FOIA March Madness 2017 - II - Appeal logs, procedures, letters, opinions (Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining)

Beryl Lipton filed this request with the Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining of the United States of America.
Tracking #

OSM-2017-00054

Est. Completion None
Status
No Responsive Documents

Communications

From: Beryl Lipton

To Whom It May Concern:

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

1. Any available log of appeals submitted to this agency or the agency tasked with processing Freedom of Information Act appeals for this division. Please provide such logs for the period from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016. Please, if possible, include with the log the following items:
• the request number associated with the FOIA in question
• the appeal number assigned to the appeal
• the description of the subject matter addressed by the request
• the division or office of initial receipt
• the date on which the appeal was received
• the date on which the appeal was closed
• the determination or final disposition status of the appeal

2. All appeal letters and opinion letters associated with appeals for which the determination was to reverse, in whole or in part, the decision of the initial request agency. Please provide such letters for appeals closed during the period from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016.

3. All appeal letters and opinion letters associated with appeals for which the determination was to remand the request to the appropriate agency. Please provide such letters for appeals closed during the period from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016.

4. All appeal letters and opinion letters associated with appeals for which the determination was to affirm the decision of the initial agency. Please provide such letters for appeals closed during the period from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016.

5. Any instructive or guiding materials provided to and/or utilized by employees of this department’s Freedom of Information Act office. Please include any manuals, procedural materials, reference guides, checklists, training materials, flow charts, directives, memorandums, legal decisions, presentations, or similar material used in the process of an appeal by this office or the office tasked to process FOIA appeals for this office. Any guiding materials used for the preparation of an appeal package should be considered responsive to, though not the entirety of, this element of this request.

6. The name and contact information for the appropriate appeal authority to whom appeals for this agency should be directed. If such information exists as part of a template letter sent to requesters, provision of this document will be considered satisfactory.

Please provide responsive materials on a rolling basis.

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,

Beryl Lipton

From: FOIA, OSM

Dear Ms. Lipton:

The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) received
your FOIA request dated March 14, 2017, and assigned it control number
OSM-2017-00054. Please cite this number in any future communications with
our office regarding your request.

Requested records:

" 1. Any available log of appeals submitted to this agency or the agency
tasked with processing Freedom of Information Act appeals for this
division. Please provide such logs for the period from January 1, 2015
through December 31, 2016. Please, if possible, include with the log the
following items:

• the request number associated with the FOIA in question
• the appeal number assigned to the appeal
• the description of the subject matter addressed by the request
• the division or office of initial receipt
• the date on which the appeal was received
• the date on which the appeal was closed
• the determination or final disposition status of the appeal

2. All appeal letters and opinion letters associated with appeals for which
the determination was to reverse, in whole or in part, the decision of the
initial request agency. Please provide such letters for appeals closed
during the period from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016.

3. All appeal letters and opinion letters associated with appeals for which
the determination was to remand the request to the appropriate agency.
Please provide such letters for appeals closed during the period from
January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016.

4. All appeal letters and opinion letters associated with appeals for which
the determination was to affirm the decision of the initial agency. Please
provide such letters for appeals closed during the period from January 1,
2015 through December 31, 2016.

5. Any instructive or guiding materials provided to and/or utilized by
employees of this department’s Freedom of Information Act office. Please
include any manuals, procedural materials, reference guides, checklists,
training materials, flow charts, directives, memorandums, legal decisions,
presentations, or similar material used in the process of an appeal by this
office or the office tasked to process FOIA appeals for this office. Any
guiding materials used for the preparation of an appeal package should be
considered responsive to, though not the entirety of, this element of this
request.

6. The name and contact information for the appropriate appeal authority to
whom appeals for this agency should be directed. If such information exists
as part of a template letter sent to requesters, provision of this document
will be considered satisfactory."

We have classified you as an “other-use” requester. As such, we may charge
you for some of our search and duplication costs, but we will not charge
you for our review costs; you are also entitled to up to 2 hours of search
time and 100 pages of photocopies (or an equivalent volume) for free.
*See **43 C.F.R. § 2.39*
<http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=0fc3ab3499768eebc2e3691c8cf88dec&rgn=div5&view=text&node=43:1.1.1.1.2&idno=43#43:1.1.1.1.2.7.5.3>.
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)
<http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=0fc3ab3499768eebc2e3691c8cf88dec&rgn=div5&view=text&node=43:1.1.1.1.2&idno=43#43:1.1.1.1.2.7.5.13>*

Because we will need to consult, with all practicable speed, with two or
more components of the Department having a substantial interest in the
determination of the request, we are taking a 10-workday extension under *43
C.F.R. § 2.19*
<http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=0fc3ab3499768eebc2e3691c8cf88dec&rgn=div5&view=text&node=43:1.1.1.1.2&idno=43#43:1.1.1.1.2.4.5.6>.

If you have any questions regarding your request, or any of the issues
discussed in this letter, you may contact me.

Sincerely,

Dele Awoniyi
Department of the Interior
Office of Surface Mining, FOIA Officer
MS SIB 257, 1951 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240
Telephone (202) 208-5840

From: FOIA, OSM

Dear Ms. Lipton,

We are writing to respond to your request. After a search of our files,
the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement did not locate
records responsive to your request.

Please note that the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
FOIA Office does not process FOIA Appeals. For all records and/or
information regarding FOIA appeals please contact the FOIA Appeals
Officer. Please see the Appeals Office's contact details below:

*FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Officer*

- Ms. Darrell Strayhorn; MS- 6556, MIB; 1849 C Street NW; Washington, DC
20240
- Phone: (202) 208-5339
- Fax: (202) 208-6677

Files

There are no files associated with this request.