The Sierra Club is suing the Department of Government Efficiency for withholding public communication records between senior DOGE staffers — including tech billionaire and former DOGE leader Elon Musk — and fossil fuel industry figures.
The complaint from the Sierra Club, filed Wednesday in federal court in Oakland, California, accuses the federal budget-slashing task force of violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by failing to release requested emails and other records that could potentially show how outside interests may have influenced DOGE’s sweeping cuts to federal programs.
The environmental advocacy group in July sent a FOIA request to the United States Digital Service (USDS) seeking communication records between DOGE officials with known ties to industries regulated by agencies that faced budget and staff cuts. The lawsuit focuses on correspondence from individuals linked to the fossil fuel industry, corporate polluters and other industry groups.
The group said Musk, who stepped down from his leading role at DOGE in May after serving as a special government employee in the Trump administration, oversaw budget cuts at agencies that had previously investigated his own companies.
