Earthquake!
| Tracking # |
DOIUSGS-2024-000126 DOI-USGS-2024-000126 1152946 |
| Submitted | April 5, 2024 |
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Communications
From: Dhruv Mehrotra
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
The USGS solicits public input about earthquakes through a form on their website. I am looking for all responses to this form (https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/at00sbh3yv/tellus) for an New Jersey earthquake on April 5th. Please include all responses received up to the date that this request is processed.
As a reporter for the WIRED, I qualify as a news media requester for the purpose of fees. See 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(A)(ii). Further, because this request is being made for a journalistic purpose regarding a matter of public interest, I further ask that you waive any fees. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(A)(iii). This request is not primarily in the commercial interest of myself or WIRED. If you deny this request in whole or in part, I request that you respond with the statutory exemption underlying the denial and the reasoning therein. If an asserted exemption applies to only a portion of a record, please delete or redact the portion to which the exemption applies and provide the remainder of the record, as required under the law.
If you have any questions about my request, please do not hesitate to e-mail me or call me. WIRED’s legal counsel is also copied on this letter. We look forward to a response as quickly as possible.
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,
Dhruv Mehrotra
From: U.S. Geological Survey
Dear Dhruv Mehrotra,
Case Number DOI-USGS-2024-000126 has been assigned to the request you submitted. In all future correspondence regarding this request please reference case number DOI-USGS-2024-000126.
The message is being sent from an unattended email box. For any future correspondence please reach the bureau contact at https://www.doi.gov/foia/contacts.
Regards,
DOI FOIA Office
From: U.S. Geological Survey
Dear Dhruv Mehrotra,
The status of your USGS FOIA request #DOI-USGS-2024-000126 has been updated to the following status 'Received'. To log into the PAL Application click on the Application URL below.
https://foiaxpresspal.doi.gov
The message is being sent from an unattended email box. For any future correspondence, please contact the bureau contact at https://www.doi.gov/foia/contacts
Sincerely,
DOI FOIA Office
From: U.S. Geological Survey
Dear Mr. Mehrotra:
On April 10, 2024, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) office received your FOIA request dated April 9, 2024, and assigned it control number DOI-USGS-2024-000126. Please cite this number in any future communications with our office regarding your request. You request the following information:
All responses to this form (https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/at00sbh3yv/tellus) for an New Jersey earthquake on April 5th. Please include all responses received up to the date that this request is processed.
We have classified you as a representative of the news media. 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 43 C.F.R. § 2.39. 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. See 43 C.F.R. § 2.37(g).
You have asked us to waive the fees for processing your request. Our FOIA regulations require that bureaus will waive, or partially waive, fees if disclosure of all or part of the information is:
In the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations or activities, and
Not primarily in your commercial interest.
See 43 C.F.R. § 2.45(a). Our FOIA regulations also provide specific criteria that are used to determine whether these two requirements are met. See 43 C.F.R. § 2.48.
Your request meets the criteria and supports your requested fee waiver; therefore, your request for a fee waiver has been approved.
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 20 requests pending ahead of yours in this processing track. Presuming that our current FOIA capacity and burden remain constant, we expect that we will dispatch a determination to you by May 8, 2024.
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. If you have any questions about this, please contact 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
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 by email at foia@usgs.gov.
Sincerely,
Eric J. Darby
Government Information Specialist
U.S. Geological Survey
Email: edarby@usgs.gov<mailto:edarby@usgs.gov>
From: U.S. Geological Survey
Good morning Mr. Mehrotra,
Please see the above attachment for our response to your request. If you have any questions, please let me know.
v/r
Eric J. Darby
Government Information Specialist
U.S. Geological Survey
Email: edarby@usgs.gov<mailto:edarby@usgs.gov>
From:
Dear Dhruv Mehrotra,
The status of your USGS FOIA request #DOI-USGS-2024-000126 has been updated to the following status 'Closed'. To log into the PAL Application click on the Application URL below.
https://foiaxpresspal.doi.gov
The message is being sent from an unattended email box. For any future correspondence, please contact the bureau contact at https://www.doi.gov/foia/contacts
Sincerely,
DOI FOIA Office
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