Annual Emission Report database, for CY 2012 through 2022, for Cook County
It is a clone of this request.
| Tracking # |
127954 |
| Submitted | Sept. 21, 2023 |
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Communications
From: Derek Kravitz
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act., I hereby request the following records:
Annual Emission Report (AER) long- and short-form data, in a machine-readable database or spreadsheet format such as Excel, CSV, Access, SQL or XM, for the calendar years 2012 through 2022, for all response facilities in Cook County, Illinois.
The data should include all fields in the database or spreadsheets that contain non-exempt information, including but no limited to all fields in the example for provided by the Illinois EPA website. I also request all documentation that describes the layout of the database’s tables and fields, and that provides the definitions of any field names, codes, and abbreviations used in the database. This information may be gathered together in a single document like a data dictionary, entity layout, or user's guide. If that is the case, I request access to and copy of said document.
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,
Derek Kravitz
From: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Good morning
The Agency received your recent FOIA request (attached)
Would you please clarify what you mean by "all response facilities in Cook County"?
Thank you
Sharon
State of Illinois - CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this communication is confidential, may be attorney-client privileged or attorney work product, may constitute inside information or internal deliberative staff communication, and is intended only for the use of the addressee. Unauthorized use, disclosure or copying of this communication or any part thereof is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and destroy this communication and all copies thereof, including all attachments. Receipt by an unintended recipient does not waive attorney-client privilege, attorney work product privilege, or any other exemption from disclosure.
From: Derek Kravitz
Our apologies on the typo; that clause is meant to read, "responding facilities in Cook County, Illinois," as in facilities that respond and submit AER reports.
Let me know if there are any additional questions, happy to chat by phone directly at 573-239-7440. Best, Derek
From: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
[A close up of a logo Description generated with high confidence]
September 29, 2023
Attn: Mr. Derek Kravitz
MuckRock News, Dept MR152282
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request - 127954
Dear Mr. Kravitz:
This letter is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 ILCS 140/1 et seq.)
request dated September 21, 2023 and received by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(Illinois EPA) on September 22, 2023.
Please be advised that the Illinois EPA is unable to respond to your request within five (5) business days and is extending the response time by an additional five (5) business days pursuant to the Illinois FOIA at 5 ILCS 140/3(e). The reason for the delay is as follows:
(iii) the request is couched in categorical terms and requires an extensive search for the
records responsive to it;
(iv) the requested records have not been located in the course of a routine search and additional efforts are being made to locate them;
The Agency requested further clarification from you via email on September 26, 2023, regarding this request; we are unable to proceed with processing this request until we receive a reply from you.
Sincerely,
[cid:image002.jpg@01D9F2DE.A5012F00]
Anwar Johnson
Illinois EPA FOIA Officer
217.558.5101
http://www.epa.illinois.gov/foia/index
State of Illinois - CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this communication is confidential, may be attorney-client privileged or attorney work product, may constitute inside information or internal deliberative staff communication, and is intended only for the use of the addressee. Unauthorized use, disclosure or copying of this communication or any part thereof is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and destroy this communication and all copies thereof, including all attachments. Receipt by an unintended recipient does not waive attorney-client privilege, attorney work product privilege, or any other exemption from disclosure.
From: Derek Kravitz
I wanted to confirm that, yes, we received the extension and we did, in fact, respond to your request for clarification on Sept. 28, with the following message:
Our apologies on the typo; that clause is meant to read, "responding facilities in Cook County, Illinois," as in facilities that respond and submit AER reports.
Let me know if there are any additional questions, happy to chat by phone directly at 573-239-7440. Best, Derek
From: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Mr. Kravitz,
We have been evaluating whether it is feasible to provide all of the data that you sought in the attached FOIA request for the date range at issue, and it appears the volume of data is too much to organize or reasonablly provide. However, we have a simplified query that we can use to provide all reported point/mode emissions data for the period sought with the columns in the attached version (see attachment). We ran this query for a FOIA request in 2021, and that request generated over 1.6 million data records so it is still a very large amount of data. If you are willing to accept this for the response please let me know. Thanks
Anwar ("AJ") Johnson
Deputy General Counsel, FOIA, Ethics and Personnel
Division Manager, Division of Records Management/FOIA
anwar.johnson@illinois.gov<mailto:tom.reuter@illinois.gov>
(217) 524-7071
[iepa logo]<http://www.epa.illinois.gov/>[cid:image002.png@01D9F629.8D5A55E0]<http://www.twitter.com/ilepa>[cid:image003.jpg@01D9F629.8D5A55E0]<https://www.facebook.com/IllinoisEpa/>[Image result for linkedin button email]<https://www.linkedin.com/company/15462249>
State of Illinois - CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this communication is confidential, may be attorney-client privileged or attorney work product, may constitute inside information or internal deliberative staff communication, and is intended only for the use of the addressee. Unauthorized use, disclosure or copying of this communication or any part thereof is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and destroy this communication and all copies thereof, including all attachments. Receipt by an unintended recipient does not waive attorney-client privilege, attorney work product privilege, or any other exemption from disclosure.
From: Derek Kravitz
Thank you for the clarification. We can go ahead and process this large request but one thing that may help: We see that the sample is for the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy, which is in Adams County. We can limit this request solely to Cook County facilities, not the entire state. We can also limit the date range if it's still simply too large.
From: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Good morning,
To clarify, we are proposing providing the fields in the sample attachment for Cook County for the date range sought by your request (2012-2022). However, we don’t believe it is feasible to provide the entire database. It appears that you are okay with this modified scope, but I just wanted to confirm. Thanks
AJ
-
foia_mode_emissions_allyrs_sample
From: Derek Kravitz
Yes, thank you, we accept the modified scope. We appreciate your assistance.
From: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
[A close up of a logo Description generated with high confidence]
October 5, 2023
Attn: Mr. Derek Kravitz
Muckrock News, Dept Mr152282
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115 -
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request - 127954
Dear Mr. Kravitz:
This letter is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 ILCS 140/1 et seq.)
request dated September 21, 2023 and received by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(Illinois EPA) on September 22, 2023.
Your request sought annual emission report (AER) long and short-form data for Cook County for 2012 - 2022 for all facilities in Cook County that submitted AERs. Records responsive to your request are attached. The Excel file contains all of the AER source totals for all pollutants for both short and long-form facilities. The zipped Access database contains the point/mode emissions data. Both datasets contain all available source reported data for Cook County for the period of 2012-2021. We excluded 2022 since the data is still being entered and reviewed, and as a result is not final. Accordingly, the 2022 data is exempt from disclosure under Section 7(1)(f) of FOIA.
With respect to the 2022 data, pursuant to Section 9.5 of FOIA and 2 Ill. Adm. Code 1828.505, you may file a request for review with the Public Access Counselor (PAC) established in the Office of the Attorney General no later than 60 days after the date of the Illinois EPA's final denial. Contact information for the PAC is as follows:
Leah Bartelt
Public Access Counselor
Office of the Attorney General
500 S. 2nd Street
Springfield, Illinois 62701
Phone: 312-814-5526 or
1-877-299-FOIA (1-877-299-3642)
Fax: 217-782-1396
E-mail: Public.Access@ilag.gov<mailto:Public.Access@ilag.gov>
You also have the right to seek judicial review of the denial of your request by filing a lawsuit in circuit court, pursuant to 5 ILCS 140/11.
Sincerely,
[cid:image002.jpg@01D9F7A5.132C38B0]
Anwar Johnson
Illinois EPA FOIA Officer
217.558.5101
http://www.epa.illinois.gov/foia/index
State of Illinois - CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this communication is confidential, may be attorney-client privileged or attorney work product, may constitute inside information or internal deliberative staff communication, and is intended only for the use of the addressee. Unauthorized use, disclosure or copying of this communication or any part thereof is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and destroy this communication and all copies thereof, including all attachments. Receipt by an unintended recipient does not waive attorney-client privilege, attorney work product privilege, or any other exemption from disclosure.
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