See additional articles on
Freedom of Information

FOIA Requests: EPA Tells All (Well, Almost)

Only a journalist could get excited about EPA’s latest annual report on Freedom of Information Act activity. EPA issued its report for fiscal 2000 in April of 2001 (http://www.epa.gov/foia/).

The agency’s backlog of FOIA requests not responded to grew significantly in fiscal 2000 -- from 8,772 pending requests at the end of fiscal year 1999 to 9,841 at the end of fiscal year 2000.

During all of fiscal 2000, EPA received 15,906 FOIA requests, and it processed 14,837 during the same period. During fiscal year 2000, the most recent year for which data are available, the EPA granted 10,178 FOIA requests fully, granted another 628 partially, and denied 77. There were other reasons for non- disclosure beside denial of the request. For example, for 2,160 of the requests the records sought did not exist. Another 658 requests were referred to other agencies, 856 of the requests were withdrawn, and 254 were duplicate requests. In only 3 cases was the reason for non-disclosure related to fees.

FOIA requires agencies to provide requested information unless it falls under specific exemptions. The one most commonly used by EPA (381 times in fiscal year 2000) was the one for trade secrets and confidential business information. EPA used exemption 5, which applies to certain inter-agency or intra-agency memoes or letters, 288 times. In 280 cases, EPA used exemption 7, for information whose disclosure would interfere with enforcement or invade personal privacy. In 93 cases, EPA used the exemption covering personnel and medical files.

EPA reported that it had 83 full-time FOIA personnel in fiscal year 2000 -- and another 547 with part-time or occasional FOIA duties. The agency’s total costs for FOIA activities were $7,628,076 ($45,960 of it for litigation). During the same period, EPA collected $394,970 in FOIA fees -- about 5.2 percent of costs.

Reprinted with permission. Published in Environment Writer newsletter July/August 2001, by the National Safety Council's Environmental Health Center.