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Superfund Records Center
The U.S. EPA's Region 5 Superfund Record Center is located in Room 711 of the Ralph Metcalfe Building, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604. The Records Center is available to the general public Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Please contact Janet Pfundheller, Records Manager (312) 353-5821 or Linda Ross, Assistant Records Manager (312) 353-6626 for details or further assistance.
The front circulation desk has a list of copy services and their telephone numbers for public use. The fees are set by each individual copy service.
Superfund Division Reading
Room
The Reading Room is provided as a service to the public to access documents
generated by the Superfund Division. The Superfund Division's Reading
Room was established to comply with the "Electronic Freedom of Information
Act (E-FOIA) amendments of 1996." It is designated as a public viewing
area, equipped with a computer workstation. It maintains both conventional
and electronic records through online access and the recently developed
Superfund Documents Management Systems (SDMS). Many site files are now
available on Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM). According to new
regulations many documents can be provided in any electronic format. The
CD-ROM offers an attractive alternative to photocopying and sending an
entire file to public information repositories, with the benefit of saving
a significant amount of shelf space. Once the CD has been created, copies
can be sent out per Freedom of Information request.
The Records Center also retains guidance documents for the public, State and programmatic needs. It provides copies of the Administrative Records to the State Repositories and places availability notices in newspapers at or near the Superfund sites. The Records Center provides optimal imaging and CD-ROM for retention of active documents and to respond to FOIAs. The Reading Room organizes and indexes documents from the Superfund program, and provides these documents to the public as well as to other agencies.
Superfund Documents Management System
Since 1998, the Superfund Documents Management System (SDMS) has been operating in the Superfund Records Center. The System Documents Management System stores images in an Oracle Database, offering EPA Employees access to Superfund Documents. SDMS has many features for its users. A few are the electronic redaction of documents, the capability to annotate images and construct special documents into a collection. The Section transfers documents into CD-ROM format. The most significant advantage to the user is the ability to conduct electronic searches using a number of data retrieval fields offered by the system. As the documents are scanned into SDMS, paper files are sent to the Federal Records Center. For an Adobe Acrobat Fact Sheet on SDMS activities, click here.
Confidential Business Information
This exemption from the FOIA law protects two types of information from public disclosure: trade secrets and confidential business information. A trade secret is a commercially valuable plan, formula, process, or device. This is a narrow category of information. An example of a trade secret would be the secret recipe for a commercial food product, such as Coca-Cola.
The second type of protected data is commercial or financial information obtained from a person (privileged or confidential). The courts have held that data qualifies for withholding if disclosure by the government would be likely to harm the competitive position of the person who submitted the information. Detailed information on a company's marketing plans, profits, or costs can qualify as confidential business information. Information may also be withheld if disclosure would be likely to impair the government's ability to obtain similar information in the future.
Only information obtained from a person other than a government agency qualifies under the fourth exemption. A person is an individual, a partnership, or a corporation. Information that an agency created on its own cannot normally be withheld under exemption four.
Although there is no formal requirement under the FOIA, many agencies will notify a submitter of business information that disclosure of the information is being considered. The submitter then has an opportunity to convince the agency that the information qualifies for withholding. A submitter can also file suit to block disclosure under the FOIA. Such lawsuits are generally referred to as "reverse" FOIA lawsuits because the FOIA is being used in an attempt to prevent rather than to require the disclosure of information. A reverse FOIA lawsuit may be filed when the submitter of documents and the government disagree on whether the information is exempt.
U.S. EPA is required to protect Confidential Business Information (CBI) obtained under the Superfund Program from public disclosure. U.S. EPA employees are prohibited from knowingly or willfully causing or allowing the unauthorized release or disclosure of such information. U.S. EPA is permitted to authorize Federal employees access to Superfund CBI when access is necessary to perform work in connection with the employee s official duties. U.S. EPA has issued regulations which outline confidentiality provisions. Procedures for handling, using, and storing the Superfund Program CBI at all facilities are outlined below:
- Secure Storage Containers: Containers with CBI are secured
and are not accessible to unauthorized persons. This prevents entry
to the secured area by unauthorized personnel.
- Securing Storage Areas: Secure storage areas can be used as
a Superfund CBI work area and as a storage area for CBI documents. The
storage area is secured from unauthorized access by door locks and/or
an intrusion alarm and/or an electronic card entry system.
- CBI Stamp: The first page indicates the document is CBI. The back of the last page of the document must be labeled with a stamp that identifies the document contains CBI. If the document is a copy, or is received from outside the Agency, the document should be stamped by the DCO.
All file reviews are arranged with the FOIA Specialist and are conducted in the Record Center. Each requestor is to report to the 6th Floor Reception area at the agreed upon date and time. The Specialist will meet and escort each individual to the Record Center.
File reviews are conducted between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. weekdays. Once the appointment is made with the requestor, the FOIA Specialist is responsible for the completion and delivery of a "Superfund File Review Form" to the Record Center. This form shows the date and time of appointment as well as the requestor's name and telephone number of the designated FOIA Specialist.
Upon the requestor's arrival, the 7th Floor Contractor Specialist will provide the requestor with a "Request Form for Public Dockets," for immediate completion. This form will then be reviewed by the FOIA Specialist.
If documents are requested during or after the completion of a file review, the FOIA Specialist must be notified. The requestor fills out an "In House File Review" form of the documents they have reviewed and indicate the documents they want to have copied. There are several people stationed to assist the public in obtaining information that is needed. The requestor may select an outside Copy Service if the documents requested are voluminous. The front circulation desk has a list of copy services and their telephone numbers that the public can use. Each copy service is responsible for their own fees. Copies made on-site are 15 cents per page.
Once a file review is completed the FOIA Specialist will provide the requestor with a written response letter, generally, within five (5) working days after the file review.