North Port - Sarasota County Death 7/30/2021
| Tracking # |
2024-FS-R8-05118-F 2024-FS-WO-05103-F |
| Submitted | June 5, 2024 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Andrew Free
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
On July 30, 2021, an outdoor worker employed by Earthbalance Corp. collapsed while clearing brush in Apalachicola National Forest in North Point, Sarasota County County, Florida. He was rushed to a ranger station 14 miles away, where he succumbed to heat-related illness and died. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration later fined the employer for this worker's heat-related death, finding the conditions of employment violated federal workplace safety standards: https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/region4/01192022.
I am writing to request an incident report, email communication, or notification records for the National Park Service station near the Forest site where the worker died. https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/florida/recarea/?recid=83574. The supervisor's headquarters is at 325 John Knox Rd, Tallahassee, Fl. The lat/long for the forest is Latitude : 30.143185 Longitude : -84.668872.
Requestor Information:
I make this request on behalf of Jeremy Young, producer with Al Jazeera English News, and MuckRock News, who are journalists primarily engaged in the dissemination of information and will make this information freely available to the public. We respectfully seek a fee waiver for this request. In addition, because this request forms part of the reporting on the increasingly deadly legal landscape surrounding heat related deaths of outdoor workers, and an urgent need to inform the public of the consequences of state-level legislation shortening or eliminating water and rest break periods for outdoor workers, we respectfully request expedited processing and I certify that the foregoing statements are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and understanding pursuant to 28 USC 1746.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEYQJ4r3osY
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, 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 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Andrew Free
From: U.S. Department Of Agriculture, Office of the Secretary
Dear Mr. Free This email acknowledges receipt of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, dated June 06, 2024, which was received in the United States Forest Service (USFS) Washington Office (WO) FOIA Service Center on June 06, 2024, and assigned tracking number 2024-FS-WO-05103-F. ou requested: I am writing to request the incident report, email communication, and/or notification records for the National Park Service station near the Forest site where an outdoor worker employed by Earthbalance Corp. collapsed while clearing brush in Apalachicola National Forest in North Point, Sarasota County, Florida, and died on July 30, 2021. Please be advisedthat the WO FOIA Service Center has a backlog of pending FOIA requests. We are diligently working to process each request inthe order in which it was received. Your patience is greatly appreciated. To check on the status of your request, please contact the assigned FOIA Specialist, Melani Gonzalez, directly at melani.gonzalez@usda.gov and reference your assigned case number, 2024-FS-WO-05103-F.
Thank you,
Rebecca
FOIA Service Center Team USDA - Forest Service, Washington Office
sm.fs.wofoia@usda.gov
From: U.S. Department Of Agriculture, Office of the Secretary
Good Afternoon Mr. Free,
Upon further review of your request, previously assigned tracking number 2024-FS-WO-05103-F, it has been determined that the Southern Regional FOIA Service Center (Region 8) is the correct location to process your request. As such, it has been assigned an R8 tracking number. Ifyou have questions about this request, please feel free to submit a query viaemail to stephen.watkins@usda.gov. In all correspondence, please reference yourassigned case number: 2024-FS-R8-05118-F
Weappreciate your patience as we proceed with your request.
Best Wishes,
Melissa
WO FOIA Intake Team
From: U.S. Department Of Agriculture, Office of the Secretary
///DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE. SEND ALL REPLIES TO sm.fs.r8foia@usda.gov AND james.lindsay2@usda.gov.
June 10, 2024
2024-FS-R8-05118-F
File Code: 6270
Dear Andrew Free: Thank you for yourrecent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the USDAForest Service - Southern Region (R8). This email acknowledges receipt of your FOIA requestdated June 06, 2024, which was received in the FS – National Forests in Florida office on June 07, 2024.You requested:
“Incident report and records related to fatality event in Apalachicola National Forest (FL)”
Yourrequest has been assigned to James Lindsay, FOIA Coordinator for National Forests in Florida.
You have requesteda fee waiver. Your fee waiver request is granted, as you have been classified as a member of the news media.
Before we can begin processing your request, we require a date range for the search. If you know the exact date of the fatality event your request refers to, that would be very helpful. If not, the month and year of the event would be sufficient. Please send your reply to james.lindsay2@usda.gov and sm.fs.r8foia@usda.gov.
Dueto the increasing number of FOIA requests received by this office, and theresulting backlog of requests, we may encounter some delay in processing yourrequest. Pursuant to USDA FOIA Regulations, Title 7 CFR §1.6(a), the ForestService processes FOIA requests according to their order of receipt.
Ifyou have questions about this request, please feel free to submit a query viaemail to james.lindsay2@usda.gov . In all correspondence, please reference yourassigned case number: 2024-FS-R8-05118-F
Weappreciate your patience as we proceed with your request. Sincerely,
---
Steve Watkins
Regional FOIA Coordinator
Forest Service
Southern Region
sm.fs.r8foia@usda.gov
1720 Peachtree Rd., NW
Atlanta, GA 30309
www.fs.usda.gov
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