Colorado Oil/Gas -- Chris Holbert
| Submitted | May 2, 2017 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: David Sirota
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
- Specific emails to or from specific legislators to or from the Colorado Oil and Gas Association. This includes emails to or from email addresses at the domain name "@coga.org." The specific emails being requested are those from the dates 12/1/16 to the present.
- Specific emails to or from specific legislators to or from employees or lobbyists from Anadarko Petroleum. This includes emails to or from email addresses at the domain name "@anadarko.com." The specific emails being requested are those from the dates 12/1/16 to the present.
- Specific emails to or from specific legislators that include any of the following keywords: "setback," "set back," "fracking," "HB 1256," "1256," "HB17-1256," "forced pooling," "HB 1336," "1336," or "HB17-1336." The specific emails being requested are those from the dates 12/1/16 to the present.
The specific legislators that this request covers are: Chris Holbert
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. I am requesting a waiver of all fees under 5 U.S.C. Section 552(a)(4)(A)(iii). The information I seek is in the public interest because it will contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in my commercial interest. This request is not a commercial request -- it is being made by an award-winning media organization and is seeking documents of clear public interest and concern.
I believe I meet the criteria for a fee waiver recognized by the U.S. Justice Department - and by the federal courts, See Project on Military Procurement v. Department of the Navy, 710 F. Supp. 362 363, 365 (D.C.D. 1989).
My request concerns the operations or activities of government because the records relate to the enforcement of antitrust law at a time when there is significant public debate about consolidation, market power, and regulations. The records that are responsive to this request will spotlight the way the government shapes policy and will also show the ways that policy is shaped by corporate representatives seeking to influence public policy.
Also, the information sought has informative value, or potential for contribution to public understanding. Please note the decision in Elizabeth Eudey v. Central Intelligence Agency, 478 F. Supp. 1175 1176 (D.C.D. 1979) (even a single document has the potential for contributing to public understanding). As the senior editor for investigations at Newsweek/IBT, I plan to disseminate this information to the public at large through publication in Newsweek and at International Business Times. Those award-winning publications get millions of visitors per month.
In addition, the release of this information will have a significant impact on public understanding because it will illustrate how antitrust enforcement decisions are influenced and made by public officials. The policy matters this request covers millions of people in their daily lives, and these documents will show how those matters are perceived by public officials and influenced by outside interests.
In your deliberations, please take note of the following cases: Campbell v. U.S. Department of Justice, 334 U.S. App. D.C. (1998)(administrative and seemingly repetitious information is not exempt from fee-waiver consideration); Project on Military Procurement (agencies cannot reject a fee waiver based on the assumption that the information sought is covered by a FOIA exemption; and Landmark Legal Foundation v. Internal Revenue Service, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21722 (D.C.D. 1998)(the fact that the information will soon be turned over to a public body does not exempt the material from fee-waiver consideration).
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 3 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
David Sirota
IBT/Newsweek
(646) 867-7100
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 2, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 2, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 2, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 2, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Matthew Dawkins
----- Forwarded by Matthew Dawkins/CLICS on 05/15/2017 11:35 AM -----
From: Matthew Dawkins
----- Forwarded by Matthew Dawkins/CLICS on 05/15/2017 11:35 AM -----
From: Matthew Dawkins
Mr. Sirota,
Last week, my office received a check from MuckRock in the amount
of $1,670.20 in connection with your recent CORA requests to several
members of the Colorado Senate. On May 12, I also received a phone call
from an employee from MuckRock. That employee explained there was a
misunderstanding on MuckRock's part about the amount needing to be paid
and this caused the check for $1,670.20 to be sent rather than a check for
the full amount of $2,025.60 that corresponds to the administrative search
and retrieval fee for your revised request #2. The MuckRock employee
explained a second check was being sent that day to make up the difference
between those two amounts. We have yet to receive that second check.
However, in recognition of the partial payment of $1,670.20
already received , I'm contacting you today to see if you would like us to
apply that partial payment to a portion of your revised request and begin
the work accordingly. For example, would you like for us to proceed with
the research and retrieval of documents related to the requests to Senator
Cooke and President Grantham but not on the requests to Senator Holbert or
Senator Marble until the second payment arrives and the total $2,025.60
has been met? Absent direction from you, we will wait to have any of the
affected legislators begin compiling records until the second check
arrives and the full $2,025.60 deposit is received.
If it is helpful, here is an overview of the research and
retrieval time estimates and the corresponding fee deposit amounts related
to the revised request #2 to each member:
• Senator Cooke: 25.67 hours, which results in a $740.10 deposit;
• Senator Grantham: 30.3 hours, which results in an $879.00
deposit;
• Senator Holbert: 8.0 hours, which results in a $210.00 deposit;
• Senator Marble: 7.55 hours, which results in a $196.50 deposit.
Also, you indicated previously that you only were proceeding with
revised request #2 for Senators Cooke, Grantham, Holbert, and Marble. Are
you withdrawing your #2 revised requests to Senators Scott and Sonnenberg?
Matt Dawkins
Office Manager
Office of Legislative Legal Services
Colorado General Assembly
(303) 866-2045
From: Matthew Dawkins
Mr. Sirota,
I will soon be sending you a series of email messages containing as
attachments the public records responsive to your CORA request to Senator
Holbert (revised request #2). I will send the first email as a test to
ensure the file size is not problematic or no other issues are
encountered. Please let me know if that message and the attachment
arrives without problem. If so, I’ll proceed with sending the remaining
emails and attachments. If problems are encountered and you don't receive
that separate email message from me at some point this morning, we can see
what may be causing the problem. (E.g., the message was caught in a spam
filter or the file size is too big to allow transmission or receipt.)
The actual amount of time spent by Senator Holbert’s staff to locate and
compile the records was less than the original estimate of 8.0 hours. The
actual time spent was 6 hours 10 minutes. Accordingly, I will need to
process a refund to the Muckrock Foundation for the overpayment due to the
1 hour 50 minute difference. I recommend that we wait until all of the
requests to the four Senate members are complete and then I can calculate
the collective total subject to refund and process a single payment to the
Muckrock Foundation. This approach will also provide flexibility to you
to apply any extra time to another legislator’s request if that
legislator’s original time estimate was too low and more time will be
needed to complete the work (if you would like to proceed in that manner).
If you prefer that I process a refund for the Holbert deposit payment now,
please let me know.
Here is a status report on the remaining CORA requests to the Senate
members.
Sen. Marble and Sen. Cooke: Due to Senator Marble’s office being closed
temporarily during the legislative interim (see section II.D. 3. of the
Legislative Policies Related to Public Records and E-mail) and Senator
Cooke’s office needing to handle other day-to-day operations and work (see
§24-72-203 (3)(b)(III), C.R.S.), neither have been able to complete their
work related to your request. Both anticipate being able to devote
additional resources to your requests this week and hopefully will be able
to complete that work shortly.
President Grantham: His office is currently working on your request and
hopes to complete the work soon.
Matt Dawkins
Office Manager
Office of Legislative Legal Services
Colorado General Assembly
(303) 866-2045
From: Matthew Dawkins
Mr. Sirota,
Per my earlier email message, here is the first of several sets of
documents being provided in response to your CORA request to Senator Chris
Holbert. Please let me know if this email and attachment reach you
without problem. If it does arrive without problem, I'l proceed with
sending the remaining sets of documents.
Matt Dawkins
Office Manager
Office of Legislative Legal Services
Colorado General Assembly
(303) 866-2045
From: Matthew Dawkins
From: Matthew Dawkins
From: Matthew Dawkins
From: Matthew Dawkins
From: Matthew Dawkins
From: David Sirota
Thank you for this response. And yes, I think we should wait until the end to deal with any refunds, so that you can apply any extra funds that may be needed for other legislators' responses.
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