Northeast Blackout 2003 (Department of Energy)
| Tracking # |
HQ-2021-00905-G |
| Multi Request | Northeast Blackout 2003 |
| Submitted | July 12, 2021 |
| Est. Completion | Sept. 30, 2021 |
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Communications
From: Emily Crose
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Any internal communications on the Northeast blackout of 2003. Please consider any emails, memos, briefing notes either digital or handwritten, or slideshow presentations on the event responsive to this request.
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,
Emily Crose
From: Department of Energy
Good Morning Ms. Crose,
I am the Analyst who has been assigned to your FOIA request of 7/16/21. The request for "Any internal communications on the Northeast blackout of 2003" is very broad in scope and would likely lead to results that are overly voluminous. It would be helpful if you could provide some context for what you are seeking, thereby narrowing the scope of the search. A specific date range would also be useful.
I would be happy to give you a call to discuss this further, if that is your preference. Please use the above case number in any communication.
Best Regards,
Ayanna Kambui, Esq.
FOIA Analyst II
Wits Solutions, Inc. - Contractor
US Department of Energy FOIA Office
1000 Independence Avenue S.W.
Washington, DC 20585
From: Emily Crose
Ayanna, I'm primarily looking for discussions that refer to the investigation after the outage - i.e. communications that are technical in nature and may have facilitated a "root cause analysis" or a causal analysis. I'm not sure if this helps.
From: Department of Energy
Emily,
Good Afternoon. We have noted that your FOIA request of 7/16/21 does not state an amount that you are prepared to pay for the processing of your request. Please indicate the maximum that you are willing to pay, or if there is no limit imposed by you.
Thank you,
Ayanna Kambui, Esq.
FOIA Analyst II
Wits Solutions, Inc. - Contractor
US Department of Energy FOIA Office
1000 Independence Avenue S.W.
Washington, DC 20585
From: Emily Crose
My limit is $20
From: Department of Energy
Good Afternoon Emily,
Please see attached communication with respect to your FOIA request.
Best Regards,
Ayanna Kambui, Esq.
FOIA Analyst II
Wits Solutions, Inc. - Contractor
US Department of Energy FOIA Office
1000 Independence Avenue S.W.
Washington, DC 20585
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 12, 2021. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #HQ-2021-00905-G.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Department of Energy
Hello Ms. Crose:
The previous analyst assigned to your request is no longer with this office. Your request was reassigned to me and after conducting a search we were unable to locate any records responsive to your request.
You requested:
"Any internal communications on the Northeast blackout of 2003. Please consider any emails, memos, briefing notes either digital or handwritten, or slideshow presentations on the event responsive to this request."
You then amended your request in a July 21, 2021 email with Ayanna Kambui by clarifying that you were "primarily looking for discussions that refer to the investigation after the outage - i.e. communications that are technical in nature and may have facilitated a "root cause analysis" or a causal analysis."
After doing some preliminary research, the information you are seeking may be publicly available on the internet at the following links:
https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard/searchResults/titleDetail/PB2004100600.xhtml - Causes of the August 14th Blackout in the United States and Canada. Interim Report.
and
https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard/searchResults/titleDetail/PB2004104472.xhtml - August 14, 2003 Blackout in the United States and Canada: Causes and Recommendations. Final Report. | National Technical Reports Library - NTIS
Please confirm that this information satisfies your FOIA request, so I can close out your request for tracking purposes. If we do not hear from you by September 30, 2021, we will assume that this satisfies your request and your request will be closed.
Sincerely,
Clayton W. Day
FOIA Analyst
AINS, Inc. - Contractor
U.S. Department of Energy FOIA Office
1000 Independence Ave. SW
Washington DC 20585
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