Agency predictive model documentation (Department of Environmental Protection)

The Department of Environmental Protection's Right-to-Know Law (RTKL) Office has received your correspondence. Requests for records will be processed in accordance with the provisions of the RTKL, 65 P.S.§§67.101, et seq.

Requests received by this account after regular business hours(4:30 pm) or when the Office is otherwise closed pursuant to Management Directive 530.17 will be marked as received on the next business day.

Please note that the Office is currently closed due to the COVID-19 disaster emergency. Requests will be processed upon resumption of business.

Thank you for your Right-to-Know Law submission that will be forwarded to the Agency Open Records Officer (AORO) for processing.

If you wish to modify a pending Right-to-Know Law request, do not complete another online form. A second online submittal will not modify your original request. Instead, please send an e-mail to ep-dep-rtk@pa.gov and we will assist you with modifying your original request.

Please note that your request is deemed received on the Department’s next business day if:
• Your request was submitted after 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday,
• Your request was submitted during a weekend,
• Your request was submitted on a holiday observance recognized by the Commonwealth, or
• Your request was submitted any time Executive Offices are closed as a result of weather or any other emergency.

The Department will contact you no later than five business days from the receipt of your request as to its status. If you have any further questions on this process, please visit the Department’s webpage at:
https://www.dep.pa.gov/About/PublicRecords/Pages/RightToKnow.aspx

Thank you.

Please find attached this Department's interim response to your Right-to-Know request.

Agency Open Records Office
Department of Environmental Protection | Bureau of Office Services
Rachel Carson State Office Building
400 Market St | Hbg PA 17101
Phone: 717.214.3737 | Fax: 717.705.8023
www.dep.pa.gov<http://www.dep.pa.gov/>

Mr. Feathers,

This message concerns your October 25, 2021, request for records submitted to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection.

Paragraph number 1 of your request doesn't provide sufficient information to identify the records that you are seeking.

Section 703 of the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law (RTKL) states that "[a] written request should identify or describe the records sought with sufficient specificity to enable the agency to ascertain which records are being requested...." 65 P.S. §67.703. The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania has determined that "[t]he subject matter of the request must identify the 'transaction or activity' of the agency for which the record is sought." Pennsylvania Dep't of Educ. v. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 119 A.3d 1121, 1125 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2015). The scope of a request must identify a discreet group of documents. Id. A RTKL request is insufficiently specific when it requests a broad category of records without limitation. Id. An agency is not required to compile or organize a record in a manner in which the agency does not compile or organize a record. 65 P.S. §67.703

Can you identify the permit action, facility, DEP program, or other transaction or activity of the Department for the records being sought? A search across all programs and the entire state is not feasible because matters are not segregated by the use of predictive modeling. Your request does not meet the minimum requirements of the RTKL because it requests a broad category of records without limitation. It is requested that you narrow the scope of your request in a manner that helps the Department identify the records that you want.

Given that DEP must respond to your request by a date certain, we request a response to the email message no later than Thursday, November 4, 2021.

Respectfully,

Joseph S. Cigan III | Director | he/him/his
Office of Chief Counsel | General Law Division
Department of Environmental Protection
Rachel Carson State Office Building
400 Market Street | Harrisburg, PA 17101
Phone: 717.787.1956 | Fax: 717.787.9369
www.depweb.state.pa.us<http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/>

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Please find attached this Department' s final response to your Right-to-Know request.

Agency Open Records Office
Department of Environmental Protection | Bureau of Office Services
Rachel Carson State Office Building
400 Market St | Hbg PA 17101
Phone: 717.214.3737 | Fax: 717.705.8023
www.dep.pa.gov<http://www.dep.pa.gov/>

Mr. Feathers,

Please confirm if you received the emailed final letter today. Our office did not receive the automated delivery receipt from Outlook and we require a confirmation for our files.

Thank you,

Agency Open Records Office
Department of Environmental Protection | Bureau of Office Services
Rachel Carson State Office Building
400 Market St | Hbg PA 17101
Phone: 717.214.3737 | Fax: 717.705.8023
www.dep.pa.gov<http://www.dep.pa.gov/>

As stated below (see highlighted email) you confirmed that you received it, but I’ve attached it again for your convenience.

Thank you.