Nancy Beck correspondence (EPA)
It is a clone of this request.
| Tracking # |
FOIA-0335-2017 |
| Submitted | April 18, 2017 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Alexander Rony
To Whom It May Concern:
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request Correspondence Management System records regarding the American Chemistry Council's Nancy Beck, from January 1, 2012 to the date this request is processed.
I respectfully request that you waive all fees in connection with this request as provided by 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(A)(iii). The Sierra Club is a national environmental nonprofit with no commercial interest in obtaining the request information. Instead, our organization intends to analyze and disseminate the requested information free of charge so that the public can be better informed and meaningfully participate in protecting public health.
The subject matter of the requested records is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations and activities of the government by disclosing the views held by an individual who has been reportedly named deputy assistant administrator of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. In this capacity, Ms. Beck will deal with many of the same issues she discussed with the EPA over the past few years.
The Sierra Club and its supporters have demonstrated interest and expertise in the subject area, specifically the development of policies designed to safeguard public health from toxic hazards. Our supporters have filed hundreds of thousands of public comments to agencies related to these threats.
The Sierra Club also has the ability and intention to disseminate the information it receives through this request. The information may be shared through emails to an audience of hundreds of thousands of people, Facebook and Twitter posts reaching thousands of individuals, articles on our website, and analysis provided to the media. Here are three examples of my work:
https://sierraclub.org/planet/2017/04/hiring-freeze-prevented-epa-filling-hundreds-jobs
http://www.sierraclub.org/compass/2016/10/members-distance-themselves-alecs-climate-policies
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/4480/over-700000-people-tell-government-to-block-seed-mergers
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, please 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,
Alexander Rony
Sierra Club
From: foia_hq@epa.gov
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=090004d281298ddb)
* Tracking Number: EPA-HQ-2017-006315
* Requester Name: Alexander Rony
* Date Submitted: 04/19/2017
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description: Requests Correspondence Management System records regarding the American Chemistry Council's Nancy Beck, from January 1, 2012 to the date of this request being processed.
From: newton.jonathan@epa.gov
04/24/2017 09:16 AM FOIA Request: EPA-HQ-2017-006315
From: newton.jonathan@epa.gov
Your request for Fee Waiver for the FOIA request EPA-HQ-2017-006315 has been fully granted. Additional details for this request are as follows:
* Request Created on: 04/19/2017
* Fee Waiver Disposition Reason: N/A
* Request Long Description: Requests Correspondence Management System records regarding the American Chemistry Council's Nancy Beck, from January 1, 2012 to the date of this request being processed.
From: newton.jonathan@epa.gov
EPA-HQ-2017-006315 has been processed with the following final disposition: No records.
From: Farren, Victor
Mr. Rony,
Please see the attached final response from the EPA Office of the Administrator to your Freedom of Information Act request, EPA-HQ-2017-006315.
Regards,
Victor J. Farren
Attorney-Advisor
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of the Executive Secretariat
(202) 564-0808
From: Alexander Rony
Dear Messrs. Newton and Farren,
Would you please let me know how your search was conducted? I am aware of several communications between Nancy Beck and the Environmental Protection Agency (included below) that were not found.
Nancy Beck communications with EPA:
https://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/D8AE9F13ECC25A048525806B006AED3C/$File/ACC+Comments+on+RDX+for+Nov+17+2016.pdf
https://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/9378A4D2DDC213AF85257D850050B3DF/$File/ACC+Request+to+Present+Oral+Comments+on+EPA+SAB+Telecon+for+TMBs+(Nov+5,+Nov+7+2014)_Redacted.pdf
https://www.americanchemistry.com/Policy/Regulatory-Reform/ACC-and-ARASP-Comments-to-EPA-Regarding-IRIS-Progress-Report.pdf
https://www.americanchemistry.com/Comments-on-EPAs-Development-of-LCSA-Risk-Evaluation-Rule.pdf
https://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/SABPRODUCT.nsf/07B68AE0096986E885257CE800745EA9/$File/ACC+and+ARASP+letter+to+CAAC+08202013.pdf
https://www.eenews.net/assets/2016/08/26/document_gw_03.pdf [Page 85]
I am interested in understanding why these documents would not be included in the Correspondence Management System or were otherwise excluded from the scope of my request.
Thank you,
Alexander Rony
From: Farren, Victor
Dear Mr. Rony,
My apologies for the delay in responding to your question. The Correspondence Management System is a system of records, and via its link to the Enterprise Content Management System, can be used for record keeping purposes. However, relevant record schedules concerning correspondence records are media neutral and EPA has no requirement to manage correspondence records electronically. Similarly, while CMS is the Agency’s standard correspondence tracking IT system, there is no requirement that all Agency correspondence be logged to that system. In general, correspondence in CMS is addressed to senior Agency officials and principals such as the Administrator, Deputy Administrator, Assistant Administrators and Regional Administrators.
With regard to your specific question, a search was conducted in CMS for Nancy Beck as well as the American Chemistry Council. There was no correspondence under Nancy Beck but American Chemistry Council returned 51 results for the time period you requested. Upon review, none of the ACC correspondence involved Nancy Beck.
Sincerely,
Victor J. Farren
Attorney-Advisor
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of the Executive Secretariat
(202) 564-0808
-
~WRD000
From: Alexander Rony
Thank you, Mr. Warren, for your response to my question. I appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Alexander Rony
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