Ocean Policy Records involving NROC, the NE-RPB, and Private Entities

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:

All electronic records generated or received from November 1, 2012 until present and which can be considered to be associated with, or relate to:
1.) the state considering and/or being advised as to whether the Northeast Regional Planning Body (NE-RPB) is a federal agency, entity, or endeavor;
2.) the NE-RPB being considered and/or defined to be a “convening body”;
3.) the status of the NE-RPB under state law, regulation, gubernatorial executive order or policy of any state agency;
4.) policies, guidelines, and recommendations concerning the process by which NE-RPB decisions are made including, but not limited to, decisions of the executive secretariat;
5.) sources of NE-RPB funding and/or support (including donated goods and/or services);
6.) conditions attached to funding the NE-RPB receives;
7.) NE-RPB information disclosure policies and/or any records with respect to how to respond to information disclosure requests;
8.) the activities and/or communications involving the NE-RPB executive secretariat;
9.) Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC) funding and/or support (including donated goods and/or services);
10.) policies, guidelines, and recommendations concerning the process by which NROC decisions are made;
11.) any conditions attached to NROC funding;
12.) policies and procedures regarding personal identifying information (PII) that may be collected and/or used by NROC, and any records associated with that PII and any state and federal/state privacy laws;
13.) any association between NROC and Seaplan;
14.) NROC hosting, maintenance, use and/or access to the NE-RPB webpage;
15.) ownership of the NROC Internet domain and all records related to the proxy being used for purposes of ICANN reporting and/or registration;
16.) NROC meetings that involve regional ocean planning, inclusive of those records that discuss those planning activities in relation to NE-RPB activity;
17.) amounts and rates associated with NROC expenditures on administration, staff, overhead, business expenses, and contributions;
18.) policies, guidelines, and recommendations, recorded discussions concerning NROC staff or personnel engaging in lobbying activities at the federal, state, and/or local level;
19.) the Massachusetts Ocean Partnership and/or Seaplan, including any conflict of interest statements that include reference to those entities;
20.) public private partnerships and/or requirements for public accountability, transparency, and/or information disclosure policies involving non-governmental entities;
21.) private and/or public funds being transferred to Massachusetts Ocean Partnership, Seaplan, and/or NROC;
22.) Third Sector NewEngland funding to the State, Massachusetts Ocean Partnership, Seaplan, and/or NROC;
23.) the policies and procedures associated with any PII that may be collected and/or used by Seaplan, and any records associated with that PII and any state and federal/state privacy laws;
24.) complaints, disputes, legal actions, and/or other similar records associated with Seaplan and any person associated with Seaplan;
25.) any limitations of liability, assignments, licenses, and/or waivers that involve Seaplan and/or Seaplan produced, provided or received data, information, and services;
26.) agreements/contracts/memoranda of understanding between any of the NE-RPB, NOAA, and NROC “partners”, collaborators, and contractors, including, but not limited to, Seaplan;
27.) decisions, notices, and communications related to NROC and/or Seaplan maps or the Northeast Data Portal at the public NE-RPB engagement meetings scheduled for May and June 2013;
28.) NROC and/or the NE-RPB referencing offshore wind power generation issues of maintenance, security, safety, and lifespan of generation structures;
29.) any communications and/or requests referencing the U.S. Congressional Committee on Natural Resources and ocean planning in the Northeast; and
30.) communications to/from/regarding the Council on Environmental Quality, Grover Fugate, Nick Napoli, John Weber, Stephanie Moura, Laura Cantral, Deerin Babb-Brott, the National Ocean Council, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Consensus Building Institute, and/or members of the state or federal legislatures.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Tom Hatfield

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 22, 2013. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

Hello,

We mailed it to

100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900
Boston, MA 02114

on May 21. Please let us know if there is a better address.

Thanks

Tom
MuckRock

I would be interested in a status to this request.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 22, 2013. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

Hello,

Thank you for your email letting me know that the request is being processed. What particular questions do you have about the request? It would likely be best to address the questions, if we can, in writing based on the public news/issue nature of my request. I would like to ensure that the process of requesting and obtaining records is as publicly open as possible. In addition, the nature and scope of the request would be best understood if reduced to writing to avoid any misunderstanding.

Perhaps, you can identify specific numbered portions of my request to ask about?

All the best,

Tom Hatfield

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 22, 2013. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

Could you please let me know what criteria you used to deny my fee waiver request, and whether there are any records you identified that were responsive but non-disclosable?

Thanks.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 22, 2013. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 22, 2013. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 22, 2013. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on May 22, 2013. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.