LINCOLN, Neb. – A Nebraska news organization has prevailed in its lawsuit against the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.

The Nebraska Journalism Trust, which operates Flatwater Free Press, had sued NDEE over a public records request related to research regarding nitrates in Nebraska’s water.

Flatwater Free Press reporter Yanqi Xu made the initial public records request in April, with NDEE providing a $2,000 estimate to provide the records.

“We were chasing a story as journalists in Nebraska and across the country have done since time eternal,” said Nebraska Journalism Trust executive director Matt Wynn. “We asked for some emails, public records. These things, they belong to us as taxpayers. It’s easy to file a records request. We do this dozens of times a year.”

After a revised request was provided, the agency then put a price tag on the second request exceeding $44,000.

“They said when they gave us the $2,000 that it might not be final, that it’s just their best guess,” Wynn said. “It’s understandable that it would wiggle a little bit. When they got to the $44,000, we asked for a breakdown.”

Wynn said it appeared as though NDEE was charging Flatwater Free Press for each employee potentially spending 4-12 hours apiece going through their emails for the request.

“That is new and unusual and I’ve never seen that in my entire life,” Wynn said.

Wynn stated that he had never paid more than $1,000 for a public records request.

“All of us have email,” Wynn said. “You can search your email for a couple words and get everything with that word. This is not rocket science. This is not brain surgery. Give me all the emails with the word. That should be easy to provide.”

District Judge Ryan S. Post ruled in favor of Nebraska Journalism Trust, denying NDEE’s motion to quash.

In his judgement, Post said that in NDEE’s attempted interpretation of the rules, “there would be few limits on what may be included in the fee.”

“The angel on the good shoulder says they really think it would take this, they really think they have to go through this trouble, they really think that there’s going to be some private information that they need to protect and it’s going to cost this much to get it,” Wynn said. “The guy on the other shoulder is saying this is a tactic that public agencies use and increasingly use to tell journalists and the public to go away. They know that they can’t tell you no, but they also know that they can charge you whatever it takes to go away.”