OT? FOIA experiences

It is pretty well laid-out if you follow the instructions and dot every i properly.

My friend in Oregon FOIAed EPA about Pulp & Paper Mill Collusion With EPA in order to get around clean-up laws and ended up with about 100,000 pages of Free Stuff to plow through in her research on the Diooxin problem DOW created.

We found ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS, with rusty staples in 'em, oddly enough. REALLY IMPORTANT Stuff that some overloaded worker bee pulled out of the files and sent to her as reuqested.

WOW! What we found pretty much tore them all a new *hole, thouroughly.

It was funny when FAA showed up about the low-flying helicopter harrasment these FOIA things brought on her farm.

One day they sent a fighter jet over the top of her National Forest edge located 40-acre farm, less than 100 feet from the hilltop. Sonic Boom, etc..

OH, the goats and chickens and peacocks/hens were upset about that.

We found the jet in Salem, about an hour away.

Anyways, it is pretty basic stuff. You just gotta follow the FOIA rules of order to be successful.

The laws are pretty strict about what you can and cannot get, what they can and cannot refuse to provide, so you should be good to go on your project there.

Best of luck on it

That is essentially the nature of my question. Some gummit agencies are very cooperative; others almost confrontational -- "sticklers" (despite being able to fill a request, choosing to put impediments in the way by resorting to "technicalities").

A "stickler" might claim "no information found on diooxin [sic]" and reject the request. Someone more cooperative might understand the intent *and* include related information on, e.g., related DDT usage.

So, at *worst*, several iterations (at a month for each turn of the crank) if the folks on the other end aren't particularly "cooperative"...

Thx!

Good way to get audited and harassed, particularly if you own guns ;-) ...Jim Thompson

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| 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

A friend who runs a non-profit related to cold water safety requested info from a couple of government agencies including the US Marines. That was several years ago and to date none have complied. He has tried to find a point of contact that might be the way to follow up and has not even been able to find that. His request with the Marines involves an accident where some 8 or 10 marines died when overturning a small vessel about 100 yards from shore. Not one survived. I expect the marines just don't want it discussed.

--

Rick

The following reference material might be useful.

m/useful-links/. Having worked as both a government and private sector FOI A attorney, I can relay that the process is typically rote and impersonal. But you are correct that certain agencies are more responsive and customer

-friendly than others.

Thanks! I'll have a look...

I would expect that. Many would claim the DMV is "rote and impersonal" -- yet not particularly "helpful" nor "accommodating"! :-/

Well, it costs nothing to try. I suspect this is a case where it is advantageous to do business via email (though expect resulting materials to be delivered via USPS)?