Unhireable jobs at DOI

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

A list of the vacant positions that the Department of Interior cannot fill due to the president's hiring freeze. Please include the job title, GS level, office, and division.

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,

Alexander Rony

Dear Ms. Julka,

I wanted to follow up on my Freedom of Information request (control number OS-2017-00397). Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

In addition, 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 requested 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 the debate over our nation's natural resources.

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 types of jobs that were impacted by the federal hiring freeze. This continues to be an issue, as several agencies have continued to block vacant positions from being filled in accordance with proposed budget cuts.

The Sierra Club and its supporters have demonstrated interest and expertise in the subject area, specifically the development of policies designed to protect public lands. Our supporters have filed hundreds of thousands of public comments related to these issues.

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.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

Sincerely,

Alexander Rony
Sierra Club