The 10th Circuit found on Tuesday that a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by an environmental group to get electronic map files of private structures insured by the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program should be denied, because the privacy interests of FOIA's exemption six outweighed the public interests in disclosure. No doubt the group wanted the information to provide criticism of a ridiculous flood insurance program that encourages landholders to build in floodplains. For a program that works rehabilitate flood plains, see here.

The 6th Circuit issued an opinion today in a mind-numbing case about proper methodologies for setting Water Effluent Technology (WET) standards under the Clean Water Act and whether the EPA was acting arbitrarily regarding state proposed rules for meeting those standards for emissions into the Great Lakes.