Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz Search

To Whom It May Concern:

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

All communications, including attachments, to or from Secretary Ernest Moniz, Chief of Staff Kevin Knobloch, and the Director of Public Affairs Brendan Daly referring to the following terms:

1. Election
2. Louisiana
3. Obama
4. President
5. White House
6. WH
7. Landrieu
8. Senate
9. Colorado
10. Grant
11. Udall

The time period for this request is May 1, 2014 to the present.

Request for a public-interest fee waiver

I request a waiver of any and all applicable fees pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(A)(iii). This provision provides that requested records shall be furnished without or at reduced charge if "disclosure of the information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester." The requested documents will be processed by a representative of the news media/press for a story for the news site The Muckraker Project (http://www.muckrakerproject.com/), made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage. Further, the requested records would unquestionably shed light on the "operations or activities of the government," namely how the Secretary of the Department of Energy may be using travel to help assist vulnerable members of Congress as explained in a May 29, 2014 Washington Times article.

See here: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/29/cabinet-politics-federal-officials-grants-are-sent/?page=all

Request for news media status

For fee purposes, The Muckraker Project also qualifies as a "representative of the news media" under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(A)(ii)(II). The Muckraker Project is organized and operated, among other things, to publish and broadcast news. i.e., information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public. The Muckraker Project gleans the information that it regularly publishes from a wide variety of sources and methods, including government agencies, universities, scholarly works, and FOIA requests. The Muckraker Project also disseminates news to the public via Facebook, Twitter, and subscribers on our email list.

Our most recent news stories based off of public records can be found here:
http://www.muckrakerproject.com/2014/06/16/cobb-leaders-home-depot/
http://www.muckrakerproject.com/2014/06/10/mdj-connections-cobb/

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,

Kevin Schmidt
http://www.muckrakerproject.com/

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 19, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #HQ-2014-01292-F.

Thank you for your help.