of the federal regulations, and seeking to interfere with the investigation in order to exploit the tragedy for its own purposes. In reply, UMWA International President Cecil Roberts denied ‘manipulation', saying that it was fulfilling its responsibility under the MSHA regulations. He accused the ICG of attempting to get the identities of the miners who designated the UMWA as their representative, and questioned why they needed to know that, and what they would do with that information. MSHA filed a motion in federal court to allow UMWA participation, and U.S. District Judge Robert E. Maxwell ordered ICG to allow UMW officials to enter the mine, saying "There's no question that the public interest is best served by a complete and thorough investigation into the occurrence of the problems at the Sago Mine....There is a strong public interest in allowing miners to play a role in this investigation, as it is their health and safety that is at issue." On January 27, 2006, the ICG said it would appeal. MSHA Freedom of Information Act Disclosure Policy The Sago Mine Disaster brought public attention to criticism of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) policy first raised by Ellen Smith, editor of Mine Safety and Health News in a July 16, 2004 editorial, "Assault on Freedom of Information". She reported complaints from UMWA for over a year, from mine operators and by her paper that they could no longer get information from MSHA though the FOIA. She stated that the previous week, "Ed Clair, the U.S. Labor Department’s Associate Solicitor for Mine Safety and Health, disclosed that, without public comment or input, MSHA secretly changed its long-standing policy of routinely releasing inspector notes under the Freedom of Information Act." The prior policy had been in effect since the Mine Act of 1977. She continued, "Now, the public will no longer be able to get MSHA inspector notes from a mine inspection, unless the operator or miner is willing to go through legal proceedings and the discovery process. Under this new policy, the press is certainly excluded from these notes, miners may be as well, and it certainly hampers an operator's ability to resolve many MSHA enforcement disputes without litigation." On January 11, 2006, Representative Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) asked Labor Secretary Chao to reverse MSHA's 2004 decision to exclude mine safety inspectors' notes in FOIA responses, citing how the agency's secrecy policy limited