that the Del Webb appraisal documents "are being
withheld because they have not been approved by BLM and
disclosure of such material could confuse the public as
to the official agency position on this issue and have a
detrimental effect on our decisionmaking process."
Wrote Hancock to the Interior department FOIA
officer: "If the appraisals of the Del Webb exchange
have not been approved, it is understandable why the
values cannot be made public.
"However, why haven't they been approved?
The protest periods for these exchanges expired nearly
one month ago. All appraisal reports should have been
completed, approved, and available for public review at
the time the Notices of Decisions were issued.
"BLM's current practice of not approving
appraisals until a day or two before patent is
issued," wrote Hancock, "is
mal-administration." [his emphasis].
Toward the end of her letter to Hancock
denying his FOIA request, State Director Morgan said,
"The person responsible
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for this denial is
Steve Palmer, Assistant Regional Solicitor, Office of the
Solicitor, Sacramento, California."
However, when Electric Nevada phoned
Palmer in Sacramento Friday, the BLM lawyer said that,
rather than a formal opinion either requested or provided
the Nevada State Office, there had been a telephone call.
He also said he had not been told some of the
circumstances of the request.
Palmer said he had not known it was the BLM's
own former state appraisal chief who had asked to review
the documents. Nor was he aware, he said when asked, that
it was during the period of public review and comment
that the Nevada State Office was seeking to block public
access to the appraisal documents.
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