Exceptional event demonstration contracts (Department of Environmental Quality)

Name: Dillon Bergin
Email: MuckRock
Number:617-299-1832
Company Name: requests@muckrock.com
Company Address: DEPT. 146183, 263 Huntington Ave.
City: Boston
State: MA
Zip:02115
Subject: Exceptional event demonstration contracts (Department of Environmental Quality)
Detail Records Request: To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Mississippi Public Records Act, 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.

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 within the last five years;
2. Any addenda, amendments, attachments, exhibits, materials, and schedules;
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.

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 7 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Dillon Bergin

-- The information above has been received. --

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This e-mail was sent from a Public Records Request contact form on the MDEQ Website.

This is to acknowledge receipt of your Public Records Request dated June 20, 2023.

Timing

We make every effort to respond within seven business days as well as provide the responsive records within fourteen business days as stipulated in the Mississippi Public Records Act and MDEQ regulations.

Due to the increased volume of requests to MDEQ’s Public Records office, it has become increasingly difficult to accommodate the many requests for immediate or expedited production of documents. While we will work diligently to provide access to information as soon as possible and within our statutory deadlines, we cannot promise that we can produce documents ahead of schedule, or that requests will be handled in any order except in the order in which they are received. If you have an emergency and need documents before the fourteen-day statutory period, please contact either Roy Furrh, MDEQ’s General Counsel, at 601-961-5260 or Donna Hodges, Senior Attorney, at 601-961-5369.

Costs

Please note that costs related to the production of public records are as provided in Miss. Code Ann. § 25-61-7 and 11 Miss.Admin.Code Pt 1, Ch. 2, R. 2.8. In addition, and in accordance with federal law and regulation, MDEQ is required to review all records to safeguard protected personally identifiable information before records can be produced. For additional information, see 2 C.F.R. Part 200 and Miss. Code Ann. §25-61-11. To reduce the amount of time for the review and redaction process as well as the time it takes to gather and produce records, it is best to be as specific as possible, including the years and media (air, water,etc.). If requesting multiple sites and you wish to break down the time for review/redaction for each file you are requesting, you may submit a separate request for each site.

Thank you for your consideration.

Deidre A. Thompson
Public Records Officer
MS Department of Environmental Quality
515 East Amite Street
Jackson, MS 39201
(601) 961-5758

Hi Dillon,

Your request has been forwarded to me for response.

To date, MDEQ has never developed an exceptional event demonstration in-house or with contract support for review and approval by EPA nor does MDEQ have a contract in place for this type of work/support should the need arise in the future.

I will let our public records office know to close out this request. Please let us know if we can assist you with anything else.

Jan

Jan Schaefer

Communications Director

MS Department of Environmental Quality

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