EPA NEPA reviews

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. §552 et seq. (“FOIA”), I am requesting copies of the following agency records and other public records under your agency’s control:

(1) all correspondences, dated from February 16, 2017 to present, which include but are not necessarily limited to, written or electronic communications, letters, emails, attachments, phone logs, instant messages, instant communications, texts, and other documents transmitted to or from the EPA Office of Federal Activities, or employees thereof, related to or concerning consideration of greenhouse gas emissions and climate in National Environmental Policy Act reviews;
(2) all calendar files, dated from February 16, 2017 to present, which include but are not necessarily limited to, calendar invites, appointments, meetings, attachments, meeting minutes, notations of conversation, guest lists, and other written or electronic documents from the EPA Office of Federal Activities, or employees thereof, related to or concerning related to or concerning consideration of greenhouse gas emissions and climate in National Environmental Policy Act reviews;
(3) all other public records, dated from February 16, 2017 to present, which include but are not necessarily limited to, notations of conversations, memoranda, policy guidance, internal documents, and all other types of electronic or written documents and relevant materials from the Office of Federal Activities, or employees thereof, related to or concerning related to or concerning consideration of greenhouse gas emissions and climate in National Environmental Policy Act reviews; and
(4) all correspondences, dated from February 16, 2017 to present, which include but are not necessarily limited to, written or electronic communications, letters, emails, attachments, phone logs, instant messages, instant communications, texts, and other documents transmitted to or from EPA regional offices, or employees thereof, related to or concerning consideration of greenhouse gas emissions and climate in National Environmental Policy Act reviews.

I also request that you state the specific legal and factual grounds for withholding any documents or portions of documents, should you withhold any. Please identify each document that falls within the scope of this request but is withheld from release. If requested documents are located in, or originated in, another installation or bureau, I would request that you please refer this request or any relevant portion of this request to the appropriate installation or bureau.

To the extent that the information is available in electronic format, I would prefer to receive that information via email or CD, particularly if providing the information reduces the time or expense involved. Otherwise, I will expect to receive the information in paper form.

This information is being sought on behalf of ThinkProgress.org (an online news service) for dissemination to the general public and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. I am a reporter with ThinkProgress, an online news site with a national audience seeking these documents entirely for news-gathering purposes.

Please provide the records requested above regardless of your fee waiver decision. In order to expedite a response, the ThinkProgress will, if necessary, pay fees in accordance with FOIA regulations for all or a portion of the requested records. Please contact me before doing anything that would cause the fee to exceed $50.

I also request expedited processing. Release 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 the EPA, which have broad reaching impact on the health, safety, and well-being of the American public and are currently a subject of national news value. Additionally, following President Trump’s actions to rescind CEQ’s guidance on the “Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Effects of Climate Change in NEPA Reviews,” disclosure of this information is urgently needed to inform the public on how federal agencies will move forward with projects that impact our nation’s public health and safety.

I look forward to your reply within 10 business days, or, at the latest, 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Thank you for your cooperation with this request. I am willing to discuss ways to make this request more manageable to your office. Please do not hesitate to contact me at 202-478-6333 or rkoronowski@thinkprogress.org.

Sincerely,

Ryan Koronowski