Exceptional event demonstration contracts

Public Records Request 103266 by ()

Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
Public Records Request 103266 by (publicrecords@la.gov)

PLEASE REFERENCE THIS REQUEST BY CONFIRMATION CODE 103266
REQUESTOR INFORMATION:
CONTACT NAME Dillon Bergin
ORGANIZATION N/A
MAILING ADDRESS-1 MuckRock News, DEPT MR147713|263 Huntington Ave
CITY Boston
STATE MA
ZIP 02115
PHONE 617-299-1832
EMAIL requests@muckrock.com

AI NUMBERS
DOCUMENT IDS
REQUEST INFO To Whom It May Concern:Pursuant to the Louisiana Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:We are aware that air quality management agencies sometimes conduct "exceptional event demonstrations," which are analyses to demonstrate that emissions from potential exceptional events caused an exceedance of one or more NAAQS. These demonstrations are then submitted to the Regional EPA office in order to request that the office exclude the air quality monitoring data from use in certain regulatory determinations.We have located an exceptional event that took place in Louisiana in 2017, and the demonstration and EPA response correspondence were filed in March and April of 2018.Specifically, we see that LDEQ submitted a demonstration to EPA on March 1, 2018:https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2018-08/documents/ldeq_ee_demonstration_final_w_appendices.pdfAnd on the second page of that demonstration, LDEQ has written this note:“The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality would like to thank Sonoma Technology, Inc. (STI) for extensive contributions to Section 2 and Appendices 2 and 4. STI contributors include Nathan Pavlovic, Bryan Penfold, Patrick Zahn, Ken Craig, ShihMing Huang, Theresa O’Brien, and Steve Brown. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality would also like to thank Dan Jaffe for his contributions to Appendix 3.”Concerning services related to these exceptional event analyses, we request:1. Any and all executed contracts, memorandums of understanding (MOUs), or other equivalent agreements that are currently active, or have been active, between LDEQ and Sonoma Technology related to this specific exceptional events demonstration for ozone delivered to EPA in 2018, or between LDEQ and Dr. Dan Jaffe related to this specific exceptional events demonstration for ozone delivered to EPA in 2018;2. Any addenda, amendments, attachments, exhibits, materials, and schedules related to potential agreements between LDEQ,and Sonoma Technology, or LDEQ and Dr. Dan Jaffe;3. Any and all correspondence, between the relevant air quality agency and the contracting individual, corporation, or other entity, related to the implementation of these agreements, which may include correspondence between LDEQ staff and Nathan Pavlovic, Bryan Penfold, Patrick Zahn, Ken Craig, ShihMing Huang, Theresa O’Brien, and Steve BrownThe 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 3 business days, as the statute requires.Sincerely,Dillon BerginUpload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
DELIVERY METHOD Send copies electronically if available
MyEDMS users can track their request status; click here to view your request
or (https://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/edmsv2/account/signin?previousurl=view-my-requests) register here. (https://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/edmsv2/account/create-account)

Good Morning,

Regarding your public records request, PRR 103266, we have contacted the appropriate DEQ personnel to gather the requested data and are currently working on your request. We will contact you as soon as the information is ready and all review steps are completed. At this time, the estimated fulfillment date for your request is 6/26/23. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,
Melinda Molieri
Access Sciences Public Records Technician
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
Phone: 225.219.3168
Email: melinda.molieri@la.gov<mailto:melinda.molieri@la.gov>

Records Management: Access - Integrity – Security

Good morning,

I apologize, but we are still working on processing this request. We are currently mid discussion with our contacts, and a member of our Legal department is in the process of reviewing records.

For this reason, the estimated fulfillment date for your request has been extended to 06/30/2023. We will contact you as soon as the information is ready and all review steps are completed. We appreciate your understanding in this matter.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Mallory Chapman
Access Sciences | Records Analyst
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
Phone: 225.219.3172 | Email: mallory.chapman@la.gov<mailto:mallory.chapman@la.gov>

Good Morning,

Regarding your public record request, PRR 103266, we are still working on your request. At this time, the estimated fulfillment date for your request is 7/3/23.

Thank you,
Melinda Molieri
Access Sciences Public Records Technician
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
Phone: 225.219.3168
Email: melinda.molieri@la.gov<mailto:melinda.molieri@la.gov>

Records Management: Access - Integrity – Security

Good morning,

We have finished gathering the responsive records for your public records request, PRR 103266. The records can be downloaded at the link below.

Link (expires 7/14/2023): https://deq.awsapps.com/workdocs/index.html#/share/document/e8ff28b492b8741b1cd1d10789a34d0d58401eb906ade3b85cec18128c265551
Passcode: 3266

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Mallory Chapman
Access Sciences | Records Analyst
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
Phone: 225.219.3172 | Email: mallory.chapman@la.gov<mailto:mallory.chapman@la.gov>

You’re welcome!

Good morning,

I apologize for not clarifying this previously.

1. According to our DEQ contacts, “LDEQ did not enter into a contract with either party.” Therefore, LDEQ has no contracts (active or otherwise) related to the exceptional event referenced in your request.

2. With item one in mind, we assumed the second item of your request only applied to the exceptional event in 2018. If this is not correct, please let me know.

3. The correspondence (and other items) provided in answer to your request came directly from our DEQ contacts and to our knowledge is the only correspondence LDEQ has between DEQ employees and the individuals listed in the request.

Due to the significant amount of time that has passed between responses, please submit a new public records request if you’d like us to revisit your original request (PRR 103266). The online Public Records Request Form is located here: https://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/edmsv2/create-my-request.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Mallory Chapman
Access Sciences | Records Analyst
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
Phone: 225.219.3172 | Email: mallory.chapman@la.gov<mailto:mallory.chapman@la.gov>

Good afternoon,

In our most recent communication (see attached; acknowledged by you on July 20,2023), we provided clarification and asked if you would like to expand the scope of the request with any additional information that could help us locate the records you are seeking. We have not received further direction from you.

· For your request: based on the information reviewed and provided, we believe we may be able to provide a better result set/locate additional responsive material by expanding the scope of your request to include a domain search for correspondence to/from “@sonomatech” rather than the names listed below.

Please let us know if you would like us to proceed with the expanded search for your request. If you have any additional search terms or information that could help us locate the records you are seeking, please let us know as well.

Thank you,

Tina Gibeson, PhD, CRM
Access Sciences Project Manager
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
Phone: 225.219.3171 Email: tina.gibeson@la.gov<mailto:tina.gibeson@la.gov>