Written Correspondence related to the North Shore Road (NPS)

Donald Triplett III filed this request with the National Park Service of the United States of America.
Tracking #

NPS-2014-00607

Est. Completion None
Status
Awaiting Appeal

Communications

From: Donald Triplett III

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

Any/all written correspondence related to the North Shore Road, 1943 Agreement, 2010 Agreement, the 16 million dollar appropriation for the construction of the Road (made in 2000) to fulfill the terms of the 1943 Agreement, and/or any appropriation of funds for Swain County, NC to fulfill the 2010 Agreement. Specifically, such correspondence between the year 1998 and the present day, between:

1. The Superintendent/Deputy Superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park's office and any other party.
2. The Director for the Southeast Region's office and any other party.
3. The Director of the National Park Service's office and any other party.
4. The Secretary of Interior's office and any party within the National Park Service.
5. The Department of Interior's Solicitor's office and any party within the National Park Service.
6. The Department of Interior's Office of Budget and any party within the National Park Service.
7. The Congressional Budget Office and any party within the National Park Service.
8. Former Representative Charles Taylor's office (NC-11) and any party within the National Park Service.
9. Former Representative Heath Shuler's office (NC-11) and any party within the National Park Service.
10. Former Senator Jesse Helms' office (NC) and any party within the National Park Service.
11. Former Senator Elizabeth Dole's office (NC) and any party within the National Park Service.
12. Representative Mark Meadows' office (NC-11) and any party within the National Park Service.
13. Senator Richard Burr's office (NC) and any party within the National Park Service.
14. Senator Kay Hagan's office (NC) and any party within the National Park Service.
15. Senator Lamar Alexander's office (TN) and any party within the National Park Service.
16. Any party representing Swain County, NC and any party within the National Park Service.
17. Any party representing the State of North Carolina (including any agencies, such as the NCDOT) and any party within the National Park Service.
18. Any party representing the State of Tennessee and any party within the National Park Service.

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,

Donald Triplett III

From: Wilson, Charis

Hi Marianne,

Here's another one for records relating to GRSM that I'm routing to you for
processing. Let me know if it turns out another office needs to search for
responsive records.

C.
____________________
Ms. Charis Wilson, MLS, CRM
NPS FOIA Officer
12795 W. Alameda Parkway
PO Box 25287
Denver, CO 80225-0287
303-969-2959
Fax: 303-969-2557
1-855-NPS-FOIA

"What we find changes who we become." - Peter Morville

"The historian works with records...there is no substitute for records: no
records, no history." - Paraphrasing Langlois & Seignobos (1903)

"Let us be guardians, not gardeners" - Unknown, From 1963 Living Wilderness
editorial - Attributed to Adolph Murie

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Donald Triplett III <requests@muckrock.com>
Date: Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 7:33 PM
Subject: Freedom of Information Request: Written Correspondence related to
the North Shore Road (NPS)
To: Charis_Wilson@nps.gov

June 24, 2014
National Park Service
Charis Wilson
12795 W. Alameda Parkway
P.O. Box 25287
Denver, CO 80225

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request
the following records:

Any/all written correspondence related to the North Shore Road, 1943
Agreement, 2010 Agreement, the 16 million dollar appropriation for the
construction of the Road (made in 2000) to fulfill the terms of the 1943
Agreement, and/or any appropriation of funds for Swain County, NC to
fulfill the 2010 Agreement. Specifically, such correspondence between the
year 1998 and the present day, between:

1. The Superintendent/Deputy Superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park's office and any other party.
2. The Director for the Southeast Region's office and any other party.
3. The Director of the National Park Service's office and any other party.
4. The Secretary of Interior's office and any party within the National
Park Service.
5. The Department of Interior's Solicitor's office and any party within the
National Park Service.
6. The Department of Interior's Office of Budget and any party within the
National Park Service.
7. The Congressional Budget Office and any party within the National Park
Service.
8. Former Representative Charles Taylor's office (NC-11) and any party
within the National Park Service.
9. Former Representative Heath Shuler's office (NC-11) and any party within
the National Park Service.
10. Former Senator Jesse Helms' office (NC) and any party within the
National Park Service.
11. Former Senator Elizabeth Dole's office (NC) and any party within the
National Park Service.
12. Representative Mark Meadows' office (NC-11) and any party within the
National Park Service.
13. Senator Richard Burr's office (NC) and any party within the National
Park Service.
14. Senator Kay Hagan's office (NC) and any party within the National Park
Service.
15. Senator Lamar Alexander's office (TN) and any party within the National
Park Service.
16. Any party representing Swain County, NC and any party within the
National Park Service.
17. Any party representing the State of North Carolina (including any
agencies, such as the NCDOT) and any party within the National Park Service.
18. Any party representing the State of Tennessee and any party within the
National Park Service.

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,

Donald Triplett III

Filed via MuckRock.com
E-mail (Preferred): requests@muckrock.com

For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 12283
PO Box 55819
Boston, MA 02205-5819

PLEASE NOTE the new address as well as the fact that improperly addressed
(i.e., with the requester's name rather than MuckRock News) requests might
be returned by the USPS as undeliverable.

From: Donald Triplett III

Dear Ms. Wilson,

In the interest of saving time on this request, I wish to amend my request to omit two lines:

"4. The Secretary of Interior's office and any party within the National Park Service.
5. The Department of Interior's Solicitor's office and any party within the National Park Service."

As I've already filed similar requests with the FOIA offices of both the Secretary of Interior and Interior's Solicitor's office, 4 and 5 will be redundant.

Thank you for your swift processing of my requests and your cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely,
Donald Triplett III

From: Mills, Marianne

Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), we are permitted to aggregated
multiple requests received within 30 days of each other from the same
requester on the same general topic. In this instance, you have submitted
three requests,all on the same date and all pertaining to the fiscal
resources of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I am aggregating the
three requests submitted via MuckRock.com, each with a different email
address. As the single request, they will all be handled via this email:

requests@muckrock.com

This acknowledges receipt of your FOIA request as follows:

*A copy of the budget for the North Shore Road Environmental Impact Study
(EIS), and any documents related to the legal justification for using any
portion of the 16 million dollars appropriated for the specific purpose of
"construction of, or improvements to the North Shore Road" to conduct the
EIS.*

*Since the inception of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, list
Department of Interior Appropriations and expenditures within the Park
broken down by project, county and state.*

*1. The Superintendent/Deputy Superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park's office and any other party. 2. The Director for the
Southeast Region's office and any other party. 3. The Director of the
National Park Service's office and any other party. 4. The Secretary of
Interior's office and any party within the National Park Service. 5. The
Department of Interior's Solicitor's office and any party within the
National Park Service. 6. The Department of Interior's Office of Budget and
any party within the National Park Service. 7. The Congressional Budget
Office and any party within the National Park Service. 8. Former
Representative Charles Taylor's office (NC-11) and any party within the
National Park Service. 9. Former Representative Heath Shuler's office
(NC-11) and any party within the National Park Service. 10. Former Senator
Jesse Helms' office (NC) and any party within the National Park Service.
11. Former Senator Elizabeth Dole's office (NC) and any party within the
National Park Service. 12. Representative Mark Meadows' office (NC-11) and
any party within the National Park Service. 13. Senator Richard Burr's
office (NC) and any party within the National Park Service. 14. Senator Kay
Hagan's office (NC) and any party within the National Park Service. 15.
Senator Lamar Alexander's office (TN) and any party within the National
Park Service. 16. Any party representing Swain County, NC and any party
within the National Park Service. 17. Any party representing the State of
North Carolina (including any agencies, such as the NCDOT) and any party
within the National Park Service. 18. Any party representing the State of
Tennessee and any party within the National Park Service.*

NOTE: In a subsequent email, you deleted points 4 and 5 of the third
request on this topic and I have indicated this by striking through those
points.

As with your other request (FOIA NPS-2014-00598), you have requested a fee
waiver; however, you have not provided sufficient justification to grant
such a request. Submitting your request through Muckrock.com does not
qualify you as a member of the media. I require additional information to
justify how you could be considered a member of the media, such as where
you work regularly appears or is published, the circulation/readership of
your materials, and similar information.

Please provide me with this justification within 10 workdays of the date of
this email. If not, I will consider you fall into the "other" category for
fee purposes, which will provide you with two hours of search time and up
to 100 pages of records at no cost. We will provide a fee estimate for the
full scope.

It is the policy of the National Park Service (NPS) to: (1) make records of
the NPS available to the public to the greatest extent possible in keeping
with the spirit of FOIA; (2) make available documents requested under the
FOIA at the earliest possible date while, at the same time, protecting the
rights of the individuals involved and the administrative processes
surrounding such rights; (3) withhold documents falling within one of the
FOIA exemptions only if disclosure is prohibited by statute or Executive
Order, or in those cases where the agency reasonably foresees that
disclosure would be harmful to an interest protected by exemption or other
sound grounds exist for invoking an exemption.

Your request is being processed under the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act (5 United States Code 552 as amended by Public Law 104-231,
11 Stat. 3048); United States Department of the interior implementing
regulations found at 43 Code of Federal Regulations, PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR
beginning part 2, Subparts A through E (see Federal Register of October 21,
2002, Volume 6-7, NO. 203, page 64527), and the Privacy Act of 1974 (Public
Law 93-579). Additional FOIA and Privacy Act guidance may also be found
through the Department of the Interior’s website, http://www.doi/gov or the
U.S. Department of Justice site, http:/www/usdoj.gov.

Marianne M. Mills
Public Affairs Specialist
Southeast Region, NPS
100 Alabama Street SW
1924 Building
(404) 507-5613
(404) 562-3263 FAX
marianne_mills@nps.gov
*http://share.inside.nps.gov/sites/SER/COMM/default.aspx
<http://share.inside.nps.gov/sites/SER/COMM/default.aspx> *Sharepoint

From: Donald Triplett III

Dear Ms. Mills,

I disagree with the aggregation of these three requests because they aren't similar in nature or in topic:

First off, the second request ("Since the inception of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, list Department of Interior Appropriations and expenditures within the Park broken down by project, county and state.") is not at all related to the North Shore Road project/issue, other than the fact that there may be some appropriations for the NSR in the list, but considering parts of the GSMNP has been in existence since 1934--almost 10 years before the 1943 agreement--and the park is larger than just the Hazel Creek area, I fail to see how this request even falls in with the others.

The first and third requests (The EIS budget, legal justification; written correspondence between various parties regarding the NSR from 1998-today) also should be considered separate from each other. While the North Shore Road topic remains the same generally between the two, the second one not only encompasses a larger time frame than that of the EIS budget, but it also includes the current 2010 Agreement and correspondence on the subject, which no longer has anything to do with the North Shore Road itself. (Other than the fact that the 2010 Agreement and the $52 million rescinded the original 1943 Agreement upon its signing.) Furthermore, the first request focused on the EIS study itself, while the second request didn't even reference the study as one of the topics that were requested ("North Shore Road, 1943 Agreement, 2010 Agreement, the 16 million dollar appropriation for the construction of the Road (made in 2000) to fulfill the terms of the 1943 Agreement, and/or any appropriation of funds for Swain County, NC to fulfill the 2010 Agreement.").

As to the fee waiver, I will reply with further justification in the coming week (I will provide fee waiver justification for the Operation Something Bruin request at that time as well), but I would prefer if the requests were separated before then.

Sincerely,
Donald Triplett

From: Mills, Marianne

I have double checked with NPS FOIA Officer Charis Wilson and she concurs
with my decision to aggregate your requests under 43 CFR 2.57(a)(5). You
may appeal the decision as follows:

Pursuant to 43 C.F.R. §§2.28, 2.29, and 2.30, you may appeal this denial to:

Freedom of Information Act Appeals Officer
Office of the Solicitor, Office of General Law
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
MS-6556, MIB,
Washington, D.C. 20240.

Your appeal must be in writing and received by the FOIA Appeals Officer.
Your appeal must contain copies of all correspondence between you and the
National Park Service regarding this request. You also should include in
as much detail as possible any reasons why you believe this denial to be in
error as well as your name and contact information in the event the Appeals
Officer needs additional information or clarification of your appeal. All
communications concerning your appeal should be clearly marked with the
words: “FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT APPEAL.” Any appeals request that is
received at the FOIA Appeals Office after 5 p.m. will be marked as being
received the following day.

Let me know if you file an appeal because I may not hear promptly from the
Appeals Officer.

Marianne M. Mills
Public Affairs Specialist
Southeast Region, NPS
100 Alabama Street SW
1924 Building
(404) 507-5613
(404) 562-3263 FAX
marianne_mills@nps.gov
*http://share.inside.nps.gov/sites/SER/COMM/default.aspx
<http://share.inside.nps.gov/sites/SER/COMM/default.aspx> *Sharepoint

From: Donald Triplett III

Dear Ms. Mills,

Thank you for your response. I plan on filing an appeal within the next couple of days. I did have a few questions:

First, what is the tracking number for the aggregated request(s)? (As opposed to the Operation Something Bruin request, which was assigned FOIA NPS-2014-00598.)

Second, after I submit my appeal, would you like me to submit to you the justification for my fee waiver regarding the aggregated request(s), or would you prefer to wait on the outcome of the appeal? (I will be submitting the justification for NPS-2014-00598 this week.)

Third, will the aggregated request(s) be worked on while my appeal is processing?

Finally, you gave the justification for your decision to aggregate as 43 CFR 2.57(a)(5). 43 CFR 2.57 is titled "When may you file an appeal?", and (a)(5) reads "(5) You believe there is a procedural deficiency (for example, fees are improperly calculated);". Would I be incorrect in assuming that 43 CFR 2.57(a)(5) would be why I have the right to appeal, while the justification for you decision to aggregate is actually found at 43 CFR 2.54 (titled "When will the bureau combine or aggregate requests?")?

Sincerely,
Donald Triplett

From: Mills, Marianne

The tracking number is NPS-2014-00607.

We won't do anything until the appeal is decided so wait for that.

That is the statute we use for issues regarding FOIA fees. Charis: Is there
anything else I should have cited?

Marianne M. Mills
Public Affairs Specialist
Southeast Region, NPS
100 Alabama Street SW
1924 Building
(404) 507-5613
(404) 562-3263 FAX
marianne_mills@nps.gov
*http://share.inside.nps.gov/sites/SER/COMM/default.aspx
<http://share.inside.nps.gov/sites/SER/COMM/default.aspx> *Sharepoint

From: Mills, Marianne

In my initial notification to you, I put the tracking number of the
aggregated request as the subject of the email. I am sorry I neglected to
reference it again in the body of my email.

Marianne M. Mills
Public Affairs Specialist
Southeast Region, NPS
100 Alabama Street SW
1924 Building
(404) 507-5613
(404) 562-3263 FAX
marianne_mills@nps.gov
*http://share.inside.nps.gov/sites/SER/COMM/default.aspx
<http://share.inside.nps.gov/sites/SER/COMM/default.aspx> *Sharepoint

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mills, Marianne <marianne_mills@nps.gov>
Date: Fri, Jun 27, 2014 at 3:09 PM
Subject: FOIA NPS-2014-00607
To: requests@muckrock.com

Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), we are permitted to aggregated
multiple requests received within 30 days of each other from the same
requester on the same general topic. In this instance, you have submitted
three requests,all on the same date and all pertaining to the fiscal
resources of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I am aggregating the
three requests submitted via MuckRock.com, each with a different email
address. As the single request, they will all be handled via this email:

requests@muckrock.com

This acknowledges receipt of your FOIA request as follows:

*A copy of the budget for the North Shore Road Environmental Impact Study
(EIS), and any documents related to the legal justification for using any
portion of the 16 million dollars appropriated for the specific purpose of
"construction of, or improvements to the North Shore Road" to conduct the
EIS.*

*Since the inception of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, list
Department of Interior Appropriations and expenditures within the Park
broken down by project, county and state.*

*1. The Superintendent/Deputy Superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park's office and any other party. 2. The Director for the
Southeast Region's office and any other party. 3. The Director of the
National Park Service's office and any other party. 4. The Secretary of
Interior's office and any party within the National Park Service. 5. The
Department of Interior's Solicitor's office and any party within the
National Park Service. 6. The Department of Interior's Office of Budget and
any party within the National Park Service. 7. The Congressional Budget
Office and any party within the National Park Service. 8. Former
Representative Charles Taylor's office (NC-11) and any party within the
National Park Service. 9. Former Representative Heath Shuler's office
(NC-11) and any party within the National Park Service. 10. Former Senator
Jesse Helms' office (NC) and any party within the National Park Service.
11. Former Senator Elizabeth Dole's office (NC) and any party within the
National Park Service. 12. Representative Mark Meadows' office (NC-11) and
any party within the National Park Service. 13. Senator Richard Burr's
office (NC) and any party within the National Park Service. 14. Senator Kay
Hagan's office (NC) and any party within the National Park Service. 15.
Senator Lamar Alexander's office (TN) and any party within the National
Park Service. 16. Any party representing Swain County, NC and any party
within the National Park Service. 17. Any party representing the State of
North Carolina (including any agencies, such as the NCDOT) and any party
within the National Park Service. 18. Any party representing the State of
Tennessee and any party within the National Park Service.*

NOTE: In a subsequent email, you deleted points 4 and 5 of the third
request on this topic and I have indicated this by striking through those
points.

As with your other request (FOIA NPS-2014-00598), you have requested a fee
waiver; however, you have not provided sufficient justification to grant
such a request. Submitting your request through Muckrock.com does not
qualify you as a member of the media. I require additional information to
justify how you could be considered a member of the media, such as where
you work regularly appears or is published, the circulation/readership of
your materials, and similar information.

Please provide me with this justification within 10 workdays of the date of
this email. If not, I will consider you fall into the "other" category for
fee purposes, which will provide you with two hours of search time and up
to 100 pages of records at no cost. We will provide a fee estimate for the
full scope.

It is the policy of the National Park Service (NPS) to: (1) make records of
the NPS available to the public to the greatest extent possible in keeping
with the spirit of FOIA; (2) make available documents requested under the
FOIA at the earliest possible date while, at the same time, protecting the
rights of the individuals involved and the administrative processes
surrounding such rights; (3) withhold documents falling within one of the
FOIA exemptions only if disclosure is prohibited by statute or Executive
Order, or in those cases where the agency reasonably foresees that
disclosure would be harmful to an interest protected by exemption or other
sound grounds exist for invoking an exemption.

Your request is being processed under the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act (5 United States Code 552 as amended by Public Law 104-231,
11 Stat. 3048); United States Department of the interior implementing
regulations found at 43 Code of Federal Regulations, PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR
beginning part 2, Subparts A through E (see Federal Register of October 21,
2002, Volume 6-7, NO. 203, page 64527), and the Privacy Act of 1974 (Public
Law 93-579). Additional FOIA and Privacy Act guidance may also be found
through the Department of the Interior’s website, http://www.doi/gov or the
U.S. Department of Justice site, http:/www/usdoj.gov.

Marianne M. Mills
Public Affairs Specialist
Southeast Region, NPS
100 Alabama Street SW
1924 Building
(404) 507-5613
(404) 562-3263 FAX
marianne_mills@nps.gov
*http://share.inside.nps.gov/sites/SER/COMM/default.aspx
<http://share.inside.nps.gov/sites/SER/COMM/default.aspx> *Sharepoint

From: MuckRock

Please see the attached appeal. A hard copy has also been mailed and should arrive shortly.
Sincerely,

From: APPEALS, SOL

Mr. Triplett:

Attached is a copy of the Department of the Interior’s decision on the July
1, 2014, Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) appeal that you filed
concerning three FOIA requests dated June 24, 2014, that you submitted to
the National Park Service.

If you have any questions regarding this matter, please call the FOIA
Appeals Office at (202) 208-5339.

Darrell R. Strayhorn
FOIA & Privacy Act Appeals Officer
Department of the Interior

This e-mail (including attachments) is intended for the use of the
individual or entity to which it is addressed. It may contain information
that is privileged, confidential, or otherwise protected by applicable
law. If you are not the intended recipient or the employee or agent
responsible for delivery of this e-mail to the intended recipient, you are
hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, copying, or use of
this e-mail or its contents is strictly prohibited. If you received this
e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately and destroy all
copies.

From: APPEALS, SOL

Mr. Triplett, please accept my apologies for any confusion. We sent you a
copy of the appeal that you filed instead of the actual decision that the
Department issued on this matter, a copy of which is now attached.

--
Darrell R. Strayhorn
FOIA & Privacy Act Appeals Officer
Department of the Interior
(202) 208-5339

"We are highly skilled and trained in knowing information." -- [Redacted],
2014

From: Mills, Marianne

As a result of your FOIA appeal, I am now separating your three FOIA
requests, previously aggregated. I will reopen FOIA NPS-2014-00607 in our
tracking system. This tracking number applies to this request for records
pertaining to Great Smoky Mountains National Park:

Any/all written correspondence related to the North Shore Road, 1943
Agreement, 2010 Agreement, the 16 million dollar appropriate for the
construction of the Road (made in 2000) to fulfill the terms of the 1943
Agreement, and/or any appropriation of funds for Swan County, NC to fulfill
the 2010 Agreement. Specifically, such correspondence between the year 1998
and the present day (August 26, 2014), between:

1. The Superintendent/Deputy Superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park's office and any other party.
2. The Director for the Southeast Region's office and any other party.
3. The Director of the National Park Service's office and any other
party.
4. The Secretary of the Interior's Solicitor's Office and any party
within the National Park Service.
5. The Department of the Interior's Office of Budget and any party
within the National Park Service.
6. The Congressional Budget Office and any part within the National Park
Service.
7. Former Representative Charles Taylor's office (NC-11) and any party
within the National Park Service
8. Former Representative Heath Shuler's office (NC-11) and any party
within the National Park Service.
9. Former Senator Jesse Helms' office (NC) and any party within the
National Park Service.
10. Former Senator Elizabeth Dole's office (NC) and any party within the
National Park Service.
11. Representative Mark Meadows' office (NC-11) and any party within the
National Park Service.
12. Senator Richard Burr's office (NC) and any party within the National
Park Service.
13. Senator Kay Hagan's office (NC) and any party within the National
Park Service.
14. Senator Lamar Alexander's office (TN) and any party within the
National Park Service.
15. Any party representing Swain County, NC and any party within the
National Park Service.
16. Any part representing the State of North Carolina (including any
agencies, such as the NCDOT) and any party within the National Park Service.
17. Any party representing the State of Tennessee and any party within
the National Park Service.

Because you have multiple requests on similar topics and I have only your
Muckrock.com assigned numeric email address, it is critical that you
reference the FOIA Tracking Number on all correspondence regarding each
request.

You have requested a fee waiver for your request; however, you have not
provided sufficient justification for a fee waiver. Please respond within
20 days of this email with additional information so I can adequately
determine if you qualify for a fee waiver. Here are the factors we consider
in deciding whether you are entitled to a fee waiver:

1. How do the records concern the operations or activities of the
Government?
2. If the records concern operations or activities of the Government,
how will disclosure likely contribute to public understanding of these
operations and activities?
3. If there is likely to be a contribution to public understanding, will
release of the requested records contribute significantly to public
understanding?
4. How do you plan on using or distributing the information? How will
the public be aware of the information you gain?

You have identified yourself as a member of the media for fee purposes.
Please explain how you meet the idea of a "member of the media" - such as
where are you regularly published, what is your readership, and similar
information.

Marianne M. Mills
Public Affairs Specialist
Southeast Region, NPS
100 Alabama Street SW
1924 Building
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 507-5613
(404) 562-3263 FAX
marianne_mills@nps.gov

From: Donald Triplett III

Dear Ms. Mills:

Regarding FOIA request NPS-2014-00607 for correspondence between 16 specified parties and the NPS, here is the justification for a fee waiver you requested:

1. How do the records concern the operations or activities of the
Government?

The records in this request are sought to get a behind-the-scenes look at the North Shore Road project from the perspective of the National Park Service, and the decision to agree with the recommendation for a monetary settlement. Further, these records easily meet the criteria of concerning the activities of Government, as all specific parties listed are representatives of government, either as elected representatives or agency representatives, either state or federal.

2. If the records concern operations or activities of the Government,
how will disclosure likely contribute to public understanding of these
operations and activities?

While the North Shore Road is all but considered a “decided” issue by many, the $52 million settlement that was agreed to be paid to Swain County in 2010 has still yet to be fulfilled. Currently, there is some substantial confusion among members of the public as to why the $52 million has yet to be paid; as a reporter for WLOS ABC 13, a local station in the area, put it in 2012, “People in one mountain county say it’s another broken promise from the government.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pStKwQpmdfY)

There also exists confusion among some elected officials. Swain County has sent representatives to DC to meet with Congressmen, Senators, and NPS representatives on a frequent basis to inquire about the status of getting payments. Even former representative Heath Shuler (NC-11), who was instrumental in signing the 2010 agreement and “securing” the funds for Swain County, had to request the Government Accountability Office’s opinion as to whether or not the National Park Service was required to make another payment to Swain County following a 2012 appropriations bill. The GAO ruled that, although the NPS included a payment to Swain County as part of its prioritized project list, it was under no contractual obligation to do so. (http://www.gao.gov/products/D03758#_ftn1=&mt=summary)

Because of this, the $52 million continues to remain in the news. Recently, representative Mark Meadows (NC-11) introduced legislation to free up the $4 million that the NPS is “withholding” to immediately send to Swain County as another payment towards the remaining balance of the $52 million. (http://meadows.house.gov/press-releases/video-rep-meadows-and-former-rep-shuler-testify-on-road-to-nowhere-money/#.U_4TxbxdVoA) The Asheville Citizen-Times has also reported on this, noting that he has enlisted the help of former representative Shuler as well. (http://www.citizen-times.com/story/elections/2014/05/20/mark-meadows-heath-shuler-road-to-nowhere/9329951/)

3. If there is likely to be a contribution to public understanding, will
release of the requested records contribute significantly to public
understanding?

Yes. Eight, or half, of the requested records are regarding correspondence between the National Park Service (NPS) and elected representatives, and another is correspondence with the Congressional Budget Office. Three concern correspondence between the NPS and representatives of local or state governments. Three others are correspondence that involve NPS leadership, and the final one is correspondence with the NPS budget office, who would have some input in million dollar appropriations.

4. How do you plan on using or distributing the information? How will
the public be aware of the information you gain?

In addition to making the information received publicly available on MuckRock.com, I plan on disseminating information received, along with an original summary, to local, state, and federal elected officials for the Swain County area, as well area newspapers and other news outlets. If the information is of interest to them, I will also make the information received available to advocacy groups that were both for/against the Road or the settlement.

Furthermore, previous requests that I’ve made have been reported on before, as is the case with another request made to the Gettysburg National Military Park (an NPS park, for which I received a fee waiver): http://civilwar.gratzpa.org/2014/08/more-information-on-correcting-errors-on-the-pennsylvania-memorial-at-gettysburg/

Finally, I have no commercial interest in this request. Also, please note that I previously amended my request and omitted correspondence with the Solicitor's office (which is listed as 4 in the updated list you provided; correspondence with the Office of the Secretary has already been removed from this list).

Sincerely,

Donald Triplett, III

From: Mills, Marianne

Mr. Triplett:

This is in response to your request for correspondence regarding the North
Shore Road (Great Smoky Mountains National Park).

Marianne M. Mills
Public Affairs Specialist
Southeast Region, NPS
100 Alabama Street SW
1924 Building
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 507-5613
(404) 562-3263 FAX
marianne_mills@nps.gov

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