Air pollution notices of violation and/or notice of penalty

Dillon Bergin filed this request with the Chicago Department of Public Health of Chicago, IL.
Submitted July 29, 2022
Due Aug. 5, 2022
Est. Completion None
Status
Awaiting Response
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Communications

From: Dillon Bergin

Subject: Illinois Freedom of Information Act. Request: Air pollution notices of violation and/or notice of penalty

Email

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act., I hereby request the following records:

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act., I hereby request the following records:

All notices of violation and/or notice of penalty, issued by the city of Chicago from January 1st, 2022 to the date this request is fulfilled, pertaining to issues of environmental enforcement on air and air pollution, including but not limited to air pollution, odor, dust, or emission standards. Please note that I am NOT requesting information that can readily be found on the City of Chicago open data portal, such as the enforcement summary data (found here: https://data.cityofchicago.org/Environment-Sustainable-Development/CDPH-Environmental-Enforcement/yqn4-3th2) on air pollution equipment defects. I am requesting the original documents that serve as notice of of violation and/or notice of penalty, not summary data, and I am requesting documents related to all issues of environmental enforcement on air and air pollution, not just air pollution equipment defects.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Dillon Bergin

From: Chicago Department of Public Health

Subject: Re: Illinois Freedom of Information Act. Request: Air pollution notices of violation and/or notice of penalty

Email

Good morning,

CDPH doesn't possess a record that contains the information you are seeking, and our notices of violation are generally filed by address. Also, the data portal is searchable by violation. Here's a screen shot you might find helpful:

[cid:abf5f55c-cd50-4ebe-a164-856ef75ce7b2]

Additionally, to the extent your request includes violations not issued by the Department of Public Health, you may send a request to the Department of Administrative Hearings.

Feel free to let me know if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,
Deiry Velazquez

From: Dillon Bergin

Subject: RE: Illinois Freedom of Information Act. Request: Air pollution notices of violation and/or notice of penalty

Email

Hello,

I'd just like to be clear on your response. Do you mean that CDPH does not possess the actual notice of violation (meaning the document describing to the reason for violation), but instead only possesses the database on the open data portal (https://data.cityofchicago.org/Environment-Sustainable-Development/CDPH-Environmental-Enforcement/yqn4-3th2) that contains information about what addresses have been fined and how much?

The open data portal lacks the "notice" part of the notice of violation that I am looking for. I am not requesting the metadata about the notice of violation, but the violation itself (here is an example: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22123711-michigan-violation-notice).

If CDPH does not possess this document itself, the information in the database must start somewhere with another agency. Could you point me to the agency that maintains the notices of violations that are represented in the database?

Thank you,
Dillon

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