Copy of all electronic records that contain certain keywords - Wyoming Infrastructure Authority

My name is John Masterson. I represent the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority and write in response to two Public Records Requests the WIA has received from Mr. Matt Kasper. I'm using the e-mail addresses from the requests in the hope this response will be received by Mr. Kasper.

First, this e-mail acknowledges my receipt of the two referenced requests on Sunday, March 11, 2018. The first request asks for "electronic records that contain the following keywords:"

"carbon tax"
"War on Utah Coal"
"Peabody"
"Murray Energy"
"Cloud Peak Energy"
"ACCCE"
"American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity"
"Powder River Coal"
"Alpha Coal West"
"Arch Coal"
"Black Thunder"
"HB 123"
"House Bill 123"

The second request seeks "all electronic correspondence between the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority and:"

Peabody Energy
Murray Energy
Canyon Consolidated Resources
Wyoming Mining Association
Cloud Peak Energy
American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE)
Powder River Coal
Alpha Coal
Arch Coal
Thunder Basin
Rep. Chuck Gray
Rep. Dennis Biteman
Rep. Scott Clem
Rep. Timothy Hallinan
Rep. Marti Halverson

Both requests seek records from Mr. Jason Begger and Ms. Sarah Young of the WIA, ad cover the time period from September 1, 2017 to the date of our response to the requests.

Second, I need to make you aware that the WIA needs to coordinate the responses to these requests with the Wyoming Attorney General's Office. We have reached out to them already.

As of this writing, it is unknown whether the WIA is the custodian of any records that may be responsive to your request but we are in the process of determining that answer. We do know however, that if we are the custodian of the records, they are either in active use or storage. When we determine if we have any responsive documents, we will notify you and begin the process of retrieving, compiling and reviewing the records. We will contact you again when the records responsive to your request are available. Consistent with the Wyoming Public Records Act, we will compile and review these records in a timely manner.

As to the fees associated with your request, please be aware that the WIA does have an established policy for the payment of costs for identifying, reviewing, and producing materials responsive to Public Records Requests. Unfortunately, I cannot give you an estimate of those costs at this time as we do not know how many documents will be located using the keywords you've provided. Should we turn out to be the custodian of these records however, we will advise you of an estimated cost once the number of possibly responsive documents is determined.

Please contact me should you have any further questions.

Regards,

John

John A. Masterson
Welborn Sullivan Meck & Tooley, P.C.
159 North Wolcott, Suite 220, Casper, WY 82601
EMAIL: jmasterson@wsmtlaw.com<mailto:jmasterson@wsmtlaw.com>
MAIN: 307-234-6907
Direct: 307-233-6874
FAX: 307-234-6908
www.wsmtlaw.com<http://www.wsmtlaw.com/>

[Description: Description: http://honestbros.com/clients/wsmt/images/wsmt_tag_rule.gif]

NOTICE:This electronic mail transmission including any
attachment is intended only for the person to whom it is
addressed and contains information that is confidential and
legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please
immediately notify the sender at the email address above and
destroy all copies of this message. Thank you.

To whom it may concern:

This e-mail is in follow-up to our earlier correspondence and is to provide an estimated cost for the review and production of communications described in this request and its companion request, 50075-39590767.

We have received a total of 1300 e-mails from the state e-mail server based upon the keywords you identified in these two requests. I would estimate that reviewing these for privileged, confidential or proprietary matters would take 5 to 6 hours. This estimate however, comes with the caveat that I do not know whether some of the e-mails are lengthy or contain extensive attachments so again, this is an estimate only. The actual time could be more or less.

The rate set for my review of these e-mails is $250 per hour - the same rate charged for all WIA work. I'd therefore estimate the total cost of production at the higher end to be conservative, or $1,500. But again, that is only an estimate.

Please advise on how you'd like us to proceed.
Regards,

John

To Whom It May Concern:

Thank you for your note.

We were standing by for your response to our April 9, 2018 e-mail where we advised you of the cost for production of these materials (see below).

Please let us know how you would like us to proceed.

Regards,

John

John A. Masterson
Welborn Sullivan Meck & Tooley, P.C.
159 North Wolcott, Suite 220, Casper, WY 82601
EMAIL: jmasterson@wsmtlaw.com<mailto:jmasterson@wsmtlaw.com>
MAIN: 307-234-6907
Direct: 307-233-6874
FAX: 307-234-6908
www.wsmtlaw.com<http://www.wsmtlaw.com/>

[Description: Description: http://honestbros.com/clients/wsmt/images/wsmt_tag_rule.gif]

NOTICE:This electronic mail transmission including any
attachment is intended only for the person to whom it is
addressed and contains information that is confidential and
legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please
immediately notify the sender at the email address above and
destroy all copies of this message. Thank you.

Hi, Matt.

I'm certain that will reduce the cost.  I'm traveling through May 8 however, and won't be able to get a count of the number of e-mails it will take us down to.  I'll see if anyone in our office can help in the meantime but if I don't succeed, can you stand by until I can do that?

Thank you for your patience.

John