EPA US Ecology App 4/26/94

[Date]

Freedom of Information Act Officer

[Agency Address]

Re: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST

Dear Freedom of Information Act Officer:

This is a request for records pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, as amended

(5 U.S.C. § 552, et seq.).

I request copies of all records related to [identify records] created or dated after [insert date]. This request includes all other such records regardless of form, including but not limited to letters, memoranda, telephone log entries, visitor log entries, message receipts, notations of conversations, meeting notes, e-mail messages or other records on magnetic media, fax cover sheets, reports, statistics, calendar entries, permits, questionnaires, photographs, audio tape, film, and videotape.

If you determine any portion of any requested record exempt from release, I ask that you exercise your discretionary authority to release non-segregated copies of all requested records. Should you decide not to exercise this discretionary authority, I request that you release all
non-exempt portions of the requested records. I reserve my right to challenge the withholding or deletion of any information.

If you determine any portion of any record exempt from release under 5 U.S.C.

Sec. 552(b)(1), I request a Mandatory Declassification Review under the provisions of

Executive Order 12958.

If you decide to withhold any portion of any requested record, please provide a list describing what has been withheld and please cite the specific exemption(s) being relied upon to withhold information. Also, if all or part of this request is denied, please provide the name, title, address, and telephone number of the agency official responsible for the denial of my request.

The amended Act provides that search and reproduction fees be waived if it "is in the public interest because furnishing the information can be considered as primarily benefiting the public." I believe this request plainly fits that category. The requested records bear upon an issue of great public concern. Government officials, the media, and the public have all demonstrated an interest in this issue. The requested records will benefit the public by shedding light on your agency’s operations and activities related to this issue.

The records I have requested are meaningfully informative of your agency's operations and activities. The focus of my request is on the contribution to pubic understanding, not individual understanding or the understanding of a narrow segment of interested persons. The requested records deal with a highly controversial, well publicized issue of enormous importance and public interest. Our organization has been, and will continue to be, intimately involved with the subject of the requested records. Our expertise in this area and our ability and intention to disseminate the information released through this request to the general public has been well demonstrated by our past involvement with this issue.

[Explain importance of issue.] The records I request would significantly contribute to the public understanding of your agency’s operations and activities.

My request includes records not in the public domain. I seek these records for their informative value, not for any intrinsic value. I seek records informative about continuing activities of your agency. There is an enormous amount of public interest in this issue and in the role of your agency with this issue. Public understanding of your agency’s operations and activities related to this issue has been limited by the lack of information in the public domain. The release of the requested records would provide the public this important information and enhance public understanding of your agency’s operations and activities accordingly.

[Describe your organization’s work on this issue.] Should we obtain the requested records, we would distribute them to the public at public meetings, through the media, and through elected officials interested in this issue. There is a long history of public interest in the requested records and our organization has an established track record of widely distributing this information to the public and other interested parties.

Although the public by-and-large knows that your agency has been involved with this issue, they have never seen the requested records and lack the specific information that only these records can provide. The records that have been released about this issue have pertained mostly to the activities of other agencies. There has been a significant lack of specific information about your agency’s operations and activities with regard to this issue.

We have no financial interest in the requested records. We are a non-profit, 501(c)(3), organization. Our tax status precludes us from profiting from the use of the requested records. We have requested the records in the public interest, not for any commercial, trade, or profit interest. We seek this information because it is informative of your agency’s operations and activities. The requested records have no intrinsic value other than the light they may shed on your agency’s operations and activities.

In sum, my request clearly fulfills your fee waiver criteria. I, therefore, request that you waive all search and reproduction fees. Should you decline my fee waiver request, I agree in advance to pay reasonable search and reproduction fees not to exceed $[insert amount]. Should estimated costs exceed this amount, please specify the estimated costs for reproduction of the requested records, indicate the basis for the fee waiver denial, and how it may be appealed. If you deny my fee waiver request, please identify specifically the estimated personnel costs, the estimate of the time needed to locate the records, the estimate of the time needed to review the records, and a list or index of the records that would have to be reviewed.

As provided by statute, I expect a reply to this request within twenty (20) days.

I thank you in advance for your assistance and cooperation in fulfilling this request.

Sincerely,

[Name]

[Title]

Certified Mail ([Insert Item Number])

Return Receipt Requested