Jump to main content.

FOIA Costs

FOIA authorizes EPA to charge requestors a processing fee to recover the direct cost for search time, review time, duplication of records, certification/authentication and other services. If processing fee is less than $14.00, then the fee will be waived and records will be provided to the requestor. However, if the fee exceeds $14.00, the Agency will contact the requestor to inform them of the exact cost and get an assurance of payment before finalizing the request. Upon the requestor's agreement to pay, the response will be finalized and records will be sent to the requestor along with a bill and billing instructions. Listed below are the four fee categories a requestor may fall under and the costs they may be responsible for:

FOIA FEE SCHEDULE

Manual and Computer Search for Records: EPA employee for each 1/4 hour or portion thereof -

Review of Records: EPA employee for each 1/4 hour or portion thereof

Duplication/Copy:

Certification/Authentication $25.00

Other Fees - exact cost for special graphics services, e.g. photo, oversize map duplication, audio/visual cassettes

FEE WAIVER

Pursuant to the fee waiver statutory requirements set forth at 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(A)(ii), documents shall be furnished without any charge, or at a reduced charge, if disclosure of the information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commerical interest of the requestor. Requestors asking for a fee waiver or reduction must present information in support of such request. The mere fact that a fee waiver has been requested does not automatically mean that a fee waiver should be granted - even if the requestor is a private individual or a nonprofit public interest group. In order to evaluate whether the statutory requirements have been met, please include in your request letter, answers to the following questions:

(i) A clear statement of your interest in the requested documents;

(ii) the use proposed for the documents and whether you will derive income or other benefit from such use;

(iii) a statement of how the public will benefit from such use and from the release of the requested documents;

(iv) if specialized use of the documents or information is contemplated, a statement of your qualifications that are relevant to the specialized use;

(v) a statement indicating how you plan to disseminate the documents or information to the public; and

(vi) any additional information you deem relevant to your request for a fee waiver.

The granting of a fee waiver for one request does not mean that a fee waiver will automatically be granted on a later, related request from the same requestor. Fee waiver determinations are made on a case by case basis.

Local Navigation

Jump to main content.