Argonne National Laboratory FOIA

To Whom It May Concern:

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

Copies of all internal and external emails from and to Argonne National Laboratory employee, Alfred P. Sattelberger from April 10, 2017 to processing date of the request which contain one or more of the following words, "Electricity Markets and Reliability"; "Alison Silverstein"; "Silverstein"; "Travis Fisher"; "Fisher"; "subsidies".

I am requesting a waiver of fees. The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

The requested records relate to DOE’s evaluations of energy markets and reliability. These activities are unquestionably operations of the federal government.

The records sought in this request are not already in the public domain. Therefore, the requested records will likely contribute to an understanding of the federal government operations or activities as DOE evaluates energy markets and reliability. This information will inform the public about how the federal government has informed its decision and who participated in its decision-making process during the timeframe in this FOIA, which has not been revealed to the public.

The general public is significantly interested in the requested information and how the federal government is evaluating energy markets and reliability. In fact, Energy & Environment Daily, Bloomberg, Vox, ThinkProgress, Greentech Media, and the Washington Post have all written articles to inform their readers and the general public about the recent decision of the federal government to evaluate energy markets and reliability. Furthermore, Senator Chuck Grassley has written to Secretary Rick Perry asking questions about DOE’s role in evaluating energy markets and reliability, and so have Senators Maria Cantwell, Debbie Stabenow, Mazie Hirono, Al Fraken, Tammy Duckworth, Ron Wyden, and Martin Heinrich.

The Energy and Policy Institute is capable of disseminating the requested records and informing the general public. Over the past several months, the Energy and Policy Institute has published several articles using materials from records requests. In June, we showed how power companies lobbied on legislation in Wisconsin (http://www.energyandpolicy.org/wisconsin-utilities-helped-stop-ratepayers-first-legislation/). In May, we published an article that showed the public the relationship FERC nominated Rob Powelson has with certain trade associations (http://www.energyandpolicy.org/powelson-gas/). In April, we published an article that showed how a power company in Florida sent talking points and sample language for legislation to a state lawmaker (http://www.energyandpolicy.org/florida-power-and-light-florida-distributed-solar-equipment-consumer-protection-act/). In December, we published an article that showed how power companies in Ohio worked with a state lawmaker on energy legislation (http://www.energyandpolicy.org/ohio-clean-energy-standards-freeze-polluter-emails/). Several of these articles were featured in additional news articles including the Tampa Bay Times, Vox, and ThinkProgress, which informed even more of the general public, see http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/fpl-wrote-portions-of-bill-that-imposes-requirements-on-solar/2319339; https://thinkprogress.org/trump-announces-two-nominees-for-ferc-df6004e31ff; https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/12/13/13915236/ohio-clean-energy-mandates-kasich.

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,

Matt Kasper