What to Say

• Author: Elizabeth D. Mullin
• Pages: 45-58

45

CHAPTER 6:

What to Say

There are many dierent types of environmental documents, and the

issues they present may vary widely. How can a general book such as

this one possibly address the content of a specic set of comments? It

can’t. No book ca n tell you what to say about a particular document. Your

comments will depend on the following:

• your role in the commenting process (e.g., super visor, peer reviewer,

lawyer, concerned citizen),

• whether it is “your” document or an outside document,

• the type of document,

• the overall quality of the document,

• the substantive issues,

• the stage of revision (rst draft or nearly ready to go out),

• the likelihood that your comments will be addressed,

• the sensitivities of the recipient of your comments,

• who else is reviewing it and for what,

• how many sets of comments are likely,

• whether the matter is or is likely to be in litigation,1

• how much time you have,

• the resources available to you,

• what you know or can nd out, and

• what you ca re about.

And probably a lot of other things. at is why commenting is an art.

e following tips will give you some ideas on how to frame your com-

ments. As you write, use these tips and the Table of Contents of this book as

a checklist to help ensure that you are not missing a nything important.

1 Exercise caution with comments on in-house documents concerning matters that may be subject to

litigation. Your comments may be released outside your oce inadvertently, through discovery, or,

in the case of government agencies, through FOIA. See Appendix B. Remember that draft and nal

documents, as well as writing on your computer and e-mail messages, are all potentially discoverable

or subject to FOIA.

You may be able to protect your comments from release if a discovery privilege or FOIA exemp-

tion applies. If you are working on a matter where litigation is ongoing or possible, make sure you

know whether an exemption from disclosure applies and, if so, how to make sure your comments

stay within that exemption.