For Immediate Release – April 25, 2013 Contact: Craig Richardson, Executive Director, American Tradition Institute [email protected]ATI Files FOIA Request with EPA; Request Seeks Discussions Of Alleged Shakedown Of Private Contractor To Stop Working For Disfavored Group, Or Lose Government Business Washington – Today, the American Tradition Institute (ATI) filed a Freedom of Information request with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeking all e-mails, instant messages (IMs), and texts from EPA’s Headquarters Office of Air and Radiation and/or Office of the Administrator that involve the Association of Air Pollution Control Agencies (AAPCA), and an EPA and AAPCA contractor, Battelle. In January, a group of 17 states formed AAPCA in order to “create a technical forum to assist states with the application of various aspects of the Clean Air Act and associated regulations.” Apparently, the technical information generated by the group is not well received within EPA, and EPA has apparently intimidated at least one AAPCA contractor, Battelle, a nonprofit research and development organization, who appears to have succumbed to pressure from EPA to terminate its relationship with AAPCA for fear of jeopardizing current or possible future EPA contacts. In a recent letter to the EPA, the Texas Department of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) expressed concern about this type of retaliatory actions by EPA against Battelle. In the letter, addressed to EPA Administrator for Air and Radiation Gina McCarthy, TCEQ questioned “EPA inform |