Utah Facebook
| Submitted | July 30, 2021 |
| Est. Completion | Aug. 23, 2021 |
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Communications
From: Benoit Morenne
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Government Records Access and Management Act, I hereby request the following records:
All electronic communications between GOED staff and Facebook executives and attorneys mentioning Facebook's investment in a data center in Eagle Mountain, Utah County. I'm interested in correspondence from January 1, 2017 to February 1, 2021.
I'm requesting this information for a magazine story about how data centers are changing Utah I'm writing for Deseret Magazine, a regional, Utah-based outlet.
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 10 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Benoit Morenne
From: Governor's Office of Economic Development
Hi Benoit,
Would you please fill out a GRAMA request form here
<https://archives.utah.gov/opengovernment/GRAMA-request-form.1.pdf>? This
is for our records. Also, please be as specific as possible to help us with
the search. Something that would help us is to put who from our team you
would like us to search and specific search terms as well. Let me know if
you have any questions.
Thanks,
Tony
--
*Tony T. Young*
Utah Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity *|* Media Relations Manager
801.538.8722 w
business.utah.gov *|* @BusinessUtah
From: Benoit Morenne
Hi Tony,
Thank you for getting back to me on this. Please find the GRAMA request form filled out with the information you requested.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Best,
Benoit
From: Benoit Morenne
Hi Tony,
I just wanted to follow up today to make sure you received that form.
Thank you
Best,
Benoit
From: Governor's Office of Economic Development
I did. Thank you. I will see what we can find.
Best,
Tony
--
*Tony T. Young*
Utah Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity *|* Media Relations Manager
801.538.8722 w
business.utah.gov *|* @BusinessUtah
From: Benoit Morenne
Thank you for your help, Tony.
From: Governor's Office of Economic Development
Hi Benoit,
We have reviewed your request and have found the two attached records which
include communication with Ben Hart. No records relating to your search
terms were found for Executive Director Dan Hemmert. We will need a week or
so extension on the records for Val Hale. Since he is currently not
employed by the Go Utah Office, we had to put in a request to access his
records. I will let you know as soon as I have those or if there are any.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Best,
Tony
--
*Tony T. Young*
Utah Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity *|* Media Relations Manager
801.538.8722 w
business.utah.gov *|* @BusinessUtah
From: Benoit Morenne
Thank you, Tony. Please keep me updated if you're able to get access to Val Hale's records.
From: Benoit Morenne
Hi Tony,
Any update on researching Val Hale's emails?
Thank you
From: Governor's Office of Economic Development
Hello Benoit,
On behalf of the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity (GO Utah), I am responding to your/Muckrock News's request for government records, pursuant to the Government Records Access & Management Act (GRAMA).
Pursuant to GRAMA, Utah Code 63G-2-204(4)(b)(iv), I write to provide you with notice that GO Utah cannot respond to approve/deny your request at this time, or provide records to fulfill your request, for the following reasons, or extraordinary circumstances:
1. The request is for a voluminous amount of records (see Utah Code 63G-2-204(6)(c)(i) the request is for a voluminous quantity of records or a record series containing a substantial number of records, and see Utah Code 63G-2-204(6)(e) the request requires the governmental entity to review a large number of records to locate the records requested).
2. GO Utah does not possess some of the records, which are associated with former employees, who no longer work with the GO Utah office. Those records are stored, or archived, with the Utah Department of Technology Services (DTS). Consequently, this situation represents another reason, or extraordinary circumstance for the delay to respond (see Utah Code 63G-2-204(6)(a) another governmental entity is using the record, in which case the originating governmental entity shall promptly request that the governmental entity currently in possession return the record). To help obtain those records for you, I understand that the GO Utah office has already submitted a request to DTS for copies of those records. We wait for those records to be provided by DTS, analyzed, then then provided to you.
I will follow up again with GO Utah on Monday 8/23 to find out the status of the response to your request. Then, I will pass along that information to you.
I don't want you to think that GO Utah is putting off your request, because I know that GO Utah is responsible and takes seriously GRAMA requests. Also, I know that personnel have been working on your request. For the reasons stated above, there have been some understandable delays.
On Monday 08/23, I can give you a better idea of when the records will be available, and provided to you.
I assume that electronic copies, in PDF format, will be acceptable to you. Please let me know if that is not okay, and if you prefer paper format, in which case there would be a copy cost associated.
Thanks,
-Todd
Todd Karl Jenson
Assistant Attorney General
State Agency Counsel Division
Utah Attorney General's Office
160 East 300 South, Fifth Floor
P.O. Box 140857
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-0857
toddkjenson@agutah.gov<mailto:toddkjenson@agutah.gov>
From: Benoit Morenne
Hi Todd,
Thank you for this detailed answer, I understand the delay now. Yes: electronic copies, in PDF format; are acceptable.
Best,
Benoit
From: Governor's Office of Economic Development
Hi Benoit,
It sounds like you have been in touch with my colleague, Todd. Attached are
the documents we found related to Val Hale and FB executives, and Theresa
Foxley. Please let me know if you have any further questions. I believe we
have fulfilled your request. Can you confirm this for me?
Thanks,
Tony
--
TONY YOUNG
Media Relations Manager
w 801 538 8722
BUSINESS.UTAH.GOV <https://business.utah.gov/>
*Note: All communications not protected under UCA 63G-2-305 may be subject
to public disclosure.*
From: Benoit Morenne
Thank you Tony, this is great. I'm going to be sending follow-up requests based on your response to this initial one.
From: Benoit Morenne
And here are four follow-up GRAMA request forms... I'm aware that these may yield voluminous results.
One that should be easy to process pertains to identified briefing sheets.
Thank you
Best,
Benoit
From: Governor's Office of Economic Development
Hi Benoit,
Let me look into these requests and I will get back to you.
Thanks,
Tony
--
TONY YOUNG
Media Relations Manager
w 801 538 8722
BUSINESS.UTAH.GOV <https://business.utah.gov/>
*Note: All communications not protected under UCA 63G-2-305 may be subject
to public disclosure.*
From: Benoit Morenne
Thank you so much.
I think I forgot to include this one lighter request.
From: Governor's Office of Economic Development
Hi Benoit,
Attached were two requests that look the exact same. Confirming that this
is one or two requests. Let me know.
Thanks,
Tony
--
TONY YOUNG
Media Relations Manager
w 801 538 8722
BUSINESS.UTAH.GOV <https://business.utah.gov/>
*Note: All communications not protected under UCA 63G-2-305 may be subject
to public disclosure.*
From: Benoit Morenne
Confirming that this is one request.
From: Governor's Office of Economic Development
Hello Benoit,
Thanks for clarifying the Palo Alto GRAMA request, and thank you for
submitting the additional government records requests for records related
to Facebook, Apple, and Google.
We have researched and found records related to Facebook in addition to
what we have previously sent you. We are concluding the review of those
Facebook records and expect to be able to provide some or all of them to
you by early next week. You also mentioned in your request that you would
like an environmental impact assessment. Those requests will need to be
filed with the Utah Division of Water Rights.
The additional records you requested for Apple and Google will need to be
simplified with specific search terms. When searching for Apple and Google,
thousands of records can turn up that do not relate to what you need. Our
team here at Go Utah uses many of Apple and Google's tools, like cell
phones, Gmail, Google Docs, etc. Our team has to go through them all,
resulting in a high fee price for you. Could you please send me specific
search terms and people you would like us to search for relating to these
requests? Also, records are stored or archived with the Utah Department of
Technology Services (DTS). To help obtain those records for you, the Go
Utah office will need to submit a request to DTS for copies of those
records. We wait for those records to be provided by DTS, analyzed, then
provided to you (see the exception in Utah Code 63G-2-204(6) “another
governmental entity is using or maintains the record”). Thanks for your
patience as we try to work with you on this request.
Best,
Tony
--
TONY YOUNG
Media Relations Manager
w 801 538 8722
BUSINESS.UTAH.GOV <https://business.utah.gov/>
*Note: All communications not protected under UCA 63G-2-305 may be subject
to public disclosure.*
From: Governor's Office of Economic Development
Hi Benoit,
Attached are the documents found for the "Palo Alto Briefing Sheets"
request. Can you let me know if you need anything else with this or if I am
good to close this request?
Thanks,
Tony
--
TONY YOUNG
Media Relations Manager
w 801 538 8722
BUSINESS.UTAH.GOV <https://business.utah.gov/>
*Note: All communications not protected under UCA 63G-2-305 may be subject
to public disclosure.*
From: Benoit Morenne
Hi Tony,
Thank you so much for finding these. This is incredibly helpful.
As to the status of my request: I consider it still open as far as Facebook is concerned since GOED is yet to provide me with instructional materials, presentations and presentation materials and any other materials on Facebook's Eagle Mountain data center or proposed or possible data centers in Utah; funding opportunity announcements, grant applications and grantor status/progress reports; reports to legislative bodies, annual reports that mention FB as well as audit reports including security audits of the data center and reports to oversight bodies. I also asked for any digital communications that mention Facebook and digital communications with Facebook reps.
Thank you.
Best,
Benoit
From: Governor's Office of Economic Development
Hi Benoit,
You bet. And yes, we are still going through the documents. I should have
them for you before the end of this week.
Thanks,
Tony
--
TONY YOUNG
Media Relations Manager
w 801 538 8722
BUSINESS.UTAH.GOV <https://business.utah.gov/>
*Note: All communications not protected under UCA 63G-2-305 may be subject
to public disclosure.*
From: Benoit Morenne
Thank you, Tony. I really appreciate your help.
From: Governor's Office of Economic Development
Hi Benoit,
Thank you for submitting your public records request, and thank you for
your patience as our office worked to prepare to fulfill your request. It
took over a dozen hours to research, review and compile these records for
you.
The documents responsive to your request are attached. Certain portions of
the records are redacted if they are protected under the attorney-client
privilege (Utah Code Section 63G-2-305 (17), or if they contain protected
negotiation info (Utah Code Section 63G-2-305 (35) (“records that would
reveal negotiations”)). Currently, we have more records we are sorting
through. We should hopefully be able to get you the rest of the documents
next week. Attached is what we have for you so far. Please let me know if
you have any questions.
Thanks,
Tony
--
TONY YOUNG
Media Relations Manager
w 801 538 8722
BUSINESS.UTAH.GOV <https://business.utah.gov/>
*Note: All communications not protected under UCA 63G-2-305 may be subject
to public disclosure.*
From: Benoit Morenne
That's great, Tony. Thank you for all your hard work.
From: Governor's Office of Economic Development
Hi Benoit,
For some reason, I thought there were more documents, but I just received
clarification that what I sent was what was found. Can you please let me
know if I am okay to now close this request? Let me know if you have any
questions.
Thanks,
Tony
--
TONY YOUNG
Media Relations Manager
w 801 538 8722
BUSINESS.UTAH.GOV <https://business.utah.gov/>
*Note: All communications not protected under UCA 63G-2-305 may be subject
to public disclosure.*
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