"The subject of energy policy, especially since the terrible events of Sept. 11, 2001, is of enormous concern to consumers, to environmentalists, to Congress, and to the industry," the judge said.

Kessler gave the Energy Department until March 25 to comply.

Among the energy industry companies Cheney's task force met with was Enron Corp., which last fall collapsed and fell into bankruptcy. Kenneth Lay, then chairman of Enron and now under public scrutiny, was the only executive to have a private meeting with Cheney, according to material the vice president has released over the past year.

At the time Enron officials were meeting with the Cheney task force, they were lobbying hard to keep the federal government from placing a cap on energy prices in California.

Gov. Gray Davis, D-Calif., and several Democratic members of Congress have accused Enron of manipulating energy prices that contributed to California's energy crisis last spring.

After one meeting with an Enron official, Cheney announced that he would oppose caps. Several Democrats accused Cheney of succumbing to Enron's influence at an April meeting. But the vice president's office said Cheney and President Bush had consistently opposed price caps and his position last spring was not influenced by Enron.

The vice president has refused to issue a detailed list of participants in oil industry meetings and what policy positions they pushed for in Bush's energy plan.

Cheney has denied anything improper took place at meetings. He has said that he and his aides were seeking policy suggestions from across the country.

The judge's ruling appears to make it harder for the Bush administration to shield White House records on the task force from Congress and private groups.

Wednesday's court ruling was on an information request filed on April 26, 2001, by the Natural Resources Defense Counsel, an environmental group. The Energy Department estimated that 7,500 pages of documents are responsive to the request, but by Dec. 11, 2001, only 33 documents were provided to the group.

"Unfortunately, it took a court order to force open a door this administration fought hard to keep closed," said Sharon Buccino, a senior attorney with NRDC. "After being shut out of the process for nearly a year, the public will finally get to see if the administration acted on behalf of the public interest in formulating its energy plan."

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has led an effort by Democratic members of the House Government Committee to get Cheney to write up public minutes and other details of how the national energy policy was created. Cheney has refused for nearly a year.

In an extraordinary action earlier this month, the General Accounting Office filed suit against the White House on behalf of Congress to obtain the records of the president and the vice president covering meetings the task force had in preparation for Bush to offer his national energy policy on May 1, 2001.

Karen Lightfoot, a committee attorney, said Wednesday that Waxman saw the Kessler decision as "significant."

Buccino said she didn't know what the documents will reveal, "but the NRDC expects to make public -- for the first time since the task force was formed more than a year ago -- the names of participants, dates of meetings, and the topics discussed.

"That information will expose which energy companies or industry lobbyists influenced the work DOE staff did on the Bush-Cheney energy plan."

A separate federal judge, Paul L. Friedman, has ordered a hearing on the GAO lawsuit and an information request lawsuit by Judicial Watch for Feb. 28.

Copyright © 2002 United Press International

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