UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WILD HORSE FREEDOM FEDERATION, Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No. 17-2237 (JEB) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, Defendant. MEMORANDUM OPINION Plaintiff Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) brought this Freedom of Information Act suit seeking certain categories of documents associated with the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Program (WHBP). Although BLM produced several hundred pages with and without redactions, WHFF believes that its search was inadequate and its withholdings overbroad. In response to the parties’ Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment, the Court will grant a portion of Plaintiff’s and deny much of Defendant’s, mainly because BLM has neglected to respond at all to WHFF’s Motion. I. Background WHFF “is a non-profit public interest organization . . . headquartered in Magnolia, Texas.” Compl., ¶ 4. In May 2017, it submitted a tripartite request to BLM, seeking weekly reports connected with BLM’s WHBP, briefings from BLM’s Assistant Director of Renewable Resources and Planning to BLM’s Director, and briefings/reports from WHBP’s Division Chief to the Assistant Director of Renewable Resources and Planning. Id., ¶ 1. Defendant conducted a 1 search and initially produced 61 pages, six of which contained redactions. See Def. MSJ, Attach. 3 (Declaration of Ryan Witt), ¶ 19. One month later, BLM released an additional 248 pages, of which 28 were redacted entirely and 115 were redacted in part. Id., ¶ 20. Dissatisfied with its haul, WHFF filed this action on October 30, 2017, see ECF No. 1 (Complaint), and the parties have now cross-moved for summary judgment. See ECF Nos. 8 (Def.), 9 (Pl.). For reasons unbeknownst to the Court, the Government never filed an opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion or a reply to its opposition. On June 29, 2018, the Court ordered BLM to produce clean and redacted copies of the contested pages, see Minute Order, which, as will be discussed below, the agency has partially accomplished. II. Legal Standard Summary judgment may be granted if “the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a); see also Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247–48 (1986); Holcomb v. Powell, 433 F.3d 889, 895 (D.C. Cir. 2006). A fact is “material” if it is capable of affecting the substantive outcome of the litigation. See Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. at 248; Holcomb, 433 F.3d at 895. A dispute is “genuine” if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party. See Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 380 (2007); Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. at 248; Holcomb, 433 F.3d at 895. “A party asserting that a fact cannot be or is genuinely disputed must support the assertion” by “citing to particular parts of materials in the record” or “showing that the materials cited do not establish the absence or presence of a genuine dispute, or that an adverse party ...
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