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Basic Information
How to make a Freedom of Information Act Request
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a law established in 1966 that gives the public the right to make a request for federal agency records. All agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are required to disclose records unless the records are protected from disclosure by any of the nine exemptions in the Act or by one of three special law enforcement record exclusions. The Act is found at 5 U.S.C. § 552. EPA’s regulations implementing the FOIA are found in Title 40 C.F.R. Part 2.
The FOIA applies only to federal agencies and does not provide a right to records held by Congress, the courts or to records held by state or local government agencies. States and local government agencies may have their own laws governing access to their records. You will need to contact them directly to request access to their records.
A FOIA request must be submitted in writing (e.g. letter, e-mail, fax) to the agency from which you are requesting the records. Your written request should include a description of the records being sought. Please be as specific as possible about the records so the agency is better able to locate them. Your request should include a statement of your willingness to pay fees and your contact information including your name, address and phone number in case there are questions about your request.
The FOIA does not require agencies to conduct research, analyze data, answer written questions, or create records in order to respond to a request.
There is no central office in the government which handles FOIA requests for all federal agencies. A request must be made to the agency that has the records you seek. You can find addresses of the FOIA offices of federal agencies by going to the Department of Justice’s Web site.
EPA has a National FOIA Office located at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. and ten Regional FOIA offices in major metropolitan areas across the country. If you seek a record that may be in possession of EPA dealing with hazardous waste contamination on a specific site, you would address your request to the EPA Regional FOIA office that covers the state in which the site is located. If you are planning to submit a FOIA request to the Agency, consult our reference guide. You may also be able to find the information you need on an EPA Web site without making a FOIA request. Before making a FOIA request you should browse EPA's home page for any information that is already available to the public.