Aerial video of 2023 Kīlauea eruptions

This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://foiaonline.gov/foiaonline/action/public/submissionDetails?trackingNumber=DOI-USGS-2023-005349&type=Request)

* Tracking Number: DOI-USGS-2023-005349
* Requester Name:
Ben Welsh
* Date Submitted: 07/04/2023
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description:
To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

All aerial videos taken during flights, both manned and unmanned, to monitor the 2023 Kīlauea eruptions, including the eruption from January through March and also the one in June.

The events are described here on the agency website: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/recent-eruption

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,

Ben Welsh

Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/

Dear Mr. Welsh:
On July 5, 2023 , the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) office received your FOIA request dated July 4, 2023, and assigned it control number DOI-USGS-2023-005349 .  Please cite this number in any future communications with our office regarding your request.  You request the following information:
All aerial videos taken during flights, both manned and unmanned, to monitor the 2023 Kīlauea eruptions, including the eruption from January through March and also the one in June.
The events are described here on the agency website: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/recent-eruption (https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/recent-eruption)
We have classified you as a representative of the “news media” requester.  As such, we may charge you for some of our duplication costs, but we will not charge you for our search or review costs; you also are entitled to up to 100 pages of photocopies (or an equivalent volume) for free. See .  If, after taking into consideration your fee category entitlements, our processing costs are less than $50.00, we will not bill you because the cost of collection would be greater than the fee collected. (http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=0fc3ab3499768eebc2e3691c8cf88dec&rgn=div5&view=text&node=43:1.1.1.1.2&idno=43#43:1.1.1.1.2.7.5.3) 43 C.F.R. § 2.39 See 43 C.F.R. § 2.49(a)(1) .  You can expect to hear from us promptly regarding the outcome of this search.
You have agreed to pay up to $200.00 for the processing of your request.  If we find that this will not cover the cost of processing your request, we will stop processing your request at the point this amount has been reached and will let you know before we incur additional charges. You can then either agree to pay the additional amount needed or narrow the scope of your request.
We use Multitrack Processing to process FOIA requests.  The Simple track is for requests that would generally take one to five workdays to process.  The Normal track is for requests that would generally take six to twenty workdays to process.  The Complex track is for requests that would generally take twenty-one to sixty workdays to process.  The Extraordinary track is for requests that would generally take more than sixty workdays to process.  The Expedited track is for requests that have been granted expedited processing, which are processed as soon as practicable.  Within each track, requests are usually processed on a first-in, first-out basis.
Your request falls into the Normal processing track.  There are 13 requests pending ahead of yours in our overall processing queue.  Presuming that our current FOIA capacity and burden remain constant, we expect that we will dispatch a determination to you by August 3, 2023.
You may narrow the scope of your request to obtain quicker processing in your currently assigned track or move the request into a different track, which may enable us to process it more quickly by communicating with us at foia@usgs.gov.
The 2007 FOIA amendments created the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) to offer mediation services to resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies as a non-exclusive alternative to litigation.  Using OGIS services does not affect your right to pursue litigation.  You may contact OGIS in any of the following ways:
Office of Government Information Services
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road - OGIS
College Park, MD  20740-6001
Telephone:  (202) 741-5770
Fax:  (202) 741-5769
Toll-free:  1 (877) 684-6448
E-mail:  ogis@nara.gov
Web: https://www.archives.gov/ogis (https://www.archives.gov/ogis)
Please note that using OGIS services does not affect the timing of an appeal with the Department’s FOIA & Privacy Act Appeals Officer. Contact information for the Department’s FOIA Public Liaison, who you may also seek dispute resolution services from, is available at https://www.doi.gov/foia/foiacenters.
If you have any questions about your request, you may contact me by email at foia@usgs.gov.
Sincerely,
Eric J. Darby
Government FOIA Analyst

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

A fix is required to perfect the request.

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

A copy of documents responsive to the request.

Good morning Mr. Welsh,

Please see the above attachment for our response to your FOIA request.

In response to your request, some aerial videos are already publicly available on the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia/videos.

On August 2, 2023, our Subject Matter Expert FedEx one USB Flash Drive containing an additional 35 videos to your Huntington Avenue address.

If you have any questions concerning the request/response, please let me know.

v/r

Eric J. Darby
Government Information Specialist
U.S. Geological Survey
Email: edarby@usgs.gov<mailto:edarby@usgs.gov>

Good afternoon Mr. Welsh,

The flash drive was delivered to your address today at 12:35 p.m.

v/r

Eric J. Darby
Government Information Specialist
U.S. Geological Survey
Email: edarby@usgs.gov<mailto:edarby@usgs.gov>