Aaron Ringel, Deputy Associate Administrator for Congressional Affairs Emails

This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://foiaonline.regulations.gov:443/foia/action/public/view/request?objectId=090004d28190f460)
* Tracking Number: EPA-HQ-2018-007493
* Requester Name: Taylor S. Amarel
* Date Submitted: 05/09/2018
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description: To Whom It May Concern: Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records: I would like to obtain all emails sent to, from, or copied to Aaron Ringel, Deputy Associate Administrator for Congressional Affairs from January 1, 2018 to Preset day containing any of the following non-case-sensitive key-strings: "liberals", "whistleblower", "fraud", "ethics", or "investigation". 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 20 business days, as the statute requires. Sincerely, Taylor Scott Amarel

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The FOIA request EPA-HQ-2018-007493 has had its Tracking Number changed to EPA-2018-007493. This is normally due to the request being transferred to another agency (for example, EPA to Dept. of Commerce) or to a sub-agency to process it. Additional details for this request are as follows:

* Old Tracking Number:
EPA-HQ-2018-007493
* New Tracking Number:
EPA-2018-007493
* Requester Name:
Taylor S Amarel
* Date Submitted:
07/05/2018
* Long Description:
To Whom It May Concern: Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records: I would like to obtain all emails sent to, from, or copied to Aaron Ringel, Deputy Associate Administrator for Congressional Affairs from January 1, 2018 to Preset day containing any of the following non-case-sensitive key-strings: "liberals", "whistleblower", "fraud", "ethics", or "investigation". 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 20 business days, as the statute requires. Sincerely, Taylor Scott Amarel

Dear Mr. Amarel,

My name is Justin Romano with the EPA's Office of the Administrator, the subject FOIA request you submitted to the EPA in May of 2018 is assigned to me. The request seeks, "all emails sent to, from, or copied to Aaron Ringel, Deputy Associate Administrator for Congressional Affairs from January 1, 2018 to Preset day containing any of the following non-case-sensitive key-strings: "liberals", "whistleblower", "fraud", "ethics" or "investigation".

I submitted a search for records using these keywords and it returned ~8,000 potentially responsive records. As I go to process these records I am seeking clarification of your request. I'd like to discuss with you the results. For instance, it seems to me that you are seeking records related to ethics violations, so if a record only hit on "investigation" because the EPA was doing a site investigation at a polluted area, that would not be responsive to your request. Similarly, if the hit "fraud" is returning a record dealing with fraud suspected by the EPA's criminal investigation unit for an environmental crime in the field, would this be responsive?

I'd be happy to have a call with you to discuss or if you can give me clarification on what you are seeking in writing please do. Thank you for your time and attention.

My number is (202) 564-1439. Thank you kindly.
Regards,
Justin

Justin Romano
Attorney-Adviser
Office of the Executive Secretariat
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (2336K)
Washington, D.C. 20460
(202) 564-1439

Forwarding the below email to the other address I have for you. Thanks!

Dear Mr. Amarel,

Sending another request for clarification on your FOIA request. Please see the email below and reach out to me by phone or email to discuss. Thank you so much for your time.
Regards,
Justin

Justin Romano
Attorney-Adviser
Office of the Executive Secretariat
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (2336K)
Washington, D.C. 20460
(202) 564-1439

Dear Mr. Amarel,

Sending another request for clarification on your FOIA request. Please see the email below and reach out to me by phone or email to discuss. Thank you so much for your time.
Regards,
Justin

Justin Romano
Attorney-Adviser
Office of the Executive Secretariat
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (2336K)
Washington, D.C. 20460
(202) 564-1439

"From: Romano, Justin
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2023 12:57 PM
To: requests@muckrock.com
Subject: EPA-2018-007493 - Request Clarification

Dear Mr. Amarel,

My name is Justin Romano with the EPA’s Office of the Administrator, the subject FOIA request you submitted to the EPA in May of 2018 is assigned to me. The request seeks, “all emails sent to, from, or copied to Aaron Ringel, Deputy Associate Administrator for Congressional Affairs from January 1, 2018 to Preset day containing any of the following non-case-sensitive key-strings: “liberals”, “whistleblower”, “fraud”, “ethics” or “investigation”.

I submitted a search for records using these keywords and it returned ~8,000 potentially responsive records. As I go to process these records I am seeking clarification of your request. I’d like to discuss with you the results. For instance, it seems to me that you are seeking records related to ethics violations, so if a record only hit on “investigation” because the EPA was doing a site investigation at a polluted area, that would not be responsive to your request. Similarly, if the hit “fraud” is returning a record dealing with fraud suspected by the EPA’s criminal investigation unit for an environmental crime in the field, would this be responsive?

I’d be happy to have a call with you to discuss or if you can give me clarification on what you are seeking in writing please do. Thank you for your time and attention.

My number is (202) 564-1439. Thank you kindly.

Regards,

Justin

Justin Romano

Attorney-Adviser

Office of the Executive Secretariat

Environmental Protection Agency

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (2336K)

Washington, D.C. 20460

(202) 564-1439"

Dear Mr. Amarel,

Attached please find a letter inquiring if you are still interested in the subject FOIA request. I've reached out multiple times, see emails below, and have not heard back from you. If you are still interested in these records, please contact me at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much for your time and for your interest in the Environmental Protection Agency.
Regards,
Justin

Justin Romano
Attorney-Adviser
Office of the Executive Secretariat
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (2336K)
Washington, D.C. 20460
(202) 564-1439