Fusion Center Monitoring of Elk River Chemical Disaster

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

All emails, memoranda, threat/disaster assessments, and otherwise pertinent documentation issued from and received by the West Virginia Joint Intelligence Fusion Center regarding the Charleston, West Virginia chemical spill which occurred on the Elk River on 9 January, 2014.

The time frame for this request encompasses 9 January 2014 up to and including the date that this request is officially processed.

The following keywords should be used in order to assist researchers in their search:

"Governor Earl Ray Tomblin", "Freedom Industries", "Dennis P. Farrell", "Etowah River Terminal", "4-methylcyclohexane methanol", "West Virginia American Water", "Jeff McIntyre", "West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources", West Virginia Department of Education", "West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management", "Elk River", "Ohio River", and the following locations: "Boone", "Cabell", "Clay", "Jackson", "Kanawha", "Lincoln", "Logan", "Putnam", "Roane", and "Point Pleasant".

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, 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,

Dustin Slaughter

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 29, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

Due to the West Virginia National Guard (DOD) FOIA office's non-responsiveness in complying with its statutory obligation regarding my request, please be advised that I am referring it to the Office of Government Information Services. If this matter cannot be resolved through OGIS, I will be forced to move to litigation.

Sincerely,
Dustin Slaughter

Dear Captain Walker,

I would prefer to communicate via email if you don't mind, so we have documentation of our conversation.

Please let me know if this is suitable.

Sincerely,
Dustin Slaughter

No problem, Bill. Hope you had a great trip!

I originally had filed a FOIA with the WV State Police, which I thought was in charge of fusion center ops, on January 10 2014. It was rejected with a notification that the State Police was not the correct agency to contact. I then spoke with a WVFC representative who instructed me to file it with the WV National Guard.

Which agency should I contact?

Thanks for your help.

Best,
Dustin

Dear Captain Walker,

Good morning. For clarification's sake, are you saying that the WV National Guard may or may not have responsive records to my request? If I file separate requests with each agency you listed in your prior email, one of those requests would be sent to WVNG.

Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,
Dustin Slaughter

Yes, that clears this up greatly. Thanks for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 29, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 29, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 29, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.