Vela Telecom Comms

Jimmy Tobias filed this request with the National Park Service of the United States of America.
Tracking #

NPS-2019-01087

Est. Completion Dec. 2, 2019
Status
Fix Required

Communications

From: Jimmy Tobias


To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

Any and all written or electronic communications, including email attachments, between NPS official David Vela and any representative, lobbyist, employee or official associated with one or more of the following telecom companies: Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom AG, and/or Diamond Communications.

This request seeks records produced between January 1, 2018 and the date this request is processed.

I am a reporter for The Guardian newspaper.

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,

Jimmy Tobias

From: National Park Service

Hi Alison,

I am routing another GRTE telecoms correspondence request to you for
processing. Let me know if it turns out another office needs to search for
responsive records.

As usual I've cc'd the requester so they know who will be handling their
request.

Thanks,

C.

____________________

Ms. Charis Wilson, PhD, CRM
NPS FOIA Officer
12795 W. Alameda Parkway
PO Box 25287
Denver, CO 80225-0287
303-969-2959
Fax: 303-969-2557
1-855-NPS-FOIA
npsfoia@nps.gov <charis_wilson@nps.gov>

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: <requests@muckrock.com>
Date: Fri, Jun 7, 2019 at 1:07 PM
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Freedom of Information Act Request: Vela Telecom Comms
To: <npsfoia@nps.gov>

National Park Service
FOIA Office
P.O. Box 25287
12795 West Alameda Parkway
Denver, CO 80225

June 7, 2019

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following
records:

Any and all written or electronic communications, including email
attachments, between NPS official David Vela and any representative,
lobbyist, employee or official associated with one or more of the following
telecom companies: Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom AG, and/or
Diamond Communications.

This request seeks records produced between January 1, 2018 and the date
this request is processed.

I am a reporter for The Guardian newspaper.

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,

Jimmy Tobias

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PLEASE NOTE: This request is not filed by a MuckRock staff member, but is
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From: Jimmy Tobias

Thank you Charis!

Jimmy

From: National Park Service

Mr. Tobias,

We have received your FOIA request for *Grand Teton** National Park (GRTE)*.
Your tracking number is *NPS-2019-01087*. Please reference this number when
communicating about this request.

We have classified you as a representative of the news media. As such, we
may charge you for some of our duplication costs, but we will not charge
you for our search or review costs; you also are entitled to up to 100
pages of photocopies (or an equivalent volume) for free. See 43 C.F.R.
§ 2.39
<http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=0fc3ab3499768eebc2e3691c8cf88dec&rgn=div5&view=text&node=43:1.1.1.1.2&idno=43#43:1.1.1.1.2.7.5.3>.
If, after taking into consideration your fee category entitlements, our
processing costs are less than $50.00, we will not bill you because the
cost of collection would be greater than the fee collected. See 43 C.F.R.
§ 2.37(g)
<http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=0fc3ab3499768eebc2e3691c8cf88dec&rgn=div5&view=text&node=43:1.1.1.1.2&idno=43#43:1.1.1.1.2.7.5.13>
You have asked us to waive the fees for processing your request. Our FOIA
regulations state that bureaus will waive, or partially waive, fees if
disclosure of all or part of the information is:

(1) In the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly
to public

understanding of government operations or activities, and

(2) Not primarily in your commercial interest.

We have determined that you meet the fee waiver criteria and thus have
granted your request to waive fees.

****Please note that I have combined requests for both Mizelle and Vela
into 1 request in order to process more efficiently.*

*Also, because we currently have a substantial backlog I am providing you
your appeal rights below in the event that we aren't able to process your
request within the statutory time frame, as has been the case for some
requests lately.*

You have the right to appeal this denial of your request. You may file an
appeal by writing to:

Freedom of Information Act Appeals Officer

Office of the Solicitor

U.S. Department of the Interior

1849 C Street, NW

MS-6556-MIB,

Washington, D.C. 20240

foia.appeals@sol.doi.gov

Your appeal must be received no later than 90 workdays after the date of
this final response. The appeal should be marked, both on the envelope and
the face of the appeal letter, with the legend "FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
APPEAL." Your appeal should be accompanied by a copy of your original
request and copies of all correspondence between yourself and the National
Park Service related to this request, along with any information you have
which leads you to believe the records are available, including where they
might be found, if the location is known to you. Please note, appeals
received after 5 p.m. EST will be considered to have been received as of
the following day.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks,

-Alison

--

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

Alison Yamato
Government Information Specialist - FOIA Officer - IMR
NPS Intermountain Region
12795 W Alameda Pkwy
Lakewood, CO 80228
303.969.2242 (O)
303.243.4096 (C)

Looking for NPS public information? Try ETIC pubs.etic.nps.gov

From: Jimmy Tobias

Thank you very much Alison. I appreciate it.

Jimmy Tobias
248-763-0088

From: National Park Service

Hi Mr. Tobias,

As I have communicated previously we combined your requests for GRTE
telecomm documents of both Mr. Mizelle and Mr. Vela into 1 FOIA request,
NPS-2019-01087. We currently still have 40 requests ahead of this one but
as I communicated earlier these documents are in part duplicative of those
submitted in an earlier FOIA request and thus will likely go out at the
same time as the earlier request since the responsive material will have
already been reviewed. That request, NPS-2019-00787 currently sits with 24
ahead of it. I appreciate your patience with our FOIA request backlog and
look forward to getting the responsive documents out as soon as is
practicable.

Thanks,
-Alison

--

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

Alison Yamato
Government Information Specialist - NPS Regional FOIA Officer & Coordinator
Servicing DOI Regions 5,6,7,8, & 9
12795 W Alameda Pkwy
Lakewood, CO 80228
303.969.2242 (O)
303.243.4096 (C)

Looking for NPS public information? Try ETIC pubs.etic.nps.gov

From: Jimmy Tobias

Hi Alison,

Thanks so much for the quick reply, and for your work on this. I totally understand the limitations you are working under given the large backlog.

Do you have an estimated time frame of when the request might reach the top of the pile? Could it be weeks, or are we looking at months here? I am exploring litigation as a remedy to this long wait (as I have had to do with many of my other DOI-related FOIAs) and I just want to check in with you about possible timing before I move forward with that option.

Thanks again. I appreciate you following up.

Sincerely,

Jimmy Tobias

From: National Park Service

Hi Jimmy,

I am so sorry that I don't have better, more precise news. I am not sure -
I think in the months is more likely. As I think I've already mentioned
there is another request above yours requesting the same documents so it
will inevitably go out at the same time but I would guess at least a couple
months. I am going to have the park look at the documents to see if there
is anything that we can more expeditiously get out on a rolling basis. I
apologize for the delay. We are also trying to get a detail person in
under me to help with some of the backlog soon also which could impact the
timeframe (hopefully).

I appreciate your patience and your reasonable demeanor greatly!

Thanks,
-Alison

--

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

Alison Yamato
Government Information Specialist - NPS Regional FOIA Officer & Coordinator
Servicing DOI Regions 5,6,7,8, & 9
12795 W Alameda Pkwy
Lakewood, CO 80228
303.969.2242 (O)
303.243.4096 (C)

Looking for NPS public information? Try ETIC pubs.etic.nps.gov

From: Jimmy Tobias

Thank you for the update Alison. I really appreciate it!

Talk to you soon.

Sincerely,

Jimmy

From: National Park Service

I am out on leave and will respond when I return on 12/2/19

*“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”*
-Theodore Roosevelt

Alison Yamato
Government Information Specialist
FOIA Officer - IMR
NPS Intermountain Region
12795 W Alameda Pkwy <x-apple-data-detectors://53/0>
Lakewood, CO 80228 <x-apple-data-detectors://53/0>
303.969.2242 (O)

From: National Park Service

Hi Jimmy,

You still have approximately 31 requests ahead of yours. I got a lot of
requests completed over the holidays but it is still overwhelming and I'm
moving as quickly as possible. I appreciate your patience.

Thanks,
-Alison

--

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

Alison Yamato
Government Information Specialist - NPS Regional FOIA Officer & Coordinator
Servicing DOI Regions 6,7, & 8
12795 W Alameda Pkwy
Lakewood, CO 80228
303.969.2242 (O)
303.243.4096 (C)

Looking for NPS public information? Try ETIC pubs.etic.nps.gov

From: National Park Service

Hi Jimmy,

I apologize - I have been out with this virus. I am in process of reviewing documents and hope to get them out in batches in the next few weeks. I am so sorry for our backlog - I am working them in as quickly as I can but there's a LOT of info and much of it is potentially proprietary. I appreciate your patience.

Thanks,
-Alison

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

Alison Yamato
Government Information Specialist
FOIA Officer - IMR
NPS Intermountain Region
12795 W Alameda Pkwy
Lakewood, CO 80228

From: National Park Service

Mr. Tobias,

This is the only responsive document from Mr. Vela so I am sending along as a first and partial response. I hope to have the remainder of documents in the next 2 weeks. I greatly appreciate your patience and apologize for the tardiness/backlog.

Thanks,
-Alison

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

Alison Yamato
Government Information Specialist
FOIA Officer - IMR
NPS Intermountain Region
12795 W Alameda Pkwy
Lakewood, CO 80228

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From: National Park Service

Mr. Tobias,

I greatly appreciate your patience. I am releasing our second partial response for your request - attached. Please note that your records overlapped with another request which means that there are some additional records included in this responsive set than you asked for. Thus, in an effort to be more efficient I have provided the whole data set rather than coming through to remove additional emails, etc. I have uploaded the responsive records to a shared teams "channel" where you can access them. You will receive a second email alerting you to go there for the records. We will have 1 more third and final response forthcoming in the next couple of weeks. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks,
-Alison

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

Alison Yamato
Government Information Specialist
NPS FOIA Officer - Interior Regions 6,7 & 8
12795 W Alameda Pkwy
Lakewood, CO 80228

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From: Jimmy Tobias

Hi Alison,

Thank you for all this. Is there any chance you could send the microsoft teams email with the records to my gmail account: jtoby87@gmail.com That will allow me to access the records. Thank you!

From: National Park Service

Mr. Tobias,

I am so sorry - I found the email for the second partial response in my drafts and believed I had sent it to you. Regardless, you should have received an invite from the teams "channel" back in March when I uploaded documents and sent an access link to you. I am also including our third and final response to your request in this email. Again, I will upload documents to that same teams channel and it will generate an email notice to you. Please note that there are some communications that are included in this response which are technically outside of your scope of search but in the interest of efficiency for the government it was more beneficial to duplicate the data set than to exclude the few communications that were not directly between Rusty and telecom companies. I appreciate your patience.

Thanks,
-Alison

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

Alison Yamato
Government Information Specialist
NPS FOIA Officer - Interior Regions 6,7 & 8
12795 W Alameda Pkwy
Lakewood, CO 80228

From: National Park Service

Mr. Tobias,

I received the faxed follow-up. You should have received an email from my teams "channel" inviting you to download the responsive records. If you haven't received the invite, is there a personal email address that you have access to where I can send the files. I included the information in our final response on how the system would send an invite but I'm not certain with the muckrock address if it goes through. Please contact me at this email address as I am not physically in the building.

Thanks,
-Alison

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

Alison Yamato
Government Information Specialist
NPS FOIA Officer - Interior Regions 6,7 & 8
12795 W Alameda Pkwy
Lakewood, CO 80228

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