2006-06-13T12:53:17Z Pscript.dll Version 5.0 2006-06-13T16:46:45-04:00 2006-06-13T16:46:45-04:00 xml US EPA FOIA Annual Report for October 2004 through September 2005 Freedom of Information Act Annual Report Freedom of Information Act FOIA Annual Report Fiscal Year 2005 AFPL Ghostscript 8.50 Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2005 uuid:da253a85-c0cd-4f68-baec-d36815b8360f uuid:fc03b946-7ac7-4d04-91d4-c1608eed29d2

FOIA ANNUAL REPORT

FOR

10/01/2004 THROUGH

09/30/2005

The following Annual Freedom of Information Act report covers the Period 10/01/2004, through 09/30/2005, as required by 5 U.S.C. 552.

I. Basic Information Regarding Report

A. Name, Title, Address, and Telephone Number

Larry F. Gottesman
National FOIA Officer
Records, FOIA and Privacy Branch
Office of Environmental Information

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Mail Code 2822T
Washington, D.C. 20460

  • (202) 5661667
  • B. Electronic Address for report on World Wide Web

    • http://www.epa.gov/foia

    C. How to obtain copy in paper form

    Contact:

    Larry F. Gottesman
    National FOIA Officer
    Records, FOIA and Privacy Branch
    Office of Environmental Information

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
    1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
    Mail Code 2822T
    Washington, D.C. 20460

    (202) 5661667

    II. How to make a FOIA Request

    For basic information on how to make a FOIA request, visit our Web site at

    http://www.epa.gov/foia

  • III. Definitions of Terms and Acronyms Used in the Report
  • A. Agencyspecific acronyms or other terms.

    • Acronym Areas Served

    HQ EPA Headquarters

    Region 1 New England Region

    Region 2 New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and 7 Tribal Nations

    Region 3 MidAtlantic Region

    Region 4 Southeast Region

    Region 5 MidWest Region

    Region 6 South Central Region

    Region 7 America’s Heartland Region

    Region 8 Mountains and Plains Region

    Region 9 Pacific Southwest Region

    Region 10 Pacific Northwest Region

    B. Basic terms, expressed in common terminology

  • 1. FOIA/PA request Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act request. A FOIA request is generally a request for access to records concerning a third party, an organization, or a particular topic of interest. A Privacy Act request is a request for records concerning oneself; such requests are also treated as FOIA requests. (All requests for access to records, regardless of which law is cited by the requester, are included in this report.)
  • 2. Initial request a request to a federal agency for access to records under the Freedom of Information Act.
  • 3. Appeal a request to a federal agency asking that it review at a higher administrative level a full denial or partial denial of access to records under Freedom of Information Act, or any other FOIA determination such as a matter pertaining to fees.
  • 4. Processed Request or Appeal a request or appeal for which an agency has taken a final action on the request or the appeal in all respects.
  • 5. Multitrack processing a system in which simple requests requiring relatively minimal review are placed in one processing track and more voluminous and complex requests are placed in one or more other tracks. Requests in each track are processed on a firstin/firstout basis. A requester who has an urgent need for records may request expedited processing (see below).
  • 6. Expedited processing an agency will process a FOIA request on an expedited basis when a requester has shown an exceptional need or urgency for the records which warrants prioritization of his or her request over other requests that were made earlier.
  • 7. Simple request a FOIA request that an agency using multitrack processing places in its fastest (nonexpedited) track based on the volume and/or simplicity of records requested.
  • 8. Complex request a FOIA request that an agency using multitrack processing places in a slower track based on the volume and/or complexity of records requested.
  • 9. Grant an agency decision to disclose all records in full response to a FOIA request.
  • 10. Partial grant an agency decision to disclose a record in part in response to a FOIA request, deleting information determined to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions; or a decision to disclose some records in their entireties, but to withhold others in whole or in part.
  • 11. Denial an agency decision not to release any part of a record or records in response to a FOIA request because all the information in the requested records is determined by the agency to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions, or for some procedural reason (such as because no record is located in response to a FOIA request).
  • 12. Time limits the time period in the Freedom of Information Act for an agency to respond to a FOIA request (ordinarily 20 working days from proper receipt of a Perfected FOIA request).
  • 13. Perfected request a FOIA request for records that adequately describes the records sought, which has been received by the FOIA office of each agency or agency component in possession of the records, and for which there is no remaining question about the payment of applicable fees.
  • 14. Exemption 3 statute a separate federal statute prohibiting the disclosure of a certain type of information and authorizing its withholding under FOIA subsection (b) (3).
  • 15. Median number the middle, not average number. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the median number is 7.
  • 16. Average number the number obtained by dividing the sum of a group of numbers by the quantity of numbers in the group. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the average number is 8.
  • IV. EXEMPTION 3 STATUTES.
  • V. INITIAL FOIA ACCESS REQUESTS.
    • Statute/Rule(A.1.) Type of Information Withheld Case Citation (A.2.) Procurment Integrity Act, 41 U.S.C. 253b(m)(1) Contract Proposal Hornbosel v. Dept. of Interior, 305 F. Supp. 2d 21 (D.D.C 2003) as amended (2004), aff'd on other grounds, 2004 WL 1900562 (D.C. Cir. 2004) Federal Insecticide, Prohibits registrants from None Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act 7 U.S.C. 136 h. disclosing information to foreign competitors.

    A. Numbers of Initial Requests.

    NUMBER OF REQUESTS

    NUMBER OF
    NUMBER OF REQUESTS PENDING AS OF REQUESTS PROCESSED IN END OF RECEIVED IN CURRENT YEAR PRECEDING YEAR CURRENT YEAR (A.3.) (A.1.) (A.2.)

    NUMBER OF REQUESTS PENDING AS OF END OF CURRENT YEAR (A.4.)
    01 30 281 251 60 02 561 2345 1915 991 03 125 1728 1708 145 04 100 884 923 61 05 159 1924 1923 160 06 157 819 626 350 07 92 724 769 47 08 30 364 332 62 09 58 626 627 57 10 53 397 273 177 HQ 533 2109 1761 881 TOTALS 18981 12201 11108 2991

    B. Disposition of Initial Requests.

    TOTAL GRANTS

    PARTIAL GRANTS
    DENIALS (B.1.) (B.2.) (B.3.)

    OTHER (B.4.)
    01 137 5 5 104 02 500 4 1 1410 03 924 36 4 744 04 449 90 5 379 05 886 49 7 981 06 331 16 3 276 07 317 34 3 415 08 193 11 2 126 09 318 29 4 276 10 187 7 3 76 HQ 1143 237 58 323 TOTALS 5385 518 95 5110

    This number is reduced from the 2146 requests reported pending at the end of FY 04 due to a review and correction of the FOIA database eliminating duplicate, test, and erroneous entries.

    EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

    (B.3.a)

    (b)(7)
    (b)(7) (b)(7)
    (b)(7) (b)(7)
    (b)(7)

    (b)(1)

    (b)(2) (b)(3)
    (b)(4) (b)(5) (b)(6)

    (b)(8)

    (b)(9)

    (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F)

    01 0 1 0 2 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 02 0 1 0 0 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 03 0 1 0 7 31 15 19 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 04 0 3 1 38 60 54 33 1 16 0 0 0 0 0 05 0 2 0 10 39 6 15 4 2 2 0 0 0 1 06 0 7 0 2 13 5 9 0 6 6 3 0 0 0 07 0 1 4 13 26 11 9 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 08 0 1 0 1 10 2 6 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 09 1 2 0 10 21 2 6 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 10 0 2 0 1 7 1 5 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 HQ 0 27 17 174 86 55 30 0 36 22 8 1 0 0 TOTALS 1 48 22 258 300 153 135 5 66 36 12 1 0 2

    EXPLANATION OF DISPOSITION OF FOIA INITIAL REQUESTS: OTHER REASONS FOR NONDISCLOSURE (B.4.)

    Not a proper Records not FOIA
    Not an

    Request Feerelated Duplicate

    No records Referrals reasonably request for agency Other

    withdrawn reason request

    described some other record reason

    01 70 4 19 0 0 0 2 7 2 02 1250 2 118 1 20 2 0 15 2 03 677 1 46 0 0 0 0 14 6 04 241 3 105 28 1 0 0 1 0 05 815 1 128 16 3 2 1 13 2 06 230 2 34 1 0 0 1 0 8 07 351 1 47 3 1 0 0 7 5 08 87 1 28 0 0 2 0 7 1 09 213 15 25 6 6 1 3 1 6 10 52 2 19 2 0 0 0 1 0 HQ 146 3 120 8 0 3 0 39 4 TOTALS 4132 35 689 65 31 10 7 105 36

    VI. Appeals of Initial Denials of FOIA Requests

    A. Numbers of Appeals.

    NUMBER OF REQUESTS PENDING AS OF END OF PRECEDING YEAR (A.1.)
    NUMBER OF REQUESTS RECEIVED IN CURRENT YEAR (A.2.) NUMBER OF REQUESTS PROCESSED IN CURRENT YEAR (A.3.) 01 0 0 0 0 02 0 0 0 0 03 0 0 0 0 04 0 0 0 0 05 0 0 0 0 06 0 0 0 0 07 0 0 0 0 08 0 0 0 0 09 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 HQ 307 117 110 314 TOTALS 307 117 110 314

    B. Disposition of Appeals.

    TOTAL GRANTS (B.1.)

    PARTIAL GRANTS (B.2.) DENIALS (B.3.) 01 0 0 0 0 02 0 0 0 0 03 0 0 0 0 04 0 0 0 0 05 0 0 0 0 06 0 0 0 0 07 0 0 0 0 08 0 0 0 0 09 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 HQ 6 24 30 50 TOTALS 6 24 30 50
    NUMBER OF REQUESTS PENDING AS OF END OF CURRENT YEAR (A.4.)
    OTHER (B.4.)

    EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

    (B.3.a)

    (b)(7)
    (b)(7) (b)(7)
    (b)(7) (b)(7)
    (b)(7)

    (b)(1)

    (b)(2) (b)(3)
    (b)(4) (b)(5) (b)(6)

    (b)(8)

    (b)(9)

    (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F)

    01 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 02 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 04 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 05 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 06 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 07 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 08 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 09 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 HQ 0 3 1 2 15 8 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 0 3 1 2 15 8 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

    EXPLANATION OF DISPOSITION OF FOIA APPEAL REQUESTS: OTHER REASONS FOR NONDISCLOSURE (B.4.)

    Not a proper Records not FOIA
    Not an

    Request Feerelated Duplicate

    No records Referrals reasonably request for agency Other

    withdrawn reason request

    described some other record reason

    01 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 02 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 04 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 05 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 06 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 07 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 08 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 09 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 HQ 8 0 35 0 0 0 1 0 6 TOTALS 8 0 35 0 0 0 1 0 6

    VII. COMPLIANCE WITH TIME LIMITS/STATUS OF PENDING REQUESTS.

    A. Median processing time for requests processed during the year.

    Requests Accorded Expedited Simple Requests
    Complex Requests Processing

    (A.1) (A.2) (A.3)

    Number of Requests Processed (A.1.a.)

    Median

    Number of

    Number of

    Requests

    Days To

    Processed

    Process

    (A.2.a.)

    (A.1.b.)

    Median Number

    Number of

    of Days To

    Requests

    Process

    Processed

    (A.2.b.)

    (A.3.a.)

    0

    01 249 18 2 46 02 1912 30 2 40 1 8 03 1699 13 9 4 0 0 04 852 19 71 41 0 0 05 1920 18 3 30 0 0 06 624 32 0 0 2 109 07 767 27 2 166 0 0 08 332 15 0 0 0 0 09 588 18 39 38 0 0 10 273 20 0 0 0 0 HQ 1717 19 42 58 2 20 TOTALS 10933 N/A 170 N/A 5 N/A

    Median Number of Days To Process (A.3.b.)

    0

    B. Status of pending requests.

    NUMBER OF
    MEDIAN NUMBER OF REQUESTS DAYS TO PROCESS PENDING AS OF (B.2.)

    END OF
    FISCAL YEAR
    (B.1.)

    01 60 44 02 991 59 03 145 10 04 61 11 05 160 11 06 350 68 07 47 17 08 62 52 09 57 13 10 177 59 HQ 881 115 TOTALS 2991 N/A

    VIII. COMPARISONS WITH PREVIOUS YEAR(S).

    A. Comparison of numbers of requests received:

    FY 03 (127872) FY 04 (128972) FY 05 (12201)

    B. Comparison of numbers of requests Processed:

    Number of Requests Processed(Thousands) 25 20 15 10 5 0 FY 03 14537 FY 04 13379 FY 05 11108

    2 These processed requests numbers are increased from 14,454 for FY 03 and 13,352 for FY 04 as reported at the end of FY 04 due to a review and correction of the FOIA database eliminating duplicate, test, and erroneous entries.

    C. Comparison of median numbers of days requests were pending as of end of the fiscal year:

    Number of Requests Pending(Thousands) 0 5 15 20 FY 03 FY 04 FY 05 Pending Requests Median Days

    D. Other statistics significant to the Agency:

    FY 03 FY 04 FY 05 0 1 2 3 4 Number of Expedited Requests (Hundreds) Granted Denied

    IX. COSTS/FOIA STAFFING.

    Staffing Levels Total Costs including staff and all resources

    7.02 7.02 20.00 25.00
    Number Number of Total
    $0.00 $610,253.00 $0.00 $553,669.13
    FOIA Processing LitigationTotal Costs of Full Personnel Number of (Including related (B.3.) Time With Part Personnel Appeals) activities Personnel Time or (In Work(Estimated) (Estimated) (A.1.) Occasional Years) (B.1.) (B.2.) FOIA (A.3.) Duties

    (In Total
    Work
    Years)
    (A.2.)

    02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 HQ TOTALS
    01 0.00 $610,253.00

    5.00 $553,669.13

    0.03 14.03 $884,797.25 $0.00 $884,797.25 8.03 20.03 $2,167,078.00 $0.00 $2,167,078.00 3.85 6.85 $618,983.00 $0.00 $618,983.00 2.21 3.21 $207,745.84 $0.00 $207,745.84
    7.00 36.00 43.00 $329,462.00 $0.00 $329,462.00

    14.00

    12.00

    3.00

    1.00

    9.00 10.00 $236,990.85 $0.00 $236,990.85 2.00 3.00 $238,108.00 $0.00 $238,108.00 28.20 45.20 $3,462,266.18 $356,685.20 $3,818,951.38 120.10 181.10 $9,449,572.33 $356,685.20 $9,806,257.53
    0.00 3.76 3.76 $140,219.08 $0.00 $140,219.08

    1.00

    1.00

    17.00

    61.00

    X. FEES.

    01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 HQ TOTALS

    Total Fees
    Collected for
    processing
    requests
    (A)

    $8,009.52 $11,183.35 $29,689.19 $22,577.06 $49,641.00 $33,296.33 $21,207.82 $15,002.00 $15,334.91 $16,696.29 $103,174.97 $325812.44

    Percentage of Total Costs (B)
    1.31% 2.02% 9.01% 2.55% 2.29% 5.38% 10.21% 10.70% 6.47% 7.01% 2.70% 3.32%

    XI. FOIA Regulations

    For more information, please consult the EPA FOIA Regulations. They can be found at the following website: http://www.epa.gov/foia/foiaregs.htm.