Actually, the end of the article states:
“The White House has acknowledged problems with its e-mail system, while saying that if any e-mail is missing, it can be found on disaster recovery backup tapes.”
Sounds completely different from the lost and no backup Gore email.
The FOIA request looks like it was meant to see if the White House is telling the truth. It wasn't for the emails themselves, but for information about what happened to the emails.