U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, made the following statement regarding a report from the Environmental Protection Agency on agency's efforts to increase transparency and comply with Freedom of Information Act requests.

"The EPA has regularly mismanaged FOIA requests at multiple levels. Its staff is poorly trained, does not place a priority on responding to FOIA requests and appears to be more interested in erecting barriers than in ensuring requests are promptly and properly fulfilled," Vitter said. "Instead of writing a report about a policy they may or may not comply with, why doesn't the EPA lead by example and release information requested? EPA shouldn't need a new report to grasp the obvious."

Vitter recently wrote an opinion editorial about the lack of transparency at the EPA. Click here to read his op-ed in U.S. News & World Report.

-30-