Acrobat PDFWriter 5.0 for Windows 2004-04-06T17:27:44Z 2004-04-06T17:29:53-04:00 2004-04-06T17:29:53-04:00 WordPerfect 9 - [C:\My Data\WebDev\foia\docs\AR FY2003 Final.3.30.04.wpd] xml FY 2003 Annual Freedom of Information Report US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC 20460
  • I. BASIC INFORMATION REGARDING REPORT.

    • A. Name, title, address, and telephone number of person to be contacted with questions about the report.

    Deborah Williams
    Branch Chief
    Records, FOIA, and Privacy Branch
    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
    Office of Environmental Information
    Records, FOIA and Privacy Branch
    1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
    Mail Code 2822T
    Washington, D.C. 20460
    (202) 566-1667

    B. Electronic address for this report on our Web site.

    http://www.epa.gov/foia

  • C. How to obtain a copy of this report in paper form.

    • Contact:

    Deborah Williams
    Branch Chief
    Records, FOIA, and Privacy Branch
    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
    Office of Environmental Information
    Records, FOIA and Privacy Branch
    1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
    Mail Code 2822T
    Washington, D.C. 20460
    (202) 566-1667

  • 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

    • A. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all individual agency components and offices that receive FOIA requests.

    For these names, addresses, and telephone numbers, visit our Web site at http://www.epa.gov/foia

    B. Brief Description of Agency’s Response-Time Ranges (On a Component-by-Component Basis).

    The Agency responded to 51% of its requests within the 20-day time limit.

    For a detailed breakdown of each component’s response times, see Section VII of this report, Compliance With Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests.

  • C. Brief Description Why Requests are Not Granted.

    • Exemption 4 (used 336 times), Exemption 5 (used 397 times), Exemption 6 (used 178 times), and Exemption 7(A) (used 182 times) were used most frequently for not granting requests. These records usually related to confidential business information, privileged inter-agency/intraagency memoranda, invasion of privacy, or ongoing enforcement proceedings, respectively.

  • III. DEFINITIONS OF BASIC TERMS AND ACRONYMS USED IN THE REPORT.

    • A. Agency-specific 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 Mid-Atlantic Region

    Region 4 Southeast Region

    Region 5 Mid-West 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 Request -- Freedom of Information Act request. A FOIA request is a request for access to records concerning a third party, an organization, or a particular topic of interest, which includes Privacy Act requests.
  • 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 the 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. Multi-track 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 first-in/first-out basis. A requester who has an urgent need for records may request expedited processing.
  • 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 multi-track processing places in its fastest (non-expedited) track based on the volume and/or simplicity of records requested.
  • 8. Complex Request -- a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in a slower track based on the volume and/or complexity of records requested.
  • 9. Grant -- the agency decision to disclose all records in full in response to a FOIA request.
  • 10. Partial grant -- the 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 -- the 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 when 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 the FOIA request).
  • 13. 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).
  • 14. Median number -- the middle, not average, number of working days.
  • 15. Days -- refers to actual working days, excluding weekends and holidays.
  • IV. EXEMPTION 3 STATUTES.
    • Statute/Rule (A.1.) Type of Information Withheld Case Citation (A.2.)
    HQ Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, F.R. Cr.P. 6(e) Records relating to Grand Jury Investigations or Proceedings Fund for Constitutional Government v. National Archives and Records Services, 656 F.2d 856 (D.C. Cir. 1980)
    Procurement Integrity Act, 41 U.S.C. § 253b(m)(1) Contract Proposals None.
    Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 7 U.S.C. § 136h, Section 10(g) Analytical, health, environmental effects and efficacy data that prohibits registrants from disclosing information to foreign competitors None.
    REGION 4 FIFRA 7 U.S.C. § 136h, Section 10(d) Manufacturing, processing, production, distribution, sale, and/or inventory information on pesticides None.
    FIFRA 7 U.S.C. § 136h, Section 10(g) Studies from registrants who engage in the distribution of pesticides in countries other than the U.S. None.
    REGION 7 Procurement Integrity Ad, 41 U.S.C. § 253b (m)(1) Contract Proposal None.
  • V. INITIAL FOIA/PA ACCESS REQUESTS. A. Numbers of Initial Requests.
    • NUMBER OF REQUESTS PENDING AS OF END OF PRECEDING YEAR1 (A.1.) NUMBER OF REQUESTS RECEIVED IN CURRENT YEAR (A.2.) NUMBER OF REQUESTS PROCESSED IN CURRENT YEAR (A.3.) NUMBER OF REQUESTS PENDING AS OF END OF CURRENT YEAR (A.4.)
    HQ 745 2354 2465 634
    REGION 1 76 305 306 75
    REGION 2 2596 2245 3654 1187
    REGION 3 138 1768 1803 103
    REGION 4 116 1019 1013 122
    REGION 5 123 1915 1917 121
    REGION 6 175 955 965 165
    REGION 7 70 695 713 52
    REGION 8 63 438 452 49
    REGION 9 118 623 694 47
    REGION 10 48 470 472 46
    TOTALS 4268 12787 14454 2601

    1 EPA reported 4567 pending requests at the close of FY 2002. However, we later discovered that many requests from the early 1990's were closed in previous years, but had not been accounted for in our database. This finding was part of our ongoing effort to reduce the Agency’s backlog, verify information in our database, and improve our overall methods of tracking and accounting for FOIA/PA requests.

    B. Disposition of Initial Requests.

    TOTAL GRANTS (B.1.) PARTIAL GRANTS (B.2.) DENIALS (B.3.)
    HQ 1512 277 72
    REGION 1 180 15 3
    REGION 2 966 4 1
    REGION 3 1208 15 6
    REGION 4 579 85 8
    REGION 5 1209 46 7
    REGION 6 713 20 4
    REGION 7 546 21 3
    REGION 8 296 7 3
    REGION 9 396 45 5
    REGION 10 320 29 3
    TOTALS 7925 564 115

    EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

    (B.3.a)

    (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)(A) (7)(B) (7)(C) (7)(D) (7)(E) (7)(F) (8) (9)
    HQ 0 31 35 190 117 48 27 0 26 19 9 4 0 0
    REGION 1 0 1 0 1 12 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
    REGION 2 0 1 0 0 4 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0
    REGION 3 1 4 0 7 16 3 12 0 5 3 1 0 0 2
    REGION 4 0 3 9 79 101 79 58 6 38 2 0 0 0 0
    REGION 5 0 1 0 10 36 8 35 0 0 1 4 0 0 0
    REGION 6 0 2 0 6 17 8 5 0 1 1 3 0 0 0
    REGION 7 0 3 2 13 21 19 9 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
    REGION 8 0 0 0 0 11 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    REGION 9 0 0 0 23 40 5 13 0 4 3 4 0 0 0
    REGION 10 0 0 0 7 22 4 12 0 4 1 1 0 0 0
    TOTALS 1 46 46 336 397 178 182 8 81 30 22 5 0 2

    EXPLANATION OF DISPOSITION OF FOIA/PA INITIAL REQUESTS: OTHER REASONS FOR NONDISCLOSURE

    (B.4.)

    NO RECORDS REFERRALS REQUES T WITH-DRAWN FEE-RELATED REASON RECORDS NOT REASON-ABLY DESCRIBED NOT AN AGENCY RECORD DUPLICATE REQUESTS NOT A PROPER FOIA REQUEST Other
    HQ 252 9 263 8 1 2 64 5 0
    REGION 1 69 1 17 0 0 1 20 0 0
    REGION 2 1706 0 955 2 6 1 12 1 0
    REGION 3 473 1 77 0 0 0 23 0 0
    REGION 4 241 4 86 1 0 0 6 2 0
    REGION 5 551 1 71 2 3 2 21 4 0
    REGION 6 177 0 47 2 0 0 2 0 0
    REGION 7 91 0 48 0 0 0 4 0 0
    REGION 8 96 0 35 2 2 0 10 1 0
    REGION 9 183 8 48 3 3 0 1 2 0
    REGION 10 68 4 41 3 1 0 3 0 0
    TOTALS 3907 28 1688 23 16 6 166 15 0
  • VI. APPEALS OF INITIAL DENIALS OF FOIA/PA REQUESTS.* A. Numbers of appeals.
  • 1. Number of appeals received during fiscal year 137
  • 2. Number of appeals processed during fiscal year 152 B. Disposition of appeals.
  • 1. Number completely upheld 42
  • 2. Number partially reversed 31
  • 3. Number completely reversed 8
  • a. Number of times each FOIA exemption was used (counting each exemption once

    • per appeal): (1) Exemption 1 (2) Exemption 2 (3) Exemption 3 (4) Exemption 4 (5) Exemption 5 (6) Exemption 6 0 7 0 7 46 14 (7) Exemption 7(A) (8) Exemption 7(B) (9) Exemption 7(C) (10) Exemption 7(D) (11) Exemption 7(E) (12) Exemption 7(F) 17 1 8

    3

    4

    0

    (13) Exemption 8 0 (14) Exemption 9 0

  • 4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) 71
  • a. No records 6
  • b. Referrals 0
  • c. Request withdrawn 59
  • d. Fee-related reason 3
  • e. Records not reasonably described 0
  • f. Not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 0
  • g. Not an agency record 2
  • h. Duplicate request 0
  • i. Other (expedited) 1 *Appeals are processed centrally at EPA Headquarters.
  • VII. COMPLIANCE WITH TIME LIMITS/STATUS OF PENDING REQUESTS. A. Median processing time for requests processed during the year.
    • Simple Requests (A.1.) Complex Requests (A.2.) Requests Accorded Expedited Processing (A.3.)
    Number of Requests Processed (A.1.a.) Median Number of Days To Process (A.1.b.) Number of Requests Processed (A.2.a.) Median Number of Days To Process (A.2.b.) Number of Requests Processed (A.3.a.) Median Number of Days To Process (A.3.b.)
    HQ 2464 20 0 0 1 11
    REGION 1 305 19 1 20 0 0
    REGION 2 3652 120 1 182 1 18
    REGION 3 1803 16 0 0 0 0
    REGION 4 1007 22 6 150 0 0
    REGION 5 1900 15 17 50 0 0
    REGION 6 963 19 1 9 1 49
    REGION 7 713 23 0 0 0 0
    REGION 8 452 16 0 0 0 0
    REGION 9 694 19 0 0 0 0
    REGION 10 471 18 0 0 1 0
    TOTALS 14424 N/A 26 N/A 4 N/A

    B. Status of pending requests.

    NUMBER OF REQUESTS PENDING AS OF END OF FISCAL YEAR (B.1.) MEDIAN NUMBER OF DAYS TO PROCESS (B.2.)
    HQ 634 111
    REGION 1 75 399
    REGION 2 1187 265
    REGION 3 103 6
    REGION 4 122 15
    REGION 5 121 11
    REGION 6 165 118
    REGION 7 52 16
    REGION 8 49 27
    REGION 9 47 7
    REGION 10 46 22
    TOTAL 2601 N/A
  • VIII. COMPARISONS WITH PREVIOUS YEAR(S).

    • A. Comparison of numbers of requests received:

    B. Comparison of numbers of requests processed:

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

    • D. Other statistics significant to the Agency:

    0 10 20 30 40 Number of Expedited Requests FY 01 FY 02 FY 03 Denied Granted

    During FY03, the Agency received 40 requests for expedited processing, of which 4 were granted and placed in the “expedited track,” and 36 were denied and placed in the “simple track.”

    15

  • IX. COSTS/FOIA STAFFING.
    • Staffing Levels Total Costs including staff and all resources
    Number of Full Time Personnel (A.1.) Number of Personnel With Part Time or Occasional FOIA Duties (In Total Work-Years) (A.2.) Total Number of Personnel (In Work-Years) (A.3.) FOIA Processing (Including Appeals) (Estimated) (B.1.) Litigation-related activities (Estimated) (B.2.) Total Costs (B.3.)2
    HQ 27 36.39 63.39 $2,952,752.24 $258,418.00 $3,211,170.24
    REGION 1 1 5 6 $762,000.00 $0.00 $762,000.00
    REGION 2 5 0 5 $218,486.00 $0.00 $218,486.00
    REGION 3 7 3.07 10.07 $424,558.00 $0.00 $424,558.00
    REGION 4 15 1.05 16.05 $890,934.16 $0.00 $890,934.16
    REGION 5 14 6.67 20.67 $2,103,870.23 $0.00 $2,103,870.23
    REGION 6 3 4 7 $600,275.00 $0.00 $600,275.00
    REGION 7 2 4.07 6.07 $231,520.86 $0.00 $231,520.86
    REGION 8 1 2.1 3.1 $149,749.00 $0.00 $149,749.00
    REGION 9 2 13 15 $222,293.51 $0.00 $222,293.51
    REGION 10 1 2 3 $217,271.45 $0.00 $217,271.45
    TOTALS 78 77.35 155.35 $8,773,710.45 $258,418.00 $9,032,128.45

    2 The Total Costs and number of personnel are substantially less than previous years due to improved methods of tracking and accounting for FOIA/PA requests, a decrease in the backlog of pending requests, and fewer incoming requests.

  • X. FEES.
    • Total Fees Collected for processing requests (A) Percentage of Total Costs (B)
    HQ $131,188.97 1.5
    REGION 1 $5,729.94 0.1
    REGION 2 $12,979.04 0.1
    REGION 3 $18,975.00 0.2
    REGION 4 $21,625.68 0.2
    REGION 5 $42,577.00 0.5
    REGION 6 $33,202.55 0.4
    REGION 7 $18,240.63 0.2
    REGION 8 $11,460.00 0.1
    REGION 9 $16,058.70 0.2
    REGION 10 $12,165.69 0.1
    TOTALS $324,203.20 3.6
  • 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.