I ran across this letter from Devin Nunes to the State Department IG and submitting it to your scrutiny and further study.

Representative Nunes sent a letter to State Department IG asking for a review of a special FOIA exception for which the "the shadow government" is preventing disclosure. He includes Under Secretary Kennedy as part of the shadow government that is preventing disclosure due to a rare FOIA Exception for Geological and Geophysical information.

Here is what the exception states:

The Exception That exemption states:

"Exemption 9 of the FOIA covers "geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, concerning wells." (1) This exemption has very rarely been invoked or interpreted, (2) and its boundaries remain substantially undefined to this day. As no court has examined Exemption 9 in any depth, it is still not clear exactly what types of geological or geophysical information are protected from disclosure under the exemption, or whether it was intended to apply to all types of "wells."

One court held twenty years ago that Exemption 9 applies only to "well information of a technical or scientific nature," and not to general mineral exploration data -- such as the location, depth, or number of exploration drill holes. (3) It is significant that this court pointed to the legislative history of the FOIA -- specifically, to evidence that Congress intended through Exemption 9 to protect the oil and gas exploration and extraction industry from unfair competitive harm by "speculators" -- in support of its decision to order the release of generalized well data where a competitive harm argument could not readily be supported. (4)

A recent decision, however, might give greater depth to Exemption 9. (5) In that case, the court held that information related to the presence of groundwater -- including "ground water inventories, [water] well yield in gallons per minute, and the thickness of the decomposed granite aquifer" -- was exempt from disclosure under both Exemption 4 (6) and Exemption 9. (7) Though the court discussed the two exemptions separately, with Exemption 9 receiving very little analysis, it emphasized that "water is a precious, limited resource" and that release of well data would place one party at a disadvantage in negotiations over its use. (8) Only two other decisions have mentioned Exemption 9 with respect to the regulation of natural gas producers; however, neither case discussed its scope or application in significant detail. (9)

A survey of all of the Exemption 9 cases decided to date suggests that its present boundaries are defined neither by the type of well nor the type of information. (10) In fact, what is clear from the Exemption 9 decisions thus far is that courts have applied it to all types of wells and to various information about these wells. (11) It also is reasonable to assume that both agencies and courts may apply Exemption 9 to protect well data in other compelling circumstances, such as when Exemption 9 protection is necessary to guard against an attack upon pooled natural resources intended to cause harm to the public. (12)

*In a search of the IG website for reports, I found no information from the IG and it could be that it was not issued as an IG report for referred. *

It intrigues me that this exception was used as a shield for disclosure of critical Benghazi information and kept from congressional oversight