision in federal court rejecting the government's request for dismissal
of the case.

The Sierra Club began serving subpoenas today to Enron, Shell Oil, Exelon
Corporation, Peabody Energy, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, the National
Mining Association, and the Edison Electric Institute.  Washington, D.C.
-based groups will be served today, the rest will follow in the next few
days.

In order to ensure that no documents related to the Cheney Energy Task
Force are destroyed, this first wave of subpoenas requires these groups and
companies to preserve all such documents.  These companies and groups are
not parties to the Sierra Club suit, but may have information critical to
resolving whether the Cheney Task Force violated the law in holding secret
meetings.

"The public deserves to know who was calling the shots when the Cheney Task
Force made important decisions affecting clean air, clean water, and the
future of America's energy supply," said Carl Pope, Executive Director of
the Sierra Club.  "When so much is at stake for every American, our energy
policy should not be decided by energy executives in a back room."

"These subpoenas send a clear message to Enron and others that destruction
of documents will not be tolerated in this case," continued Pope.

The Sierra Club suit asserts that by refusing to tell the public about the
influence energy industries had in crafting national energy policy, the
Cheney Task Force violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The
Sierra Club is asking the court to require Vice President Cheney and other
defendants to disclose to the American people what went on behind closed
doors in the creation of the national energy policy. The suit has been
consolidated with a similar suit filed by Judicial Watch.

The energy policy that ultimately came out of the Administration relies on
aging technologies that will pollute our air and water, destroy special
places and fail to reduce our dependence on oil and coal. At the very
least, the American people deserve an explanation of why the Administration
chose this path rather than safer and cleaner technologies that would
protect the environment and save consumers money at the same time.

Last week, Vice President Cheney and other Administration Officials were
rebuffed by a Federal Court, as Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected their request
to dismiss lawsuits filed by the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch challenging
the Administration's attempts to keep Task Force meetings with energy
industry executives secret.

The Sierra Club is asking for a full accounting of what happened behind the
closed doors of the Cheney Energy Task Force, including:  who was in the
room; what proposals did the energy industry executives and lobbyists make;
what documents did the energy industry submit; and what Task Force
documents did they review.

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Erin Jordahl
Director, Iowa Chapter Sierra Club
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA 50310
515-277-8868
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