Swift DeVito Correspondence

To Whom It May Concern:

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

All email correspondence, including attachments, between DOI Press Secretary Heather Swift and Energy Counselor Vincent DeVito between April 11, 2018 and the date this request is processed.

I am a reporter for Pacific Standard magazine, and the requested documents will be made available to the general public. 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,

Jimmy Tobias

Hi Leah,

Thanks for this. Would you be free for a call perchance to discuss this release? I have just a few questions.

Please let me know if you get a chance, and thanks!

Jimmy Tobias

Attn: FOIA Appeals Officer
U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of the Solicitor
1849 C Street, N.W.
MS-6556 MIB
Washington, D.C. 20240

FOIA Appeal

To Whom It May Concern:

This is an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 in reference to OS-2018-01077.

I am writing today to appeal the agency's response request OS-2018-01077.

The Department provided documents in response to this request on December 19, 2018. The response included numerous sections that were redacted under the deliberative process privilege. I am writing to appeal those redactions, particularly the redactions found on pages 25, 27, 29 and pages 64, 65 and 66 of the PDF containing the responsive documents. These redactions cover information concerning a decision that has already been made, thus obviating the need conceal them from the public. These redactions also contain possible information about the potential misuse of government position to influence scientific decisionmaking processes at the agency, and thus are of potential public interest. I believe their full disclosure outweighs the value of redacting them. .

I trust that upon re-consideration, the Department of the Interior will reverse the decision denying me access to this material. However, if within twenty days I have not received a full response to my request, I will deem the appeal denied and explore initiating a lawsuit to compel disclosure on one or more of these requests.

As I have made this request in the capacity of a journalist and this information is of timely value, I would appreciate the Department of the Interior expediting the consideration of my appeal in every way possible. In any case, I will expect to receive the department's decision within 20 business days, as required by the statute.

Thank you again for your assistance and for the work that you do. I truly appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Jimmy Tobias

You can reach me at 248-763-0088.