SOL Review Hunton White Paper (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Dear Jimmy Tobias:

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Headquarters FOIA Office received your request dated May 6, 2020. We have forwarded your request to our Headquarters Ecological Service office for processing. You will receive a formal acknowledgement shortly.

If you have any questions regarding your FOIA request, please contact Eileen Harke at eileen_harke@fws.gov.

Respectfully,
Barb

United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Headquarters Freedom of Information Act Office
MS: IRTM
5275 Leesburg Pike
Falls Church, VA 22041

Dear Jimmy Tobias:

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) office received your request dated May 6, 2020 and assigned it tracking number FWS-2020-00661. Please cite this number in any future communications with our office regarding your request.

You requested the following:

“…Any emails, email attachments, or other documents related to the Solicitor's review of the white paper referenced in the email chain attached below to this request. This request specifically seeks a copy of the Solicitor office's review of the white paper in question, which is entitled "The Proper Scope of Environmental Analysis of Roadway Impacts" and was written in February 2017 by lawyers for the East Collier Property Owners. This request seeks a copy of any communications between the Solicitor's office and/or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the East Collier Property Owners and their lawyers at the firm Hunton & Williams/Hunton AK concerning this white paper or SOL's review of said white paper.”

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 43 C.F.R. § 2.37(g).

Our regulations require that your request must explicitly state that you will pay all fees associated with processing the request, that you will pay fees up to a specified amount, and/or that you are seeking a fee waiver. Your request does not fulfill this requirement because you have stated “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.” Therefore, we are unable to process your request at this time. If you wish to pursue your request, please provide fee clarification as it is unclear if you will pay fees.
According to our regulations, if we do not receive your written response clarifying these points within 20 workdays from the date of this communication, we will presume that you are no longer interested in pursuing your request. In such circumstances, we will not be able to comply with your request and will close our file on it. See 43 C.F.R. § 2.6(c)<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#se43.1.2_16>and § 2.51(c)<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#se43.1.2_151>.

In the future if you would like to address fees in your initial request, we could perfect your request upon receipt unless of course we need clarification regarding something else.

If you have any questions about our response to your request, you may contact Tiffany McClurkin by email at foiar4@fws.gov<mailto:foiar4@fws.gov> or by phone at (404) 679-4104.

Respectfully,

Tiffany McClurkin
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Headquarters Information Resources & Technology Management
Atlanta Regional Office
FOIA Coordinator

Good Afternoon Mr. Tobias,

Thanks for your response.

You have asked us to waive the fees for processing your request. Our FOIA regulations state that bureaus will waive, or partially waive, fees if disclosure of all or part of the information is (1) In the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations or activities, and (2) Not primarily in your commercial interest. See 43 C.F.R. § 2.45(a). Our FOIA regulations also provide four specific criteria that are used to determine whether these two requirements are met. See 43 C.F.R. § 2.48(a). Your request meets the requirements and your fee waiver has been granted.

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.

If you have any questions about our response to your request, you may contact Tiffany McClurkin by email at foiar4@fws.gov<mailto:foiar4@fws.gov> or by phone at (404) 679-4104.

Respectfully,

Tiffany McClurkin
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Headquarters Information Resources & Technology Management
Atlanta Regional Office
FOIA Coordinator

Dear Mr. Tobias,

FWS-2020-00661 has been approved for an interim release.

Records were released to the public as a result of this request. You may retrieve these records immediately using the following link: View Records 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. (https://www.foiaonline.gov/foiaonline/action/public/submissionDetails?trackingNumber=DOI-FWS-2020-001156&type=request)

Respectfully,

Tiffany McClurkin
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Headquarters Information Resources & Technology Management
Government Information Specialist
tiffany_mcclurkin@fws.gov

Dear Jimmy Tobias:

Please find attached final response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated 05/07/2020 and assigned tracking number FWS-2020-00661.

Records were released to the public as a result of this request. You may retrieve these records immediately using the following link: View Records 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. (https://www.foiaonline.gov/foiaonline/action/public/submissionDetails?trackingNumber=DOI-FWS-2020-001156&type=request)

If you have any questions about our response, you may contact Stacey Cummins by email at stacey_cummins@fws.gov or by phone at 303-236-4473.

Thank you.

Dear Mr. Tobias:
Please find attached updated response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated May 7, 2020 and assigned tracking number FWS-2020-00661.

For additional information, please contact Erika Oblea, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice by phone at (202) 252-2567 or by email at erika.oblea@usdoj.gov<mailto:erika.oblea@usdoj.gov>.

Thank you,

Stacey Cummins
FOIA Coordinator
US Fish and Wildlife Service
303-236-4473
Pronouns: she, her, hers

Mr. Tobias:
I am attaching a copy of the July 7, 2022 records production with Bates stamping.

If you have any questions, please contact Erika Oblea, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice by phone at (202) 252-2567 or by email at erika.oblea@usdoj.gov<mailto:erika.oblea@usdoj.gov>.

Thank you,

Stacey Cummins
Lead FOIA Coordinator, ES Team
US Fish and Wildlife Service
303-236-4473
Pronouns: she, her, hers

Mr. Tobias:
Working with agency counsel, I've reviewed our previous determinations and am making a second renewed production of nonexempt portions of responsive documents.

If you have any questions, please contact Erika Oblea, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice by phone at (202) 252-2567 or by email at erika.oblea@usdoj.gov<mailto:erika.oblea@usdoj.gov>.

Thank you,

Stacey Cummins
Acting FOIA Officer
US Fish and Wildlife Service
303-236-4473
Pronouns: she, her, hers