BIA emails with Energy Transfer Partners

Dear Mr. Thomas,

Thank you for your email request. Our ability to respond quickly and
accurately to your request depends upon the clarity of your request. The
request is broad in scope and in an effort to route your request to the
appropriate action office, please provide sufficient detail to allow an
agency employee familiar with the subject area of the request to locate the
records with a reasonable amount of effort. When making your request, you
should be as specific as possible with regard to names, office names,
dates, addresses, and subjects, etc. For example, if your request relates
to a particular office or individual, useful information would include a
office name, their address, the type of business they are engaged in and a
specific time period. You do not need to give a requested record's name or
title, but the more specific you are about the record or types of records
that you want, the more likely it will be that an action office will be
able to locate those records.

In addition, the FOIA does not require agencies to do research, to analyze
data, answer written questions, or to create records in order to respond to
a request. Thank you for your inquiry.

Kind regards,
Jessica R. Rogers
Government Information Specialist

Thank you for your request. Your request has been forwarded to the OJS FOIA
Coordinator; Barry Cossey, whose contact information is below.

OFFICE OF JUSTICE SERVICES

5924 NW 2nd Street, Suite 650

Oklahoma City, OK 73127

fax: 405.603.1570

phone: (405) 603-1573

barry.cossey@bia.gov

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <requests@muckrock.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 8, 2016 at 2:52 PM
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information Request: BIA emails with Energy
Transfer Partners
To: foia@bia.gov

September 8, 2016
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Laura Cloud, FOIA Officer
Monique Hartgrove (Alternate)
1849 C Street, NW
Mail Stop 3071-MIB
Washington, D.C. 20240

This is a follow up to a previous request:

Ms. Rogers,

My request specifically seeks any emails exchanged between anyone at the
BIA and any employee of Energy Transfer Partners regarding construction of
the Dakota Access Pipeline as well as related protests. Please understand
this request to include any emails sent or received between the dates of
August 23, 2016 and September 6, 2016 regarding the presence of BIA police
officers working in the state of North Dakota in the area in or around the
Standing Rock reservation relevant to protests against the Dakota Access
Pipeline.

Do you require further specification of the records I seek? I can provide
further details if needed.

thank you.

Sincerely,
Christopher Thomas
---

On Sept. 6, 2016:
Dear Mr. Thomas,

Thank you for your email request. Our ability to respond quickly and
accurately to your request depends upon the clarity of your request. The
request is broad in scope and in an effort to route your request to the
appropriate action office, please provide sufficient detail to allow an
agency employee familiar with the subject area of the request to locate the
records with a reasonable amount of effort. When making your request, you
should be as specific as possible with regard to names, office names,
dates, addresses, and subjects, etc. For example, if your request relates
to a particular office or individual, useful information would include a
office name, their address, the type of business they are engaged in and a
specific time period. You do not need to give a requested record's name or
title, but the more specific you are about the record or types of records
that you want, the more likely it will be that an action office will be
able to locate those records.

In addition, the FOIA does not require agencies to do research, to analyze
data, answer written questions, or to create records in order to respond to
a request. Thank you for your inquiry.

Kind regards,
Jessica R. Rogers
Government Information Specialist

---

On Sept. 5, 2016:
To Whom It May Concern:

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

Any emails existing in computers or databases belonging to or in the
custody of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, sent to or from any email address
ending with "@energytransfer.com", sent in between the dates of August 23,
2016 and September 6, 2016.

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,

Christopher Thomas
Investigative Journalist, Unicorn Riot - an educational 501(c)(3) nonprofit
www.unicornriot.ninja

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For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock
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PLEASE NOTE: This request is not filed by a MuckRock staff member, but is
being sent through MuckRock by the above in order to better track, share,
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------

Good Morning,

I am following up on your request. This request was assigned to the law
enforcement section of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Since the completion
of all law enforcement activity I have started the process of consolidating
all Dakota Access Pipeline related material for legal review pending
release. Unfortunately, after seven months from Aug 14, 2016 till March
2017 there has been a large amount of material to consolidate. Prior to
the completion of all DAPL related law enforcement activity, the material
was exempted under the Freedom of Information Act exemption 7(A). Now that
exemption no longer applies FOIA requests pertaining to and related are
being processed. I invite you to contact me at your earliest convenience,
to discuss expanding the scope of your request to encompass a larger
documentation window if you desire.

Barry J. Cossey

Program Analyst

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Office of Justice Services

5924 NW 2nd St, Suite 650

Oklahoma City, OK 73127

Office: (405)603-1573

Cell: (405)638-0256

Email: barry.cossey@bia.gov