Freedom of Information Act

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Council on Environmental Quality
Annual FOIA 1998 Report

October 1, 1997-September 30, 1998

Basic Information Regarding Report

Name, Title, Address, and Telephone Number of Person to be Contacted with Questions about The Report.
Ellen Athas
Freedom of Information Officer
Council on Environmental Quality
722 Jackson Place,
NW Washington, DC 20503
Telephone number: (202) 456-6541
Fax number: (202) 456-0753
Electronic address for report on the World Wide Web.
/CEQ
How to obtain a copy of the report in paper form.
Request a copy from the address above.

How to Make a FOIA Request

FOIA Requests should be submitted in writing to CEQ at the above address by mail.

Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all individual agency components and offices that receive FOIA requests.
N/A
Brief description of the agency's response time ranges.
Response times are from one day to more than one year is some cases.
Brief description of why some requests are not granted.
Since most of FOIA submissions contain privileged information, exemptions (b) (3) and (b) (5) are used to withhold this exempt material.

Definitions of Terms and Acronyms Used in the Report (to be included in each report)

Agency-specific acronyms or other terms.
Basic terms, expressed in common terminology.
1. FOIA/PA request Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act request. A FOIA request is generally a request for access to records concerning a third party, an organization, or a particular topic of interest. A Privacy Act request is a request for records concerning oneself; such requests are also treated as FOIA requests. (All requests for access to records, regardless of which law is cited by the requester, are included in this report.)
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. Multitrack 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 (see below).
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 multitrack processing places in its fastest (nonexpedited) track based on the volume and/or simplicity of records requested.
8. Complex request a FOIA request that an agency using multitrack processing places in a slower track based on the volume and/or complexity of records requested.
9. Grant an agency decision to disclose all records in full in response to a FOIA request.
10. Partial grant an 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 an 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 because 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 a "perfected" FOIA request).
13. "Perfected" request a FOIA request for records which adequately describes the records sought, which has been received by the FOIA office of the agency or agency component in possession of the records, and for which there is no remaining question about the payment of applicable fees.
14. 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).
15. Median number the middle, not average, number. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the median number is 7.
16. Average number the number obtained by dividing the sum of a group of numbers by the quantity of numbers in the group.

Exemption 3 Statutes

List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by agency during current fiscal year.
1. Brief description of type(s) of information withheld under each statute
  None
2. Statement of whether a court has upheld the use of each statute. If so, then cite example.
  None

Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests

Numbers of initial requests.
1. Number of requests pending as of end of preceding fiscal year
  None
2. Number of requests received during current fiscal year
  31
3. Number of requests processed during current fiscal year
  31
4. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year
  0
Disposition of initial requests.
1. Number of total grants 31
2. Number of partial grants 3
3. Number of denials 3
  1. number of times each FOIA exemption used
    
    (counting each exemption once per request)
    1. Exemption 1 0
    2. Exemption 2 0
    3. Exemption 3 2
    4. Exemption 4 0
    5. Exemption 5 1
    6. Exemption 6 0
    7. Exemption 7(A) 0
    8. Exemption 7(B) 0
    9. Exemption 7(C) 0
    10. Exemption 7(D) 0
    11. Exemption 7(E) 0
    12. Exemption 7(F) 0
    13. Exemption 8 0
    14. Exemption 9 0
  2. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) 0
    1. no records 0
    2. referrals 0
    3. request withdrawn 1
    4. fee-related reason 0
    5. records not reasonably described 0
    6. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 0
    7. not an agency record 0
    8. duplicate request 0
    9. other (specify) 0

Appeals of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA Requests

Numbers of appeals.
1. Number of appeals received during fiscal year 0
2. Number of appeals processed during fiscal year 0
Disposition of appeals.
1. Number completely upheld 0
2. Number partially reversed 0
3. Number completely reversed 0
  1. number of times each FOIA exemption used
    (counting each exemption once per appeal)
    1. Exemption 1 0
    2. Exemption 2 0
    3. Exemption 3 0
    4. Exemption 4 0
    5. Exemption 5 0
    6. Exemption 6 0
    7. Exemption 7(A) 0

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Contacting CEQ

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