All communications from the Presidential Transition Team and Trump White House regarding public communication

Alexander Howard filed this request with the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States of America.
Tracking #

HQ-2017-003213

Est. Completion None
Status
No Responsive Documents

Communications

From: Alexander Howard

To Whom It May Concern:

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

Please disclose all communications, including email and print media, from the Presidential Transition Team and Trump White House to the agency regarding limiting public communication, including news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds and social media, or scientific research by agency staff and scientists.

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 Howard
Deputy Director, Sunlight Foundation
ahoward@sunlightfoundation.com

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=090004d28111eb7d)
* Tracking Number: EPA-HQ-2017-003213
* Requester Name: Alexander Howard
* Date Submitted: 01/25/2017
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description: Please disclose all communications, including email and print media, from the Presidential Transition Team and Trump White House to the agency regarding limiting public communication, including news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds and social media, or scientific research by agency staff and scientists.

From: Dolph, Becky

Mr. Howard: I am writing in regard to your FOIA Request EPA-HQ-2017-003213 in which your seek "all communications, including email and print media, from the Presidential Transition Team and Trump White House to the agency regarding limiting public communication, including news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds and social media, or scientific research by agency staff and scientists."

Your request as submitted is not a proper FOIA request because it does not reasonably describe the records sought as required by both the FOIA statute and the Agency's regulations. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3)(A); 40 C.F.R. § 2.102(c). In order for us to process your request, you should "include specific information about each record sought, such as the date, title or name, author, recipient, and subject matter. If known, you should include any file designations or descriptions for the records that you want. The more specific you are about the records or type of records that you want, the more likely EPA will be able to identify and locate records responsive to your request. . ." 40 C.F.R. § 2.102(c).

You did not provide a telephone number at which you could be contacted. Please contact me at 202-564-5771 within 10 days of the date of this correspondence so that we can assist in clarifying request. If we do not hear from you by that date, we will consider your request voluntarily withdrawn.

Thank you for your interest in EPA.

Becky Dolph

Becky Dolph | Director, FOIA Expert Assistance Team Office
U.S Environmental Protection Agency
Office of General Counsel | 7309B WJCN | 202-564-5771

From: White, Candace

Mr. Howard: I am writing in regard to your FOIA Request EPA-HQ-2017-003213 in which your seek "all communications, including email and print media, from the Presidential Transition Team and Trump White House to the agency regarding limiting public communication, including news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds and social media, or scientific research by agency staff and scientists."

As submitted, your request is improper, because it fails to reasonably describe the records sought as required by both the FOIA statute and the Agency's regulations. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3)(A); 40 C.F.R. § 2.102(c). In order for us to process your request, you should "include specific information about each record sought, such as the date, title or name, author, recipient, and subject matter. If known, you should include any file designations or descriptions for the records that you want. The more specific you are about the records or type of records that you want, the more likely EPA will be able to identify and locate records responsive to your request. . ." 40 C.F.R. § 2.102(c). "If EPA determines that your request does not reasonably describe the records, it will tell you either what additional information you need to provide or why your request is otherwise insufficient." 40 C.F.R. § 2.102(c). Specifically, your request as submitted does not adequately specify the custodians of the records, nor does it identify the subject matter of those records.

Please contact us within 10 days of the date of this correspondence with your clarifications, otherwise we will consider your request voluntarily withdrawn.

Thank you for your interest in the EPA,

Kind Regards,
Candy

Candace S White
Program Analyst
Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
202-564-4308 Desk
202-731-3188 Cell
white.candace@epa.gov<mailto:white.candace@epa.gov>

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can - Arthur Ashe

CONFIDENTIALITY: This communication may contain privileged or other confidential information. If you are not the intended addressee, or believe you have received this communication in error, you may neither copy, disseminate, nor distribute it to anyone else or use it in any unauthorized manner; to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you receive this email by mistake, please advise the sender immediately by using the reply facility in your mail software and delete it from your computer. "Information in this message may be subject to the Privacy Act (5 USC 552a) and should be treated accordingly."

From: Alexander Howard

Thank you for your message and followup.

We are still interested in this request.

"all communications, including email and print media, from the Presidential Transition Team and Trump White House to the agency regarding limiting public communication, including news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds and social media, or scientific research by agency staff and scientists."

We formally request all electronic communications sent by staff at the Presidential Transition Team (author) to EPA workers (recipient) from November 9 to January 20 (date) regarding communications with the public, including sending news releases, sharing photos, updating disclosures or social media, or discussing scientific research with the press or Congressional staff (subject matter), including email, text messages or smartphone messaging apps.

We formally request all electronic communications sent by members of the Trump administration's landing team at the agency, including Doug Ericksen, John Konkus and J.P. Freire (author), to EPA workers (recipient) from January 20 to March 30 (date) regarding communications with the public, including sending news releases, sharing photos, updating disclosures or social media, or discussing scientific research with the press or Congressional staff (subject matter), including email, text messages or smartphone messaging apps.

From: White, Candace

Good Morning Mr. Howard: Attached are documents In reference to your FOIA request.

Kind Regards,
Candy

Candace S White
Program Analyst
Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
202-564-4308 Desk
202-731-3188 Cell
white.candace@epa.gov<mailto:white.candace@epa.gov>

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can - Arthur Ashe

CONFIDENTIALITY: This communication may contain privileged or other confidential information. If you are not the intended addressee, or believe you have received this communication in error, you may neither copy, disseminate, nor distribute it to anyone else or use it in any unauthorized manner; to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you receive this email by mistake, please advise the sender immediately by using the reply facility in your mail software and delete it from your computer. "Information in this message may be subject to the Privacy Act (5 USC 552a) and should be treated accordingly."

From: Orquina, Jessica

Hello,

I'm from EPA's Office of Public Affairs and I'm contacting you on behalf of Candace White to give you a status update on your FOIA Request, Number EPA-HQ-2017-003213. I wanted to let you know that we were still working on your FOIA request and that we had not forgotten about it.

As you can imagine, the Office of Public Affairs, which is where your FOIA has been assigned, is absolutely swamped with FOIA requests. And, similarly, our E-Discovery services have been overwhelmed by an unprecedented number of FOIA requests.

While I don't have an estimate about when we'll be done with your FOIA request, I wanted to assure you that we're diligently working on your request.

If you have any questions, or want to check in on the status of your FOIA request in the future, please reach out to OPA's FOIA Coordinator, Candace White, at 202-564-4308.

Thank you so much!

Jessica Ann Orquina
Acting Director
Office of Web Communications
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Email: orquina.jessica@epa.gov<mailto:orquina.jessica@epa.gov>
Office: 202-564-0446
Mobile: 202-322-8369

From: White, Candace

Hello,
You should be receiving information in the next few days regarding your request.

Kind Regards,
Candy

Candace S White
Program Analyst
Office of The Administrator / Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
202-564-4308 Desk
202-731-3188 Cell
white.candace@epa.gov<mailto:white.candace@epa.gov>

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can - Arthur Ashe

CONFIDENTIALITY: This communication may contain privileged or other confidential information. If you are not the intended addressee, or believe you have received this communication in error, you may neither copy, disseminate, nor distribute it to anyone else or use it in any unauthorized manner; to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you receive this email by mistake, please advise the sender immediately by using the reply facility in your mail software and delete it from your computer. "Information in this message may be subject to the Privacy Act (5 USC 552a) and should be treated accordingly."

From: newton.jonathan@epa.gov

08/07/2017 04:50 PM FOIA Request: EPA-HQ-2017-003213

From: newton.jonathan@epa.gov

08/07/2017 05:07 PM FOIA Request: EPA-HQ-2017-003213

From: newton.jonathan@epa.gov

08/09/2017 10:34 AM FOIA Request: EPA-HQ-2017-003213

From: newton.jonathan@epa.gov

EPA-HQ-2017-003213 has been processed with the following final disposition: Full grant.
Records were released to the public as a result of this request. You may retrieve these records immediately using the following link: View Records.Over the next 2 hours, these records are also being added to FOIAonline's search pages, further enabling you to retrieve these documents associated with your FOIA request at any time. (https://foiaonline.regulations.gov:443/foia/action/public/view/request?objectId=090004d28111eb7d)

Files

pages

Close