The Environment Agency last week refused to release legal advice it has received relating to the controversial new Pembroke power station, now nearing completion on Milford Haven.

In its refusal to release the information to Friends of the Earth Cymru under the Freedom of Information Act, the Environment Agency claimed that the public interest in withholding the information "outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information" [1].

The Environment Agency also claimed that disclosing the legal advice could "adversely affect the course of justice, the ability of a person to receive a fair trial or the ability of the authority to conduct an inquiry of a criminal or disciplinary nature".

Gareth Clubb, Director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, said:

"It's very peculiar to see the Environment Agency relying on a clause about adversely affecting the course of justice, when our main interest in seeing their legal advice is to ensure that justice is done.

"If the legal advice told the Environment Agency their approach to Pembroke power station was completely lawful, why would they want to conceal this? It seems the only rational conclusion is that the EA were told they were acting in a manner that was unlawful.

"The Welsh Government and its agencies should take decisions based on clear evidence that is freely and openly available to the people of Wales. This is a principle of open-ness and transparency that our new democracy must embrace if decisions are to be seen as legitimate.

"Now we've ended up with an Agency discredited by covering up legal advice and falling under suspicion of unlawful action. This could seriously damage both the Welsh environment, and Welsh democracy.

"The announcement this week that the Environment Agency and Countryside Council for Wales' are being brought together into a single environment body for Wales means there will be even less chance to scrutinise the way decisions are made.

"If the new watchdog follows the Environment Agency's approach of determined cover-up, rather than CCW's commitment to transparency, then we may never discover if controversial decisions with dramatic consequences for the health of the Welsh environment are legal."

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