Trump's Gag Order to the EPA

This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://foiaonline.regulations.gov:443/foia/action/public/view/request?objectId=090004d281157eb9)
* Tracking Number: EPA-HQ-2017-003724
* Requester Name: Curtis Waltman
* Date Submitted: 02/08/2017
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description: Requesting Any reports, memos, or communications, including email, with any member of the Trump administration over President Trump's orders to the EPA to cease any news or press releases, to freeze the grants and contract budget, to shut down their social media, and to not talk about these moves or any departmental updates with members of the press.

Mr. Waltman: I am writing in regard to your FOIA Request EPA-HQ-2017-003724 in which your seek "Any reports, memos, or communications, including email, with any member of the Trump administration over President Trump's orders to the EPA to cease any news or press releases, to freeze the grants and contract budget, to shut down their social media, and to not talk about these moves or any departmental updates with members of the press."

Your request as submitted is not a proper request because it does not reasonably describe the records sought as required by both the FOIA statute and the Agency's regulations. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3)(A); 40 C.F.R. § 2.102(c). In order for us to process your request, you should "include specific information about each record sought, such as the date, title or name, author, recipient, and subject matter. If known, you should include any file designations or descriptions for the records that you want. The more specific you are about the records or type of records that you want, the more likely EPA will be able to identify and locate records responsive to your request. . ." 40 C.F.R. § 2.102(c).

Please contact me within 10 days of the date of this correspondence so that we can assist in clarifying request. If we do not hear from you by that date, we will consider your request voluntarily withdrawn.

Thank you for your interest in EPA.

Becky Dolph

Becky Dolph | Director, FOIA Expert Assistance Team Office
U.S Environmental Protection Agency
Office of General Counsel | 7309B WJCN | 202-564-5771

Dear Mr. Waltman,

My name is Nancy Coviello and I'm with the EPA. I'm writing on behalf of Candace White, the FOIA Coordinator in the EPA's Office of Public Affairs (OPA); your FOIA request was assigned to OPA. I am writing to give you a status update on your FOIA Request, number: EPA-HQ-2017-003724. I wanted to let you know that we were still working on your FOIA request and that we had not forgotten about it.

As you can imagine, the Office of Public Affairs, which is where your FOIA has been assigned, is absolutely swamped with FOIA requests. And, similarly, our E-Discovery services have been overwhelmed by an unprecedented number of FOIA requests.

While I don't have an estimate about when we'll be done with your FOIA request, I wanted to assure you that we're diligently working on your request.

If you have any questions, or want to check in on the status of your FOIA request in the future, please reach out to OPA's FOIA Coordinator, Candace White, at 202-564-4308.

Thank you so much!

Nancy Coviello

======================================
Nancy E. Coviello
Office of Public Affairs
Administrator's Office
US Environmental Protection Agency
Phone: 202-564-1220 Cell: 202-994-0232 E-mail: coviello.nancy@epa.gov<mailto:coviello.nancy@epa.gov>
Mailing Address: 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Mail Code: 1703A, Washington, D.C. 20460
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08/11/2017 10:44 AM FOIA Request: EPA-HQ-2017-003724

Please see attached in reference to your request

Kind Regards,
Candy

Candace S White
Program Analyst
Office of The Administrator / Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
202-564-4308 Desk
202-731-3188 Cell
white.candace@epa.gov<mailto:white.candace@epa.gov>

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can - Arthur Ashe

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EPA-HQ-2017-003724 has been processed with the following final disposition: Full grant.
Records were released to the public as a result of this request. You may retrieve these records immediately using the following link: View Records.Over the next 2 hours, these records are also being added to FOIAonline's search pages, further enabling you to retrieve these documents associated with your FOIA request at any time. (https://foiaonline.regulations.gov:443/foia/action/public/view/request?objectId=090004d281157eb9)