Illinois 2020 exceptional event correspondence
| Submitted | Aug. 12, 2023 |
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Communications
From: Dillon Bergin
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, I write to request all communication between IEPA and outside parties, including but not limited to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, concerning exceptional events due to wildfire smoke pollution in Illinois, and specifically an exceptional event identified and demonstrated by IEPA to EPA in June of 2020.
We anticipate that correspondence or communication on this subject would refer to (high) ozone levels at monitors, to the Clean Air Act or the exceptional events rule, to wildfire smoke, and to modeling related to ozone. We also anticipate that communication responsive to our request may refer to the Northbrook Water Plant or vehicle emissions testing requirements, since concerns about lack of enforcement for emissions testing were raised in public comments around the demonstration. In order to narrow this request to a relevant time period, we seek communication created between June 1, 2020 and January 1, 2023.
The requested documents are intended to inform reporting that will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
If there are any fees for searching or copying these records, please inform me if the cost will exceed $25. However, I would also like to request a waiver of all fees in that the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest and will contribute significantly to the public’s understanding of air pollution and specifically the transport of wildifre-related air pollution. I would prefer the request be 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: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
"Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
FOIA Request Received
Sunday, August 13, 2023
Mr. Dillon Bergin
N/A
MuckRock News, DEPT MR150718
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Requester Type: Public Interest / Not-For-Profit
Dear Dillon Bergin,
We have received your request for information under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. Listed below is a summary of what we received in your online request.
Please do not reply to this email. If you have questions about your request please call (217) 558-5101.
Request Summary
Received 8/13/2023 10:16:14 PM
Reference Id(s)
Date Range 06/01/2020 - 01/01/2023
Request Narrative To Whom It May Concern: Pursuant to the the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, I write to request all communication between IEPA and outside parties, including but not limited to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, concerning exceptional events due to wildfire smoke pollution in Illinois, and specifically an exceptional event identified and demonstrated by IEPA to EPA in June of 2020. We anticipate that correspondence or communication on this subject would refer to (high) ozone levels at monitors, to the Clean Air Act or the exceptional events rule, to wildfire smoke, and to modeling related to ozone. We also anticipate that communication responsive to our request may refer to the Northbrook Water Plant or vehicle emissions testing requirements, since concerns about lack of enforcement for emissions testing were raised in public comments around the demonstration. In order to narrow this request to a relevant time period, we seek communication created between June 1, 2020 and January 1, 2023. The requested documents are intended to inform reporting that will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. If there are any fees for searching or copying these records, please inform me if the cost will exceed $25. However, I would also like to request a waiver of all fees in that the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest and will contribute significantly to the public���s understanding of air pollution and specifically the transport of wildifre-related air pollution. I would prefer the request be 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 Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
From: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
[A close up of a logoDescription generated with high confidence]
August 17, 2023
N/A
Attn: Mr. Dillon Bergin
MuckRock News, Dept MR150718
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request - 127444
Dear Mr. Bergin:
This letter is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 ILCS 140/1 et seq.)
request dated August 13, 2023 and received by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(Illinois EPA) on August 14, 2023.
Your request sought all communication between IEPA and outside parties, including but not limited to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, concerning exceptional events due to wildfire smoke pollution in Illinois, and specifically an exceptional event identified and demonstrated by IEPA to EPA in June of 2020.
The Illinois EPA has determined that compliance with your request, as drafted, would place an undue burden on the Illinois EPA and would outweigh the public interest in the material that you are seeking. See 5 ILCS 140/3(g). Accordingly, we invite you to further narrow your request to manageable proportions pursuant to 5 ILCS 140/3(g).
The initial email search alone returned more than 274,000 results that would need to be reviewed to determine if they are responsive to your request and to remove any documents exempt under FOIA. The search terms used were:
Date range: 6/1/2020 - 1/1/202
Search terms: All emails to/from any current or former Illinois EPA employees that contain the terms "wildfire" "fire" "Northbrook" "exceptional event" or "vehicle emissions"
To the extent you consider this response to be a denial of your FOIA request, you have the right to submit a request for review by the Public Access Counselor (the "PAC") in the Office of the Illinois Attorney General to:
Public Access Counselor
Office of the Attorney General
500 South 2nd Street
Springfield, Illinois 62706
Fax: 217-782-1396
E-mail: Public.Access@ilag.gov<mailto:publicaccess@atg.state.il.us>
If you choose to submit a request for review to the PAC, you must do so within 60 days after the date of this letter. Your request for review must be in writing, signed by you, and include a copy of your FOIA request and this response. 5 ILCS 140/9.5(a). 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@01D9D116.3ED4F610]
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: Dillon Bergin
Hi Anwar,
I appreciate your response and invitation to further narrow my request. I suggest the following changes:
Date range: 6/1/2020 - 1/1/2023
Search terms: All emails to/from any current or former Illinois EPA employees in the Bureau of Air that contain the terms "exceptional event" or "exceptional events".
Hopefully that narrows the request down to a manageable amount of return emails. If not, let me know and I'm happy to narrow further.
Thanks,
Dillon
From: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Good afternoon,
We resubmitted the email search on your request and used the search terms below. Please note that we are unable to conduct searches limited to Bureau of Air staff. The results of the search produced nearly 3,800 emails which we believe remains unduly burdensome. However, if you have other suggestions for how to narrow your search please let us know. Thanks
Email Search
Date range: 6/1/2020 - 1/1/2023
Search terms: All emails to/from any current or former Illinois EPA employees that contain the terms "exceptional event" or "exceptional events"
-
~WRD0000
From: Dillon Bergin
Hi Anwar,
Could you further limit the date range to 1/1/2021 - 12/31/2021? I hope that this smaller range will not be burdensome.
My best,
Dillon Bergin
From: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Hi Dillon,
We did a search within the narrowed date range (1/1/2021 - 12/31/2021) and there were still more than 1,700 potentially responsive emails. We think this continues to be unduly burdensome. Do you have any other suggestions for how to narrow the scope of your request? Please let me know when you get a chance. 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/>[twitter.gif]<http://www.twitter.com/ilepa>[cid:image003.jpg@01D9DCCA.FD68D230]<https://www.facebook.com/IllinoisEpa/>[Image result for linkedin button email]<https://www.linkedin.com/company/15462249>
From: Dillon Bergin
Hi AJ,
I'm sorry, I can't think of a way to further narrow it that would maintain the original intent of the request.
How many emails is no longer burdensome? I would think cutting the total number in half is a significant enough amount of progress to change that designation.
Best,
Dillon
From: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Hi Dillon,
It’s hard to say a number that would no longer be burdensome because it depends on the types of documents that are pulled with the search terms, and the level of review for FOIA exemptions that will be needed. However one approach could be to further narrow the date range to a 3-4 month period, get a sample based on these results and then determine if there is a way to submit a subsequent FOIA request that is more targeted to what you are seeking. If you would like to pursue this approach, please let us know the date range you have in mind. Thanks
AJ
From: Dillon Bergin
Hi AJ,
Thank you for your response. That was a helpful explanation.
In that vein, I'd like to amend my request to two date ranges. The first range is from 12/21/2020 - 2/31/2021 and the second range is from 7/1/21 to 8/31/2021.
Thank you for working with me on this. I appreciate your input.
My best,
Dillon
From: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
[A close up of a logo Description generated with high confidence]
September 11, 2023
Attn: Mr. Dillon Bergin
MuckRock News, Dept MR150718
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request - 127444
Dear Mr. Bergin:
This letter is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 ILCS 140/1 et seq.)
request dated August 13, 2023 and received by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(Illinois EPA) on August 14, 2023. You narrowed the scope of this request on September 5, 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:
(i) the requested records are stored in whole or in part at other locations than the office having charge of the requested records;
Sincerely,
[cid:image002.jpg@01D9E4A8.E39965A0]
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: Dillon Bergin
Hi AJ,
That's fine! Thanks for your help.
My best,
Dillon Bergin
From: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
[A close up of a logoDescription generated with high confidence]
September 14, 2023
Attn: Mr. Dillon Bergin
MuckRock News, Dept MR150718
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request - 127444
Dear Mr. Bergin:
This letter is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 ILCS 140/1 et seq.)
request dated August 13, 2023 and received by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(Illinois EPA) on August 14, 2023.
After reviewing the Illinois EPA's files, and pursuant to Section 7 of FOIA and 2 Ill. Adm. Code 1828.202, the Illinois EPA has determined that some of the public records requested are exempt from disclosure under FOIA. Draft documents and deliberative process communications were withheld pursuant to Section 7(1)(f); personal phone numbers were redacted in accordance with Section 7(1)(b). 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.
The public records that are not exempt from disclosure are described below.
Requested Information
Exceptional event correspondence between December 21, 2020 and February 31(sic), 2021, July 1, 2021 ad August 31, 2021
The information responsive to your request is being sent using the Microsoft OneDrive file transfer utility. An email message will shortly follow this response that will contain a link allowing you to download the information. Please download the information at your earliest convenience because the information may only be available for a limited time at the OneDrive file location provided in the email message.
Sincerely,
[cid:image002.jpg@01D9E719.9F544900]
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: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
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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.
