A federal judge in Youngstown has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Washington-based watchdog group now that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is producing records about its response to the February 3, 2023, fiery Norfolk Southern derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine.

The Governmental Accountability Project filed an expedited Freedom of Information Act Request for “any and all” records relating to the decision to conduct a controlled burn of chemicals still inside the derailed tankers.  The burn sent up a plume of smoke that could be seen for miles from the village.

The group also requested records relating to the decision to evacuate the village and the eventual testing for dioxins and dioxin-related compounds in the surrounding area.

The watchdog group filed the lawsuit seeking the records, challenging the EPA’s claim that “there is no urgency or compelling need to inform the public about EPA’s decisions and actions on how to conduct, or not conduct, effective testing for the presence of potentially life-threatening chemicals in the local environment as a result of the derailment and other response measures.”

GAP argued that the EPA was required to process a request on an expedited basis when failure to obtain requested records on said basis could reasonably pose an imminent threat to the life or physical safety of an individual or there is an urgency to inform the public.

The group also claimed that the agency failed to conduct a reasonable search for records related to the request or produce non-exempt records related to the request.

The lawyer for the watchdog group did not object when U.S. District Court Judge Benita Pearson dismissed the complaint on Wednesday after learning that the EPA has been turning over the documents requested by the Government Accountability Project.

GAP continues to review the documents.