Seismic Monitoring sites in PRC (U.S. Geological Survey)

J.P. Gutman filed this request with the U.S. Geological Survey of the United States of America.
Tracking #

DOI-USGS-2021-003415

Multi Request Seismic Monitoring sites in PRC
Status
Completed

Communications

From: J.P. Gutman

To Whom It May Concern:

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

Any documents, including memos and budget requests, from 1980-1990 regarding the creation or construction of seismic monitoring posts as part of an "earthquake prediction" program supervised by the U.S. Geological Survey that may have been funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Xinjiang Province, including but not limited to Korla and Qitai, in the People's Republic of China. According to the attached Washington Post article from June 25, 1989, construction was completed by 1987 with sites at Urumqi, Hallar, Mudanjiang, Beijing, Lanzhou, among other places in the the People's Republic of China.

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,

J.P. Gutman

From: U.S. Geological Survey

This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://www.foiaonline.gov/foiaonline/action/public/submissionDetails?trackingNumber=DOI-USGS-2021-003415&type=request)

* Tracking Number: DOI-USGS-2021-003415
* Requester Name: J.P. Gutman
* Date Submitted: 04/01/2021
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description:
To Whom It May Concern:

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

Any documents, including memos and budget requests, from 1980-1990 regarding the creation or construction of seismic monitoring posts as part of an "earthquake prediction" program supervised by the U.S. Geological Survey that may have been funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Xinjiang Province, including but not limited to Korla and Qitai, in the People's Republic of China. According to the attached Washington Post article from June 25, 1989, construction was completed by 1987 with sites at Urumqi, Hallar, Mudanjiang, Beijing, Lanzhou, among other places in the the People's Republic of China.

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,

J.P. Gutman

Attachments:

https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound_composer_attachments/syncsh1ps/94801/1989-06-2520Washington20Post20article.pdf

Upload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/

From: U.S. Geological Survey

Dear Mr. Gutman:

On April 1, 2021, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) office received your FOIA request, and assigned it control number DOI-USGS-2021-003415. Please cite this number in any future communications with our office regarding your request. You request the following information:
"Any documents, including memos and budget requests, from 1980-1990 regarding the creation or construction of seismic monitoring posts as part of an "earthquake prediction" program supervised by the U.S. Geological Survey that may have been funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Xinjiang Province, including but not limited to Korla and Qitai, in the People's Republic of China. According to the attached Washington Post article from June 25, 1989, construction was completed by 1987 with sites at Urumqi, Hallar, Mudanjiang, Beijing, Lanzhou, among other places in the People's Republic of China"

We have classified you as a representative of the news media. As such, we may charge you for some of our duplication costs, but we will not charge you for our search or review costs; you also are entitled to up to 100 pages of photocopies (or an equivalent volume) for free. See 43 C.F.R. § 2.39. 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 (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) 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)

We use Multitrack Processing to process FOIA requests. The Simple track is for requests that would generally take one to five workdays to process. The Normal track is for requests that would generally take six to twenty workdays to process. The Complex track is for requests that would generally take twenty-one to sixty workdays to process. The Extraordinary track is for requests that would generally take more than sixty workdays to process. The Expedited track is for requests that have been granted expedited processing, which are processed as soon as practicable. Within each track, requests are usually processed on a first-in, first-out basis.

Your request falls into the “Complex” processing track. Presuming that our current FOIA capacity and burden remain constant, we expect that we will dispatch a determination to you by May 14, 2021.
Because we will need to search for and collect requested records from field facilities or other units that are separate from the office processing 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)

You may narrow the scope of your request to obtain quicker processing in your currently-assigned track or move the request into a different track, which may enable us to process it more quickly by communicating with us at foia@usgs.gov. (mailto:foia@usgs.gov)
The 2007 FOIA amendments created the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) to offer mediation services to resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies as a non-exclusive alternative to litigation. Using OGIS services does not affect your right to pursue litigation. You may contact OGIS in any of the following ways:
Office of Government Information Services
National Archives and Records Administration
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Telephone: (202) 741-5770
Fax: (202) 741-5769
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https://www.archives.gov/ogis (https://www.archives.gov/ogis)
Please note that using OGIS services does not affect the timing of filing an appeal with the Department’s FOIA & Privacy Act Appeals Officer.
Contact information for the Department’s FOIA Public Liaison, who you may also seek dispute resolution services from, is available at https://www.doi.gov/foia/foiacenters. (https://www.doi.gov/foia/foiacenters)
If you have any questions about your request, you may contact me by phone at (303) 236-2733, , or by mail at foia@usgs.gov. (mailto:foia@usgs.gov)
Sincerely,
Nour Suleiman Government Information Specialist Freedom of Information Act Office / FOIA U.S. Geological Survey / Department of Interior Denver Federal Center Box 25046 Mail Stop 801A Denver, CO 80225 (303) 236-2733 (office) foia@usgs.gov (mailto:foia@usgs.gov)

From: U.S. Geological Survey

Dear Mr. Gutman,
We have completed the processing of your request, DOI USGS 2021-003415. I have attached our response letter with the responsive records.
Thank you for your intrest in the U.S. Geological Survey.
Sincerely,
Nour Suleiman
Government Information Specialist
Freedom of Information Act Office / FOIA
U.S. Geological Survey / Department of Interior
Denver Federal Center
Box 25046
Mail Stop 801A
Denver, CO 80225
(303) 236-2733 (office)
(303) 236-1451 (fax) foia@usgs.gov

From: U.S. Geological Survey

The FOIA
request
- DOI-USGS-2021-003415 has been supplemented with additional supporting files. Additional details for this item are as follows:

* Tracking Number: DOI-USGS-2021-003415
* Requester: J.P. Gutman
* Submitted Date: 04/01/2021
* Description:
To Whom It May Concern:

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

Any documents, including memos and budget requests, from 1980-1990 regarding the creation or construction of seismic monitoring posts as part of an "earthquake prediction" program supervised by the U.S. Geological Survey that may have been funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Xinjiang Province, including but not limited to Korla and Qitai, in the People's Republic of China. According to the attached Washington Post article from June 25, 1989, construction was completed by 1987 with sites at Urumqi, Hallar, Mudanjiang, Beijing, Lanzhou, among other places in the the People's Republic of China.

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,

J.P. Gutman

Attachments:

https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound_composer_attachments/syncsh1ps/94801/1989-06-2520Washington20Post20article.pdf

Upload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/

From: U.S. Geological Survey

DOI-USGS-2021-003415 has been processed with the following final disposition: Full Grant.
Records were released to the public as a result of this request. You may retrieve these records immediately using the following link: Over the next 2 hours, these records are also being added to FOIAonline's search pages, further enabling you to retrieve these documents associated with your FOIA request at any time. View Records (https://www.foiaonline.gov/foiaonline/action/public/submissionDetails?trackingNumber=DOI-USGS-2021-003415&type=request)

From: J.P. Gutman

Dear Nour Suleiman,

Thanks so much for your help with this request! I really appreciate your response.

Sincerely,
J.P. Gutman

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