UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SIERRA CLUB, Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No. 19-2315 (JEB) UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, Defendant. MEMORANDUM OPINION In early 2018, Plaintiff Sierra Club learned that Defendant United States Fish and Wildlife Service had initiated a review of the Florida Key deer’s place on the endangered-species list. Hoping to uncover the agency’s reasons for this review and any information it relied upon, Sierra Club filed a Freedom of Information Act request. Frustrated with the agency’s delayed response, it then filed this suit. In dueling Motions for Summary Judgment, the parties dispute only FWS’s invocation of FOIA Exemption 5’s deliberative-process privilege to shield certain documents. Although the Court planned to fully resolve this case, it was stymied by the agency’s cursory briefing on several seminal points. As a result, the Court delivers a split decision: it will order the release of some records while also directing Fish and Wildlife to more fully support its position should it wish to continue withholding others. I. Background Little need be said to tee up the narrow issues in this case. On February 6, 2018, the Miami Herald reported that Fish and Wildlife had undertaken a review of the Florida Key deer to determine whether the species should be removed from the endangered-species list or 1 downgraded from “endangered” to “threatened.” ECF No. 1 (Compl.), ¶ 2. In the article, a FWS spokesperson confirmed the report, stating that the agency was “finishing up an evaluation related to the status of the Key deer required under the Endangered Species Act.” Id., ¶ 3. The import of this potential change is significant: the species has been protected under the Endangered Species Act and its predecessor statute since 1967, and Plaintiff believes that recent events have only increased the existential threats to the species. See ECF No. 20 (Pl. MSJ & Opp.) at 1–2. Just weeks after publication of the article, Sierra Club — an organization “whose mission includes educating and enlisting humanity to protect” wildlife — filed a FOIA request with Fish and Wildlife to obtain records “relate[d] to the ongoing species status review for the Florida Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium).” Pl. MSJ & Opp. at 2–3 (citation omitted). Plaintiff sought “[a]ll records generated since November 2016” pertaining to the review, including records regarding the impetus for the review, the scientific information provided to and generated by the agency, and any communications discussing the status and conservation of Florida Key deer. See Compl., ¶ 47. After acknowledging receipt, FWS informed Plaintiff that its request had been placed in the “exceptional/voluminous” processing track but failed to provide an estimated completion date. Id., ¶ 49. Apart from some minor administrative communications, Plaintiff did not hear from Fish and Wildlife again until September of that year, when it released three pages of records as a “partial response.” Id., ¶¶ 54–55. The agency indicated that it had withheld further documents, principally invoking Exemption 5. Id., ¶ 55. Almost a year later, ...
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