Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_08-cv-00735/USCOURTS-cand-3_08-cv-00735-1/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 895
Nature of Suit: Freedom of Information Act of 1974
Cause of Action: 05:552 Freedom of Information Act

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DEF’S STIP. REQ. FOR ORDER CHANGING TIME TO PRODUCE VAUGHN

 

 INDEX- 08-00735 SC 

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GREGORY G. KATSAS 

Assistant Attorney General 

ELIZABETH J. SHAPIRO 

ISAAC R. CAMPBELL 

United States Department of Justice 

Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch 

20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Room 6130 

Washington, D.C. 20530 

Tel: (202) 616-8476 

Fax: (202) 616-8460 

isaac.campbell@usdoj.gov 

Attorneys for Defendant Environmental Protection Agency 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, ex 

rel. EDMUND G. BROWN JR., ATTORNEY 

GENERAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, ) 

 Plaintiff, 

 v. 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, 

 Defendant. 

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CV 08-00735 SC 

STIPULATED REQUEST FOR 

ORDER CHANGING TIME TO 

PRODUCE VAUGHN INDEX 

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Pursuant to Civil L.R. 6-2, defendant U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA” or 

“Agency”), through undersigned counsel, hereby moves for an extension of 15 days, from August 21, 

2008, to September 5, 2008, to file Defendant’s Vaughn Index. Defendant’s request is made for good 

cause as set forth below: 

Defendant EPA represents as follows: 

1. The Information Law Practice Group (“ILPG”) of the EPA is responsible for managing the 

Agency’s Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) litigation and for providing legal counseling to 

Agency clients on a wide variety of information law issues. The ILPG is comprised of an Agency 

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DEF’S STIP. REQ. FOR ORDER CHANGING TIME TO PRODUCE VAUGHN

 

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Assistant General Counsel, seven staff attorneys, and two para-professionals (a paralegal and a FOIA 

specialist). 

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3. Additionally, on May 30, 2008, EPA provided Plaintiff a 349-page list of 2,198 documents. 

The list contained, when available, the document’s date and time of creation, author and recipient(s), 

subject line, and number of attachments, with the exception of approximately 250 records for which 

the Agency was consulting with other federal agencies and White House officials about the 

processing of such records. 

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4. On July 3, 2008, the Agency provided Plaintiff with a sample Vaughn index consisting of 237 

pages, which described the basis for withholding the sample of 202 documents. The sample Vaughn 

index described the detailed basis for withholding approximately every tenth document. 

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5. In preparing the sample Vaughn index, the lead EPA staff attorney on this case estimated that 

she spent approximately 120 hours researching, writing, and quality- checking the entries. Four other 

EPA staff attorneys were also assigned to assist with the drafting of the sample Vaughn index. In 

total, these four staff attorneys estimated that they spent approximately 100 hours on the creation of 

the sample Vaughn index. 

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6. In order to prepare a complete 

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2. To date, defendant EPA has provided to plaintiff, in response to its FOIA request, over 14,000 

pages of documents on a rolling basis and in six separate productions. 

Vaughn index, the Agency estimates that it will need to create 

full Vaughn index entries for roughly 1,500 of 2,198 documents and that so doing will likely result in 

a Vaughn index of approximately 1,600 to 2,000 pages. 

7. Currently, ILPG attorneys are working on eight other pending Agency FOIA cases in 

litigation: Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida v. U.S. EPA, No. 05-21023 (S.D. Fla.); Griffin 

Industries, Inc. v. U.S. EPA, No. 05-74 (E.D. Ky.); Natural Resources Defense Council v. FEMA, 

U.S.EPA, et al., No. 06-6213 (S.D.N.Y.); Natural Resources Defense Council v. U.S. EPA, No. 08-

1082 (S.D.N.Y); ASARCO, Inc. v. U.S. EPA, No. 08-01332 (D.D.C.); Natural Resources Defense 

Council v. U.S. EPA, No. 08-2443 (S.D.N.Y); Natural Resources Defense Council v. U.S. EPA, No. 

08-6234 (S.D.N.Y.); Our Children’s Earth Foundation v. U.S. EPA, No. 08-1461 (N.D. Cal.). Many 

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DEF’S STIP. REQ. FOR ORDER CHANGING TIME TO PRODUCE VAUGHN INDEX- 08-00735 SC 

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of these ongoing cases involve time-consuming, labor-intensive collection, review, redacting, 

indexing, and production of voluminous documents. 

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8. Additionally, in the next two weeks, two of the seven ILPG staff attorneys will be on 

previously-scheduled and approved annual leave. The remaining five staff attorneys will not only 

need to dedicate a majority of their workday to creating the 

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Vaughn index, but will also have to 

handle the workload of the two staff attorneys who are on vacation. To date, seven attorneys and one 

paralegal are assisting with the development of the Vaughn index. 

9. Accordingly, the requested 15-day time extension is necessary to permit the Agency to 

comply with the Court’s order to produce a complete Vaughn index. 

10. Defendant is not aware of any harm that will result from the requested extension as the 

Vaughn index as the delay is as brief as possible and will not affect the currently scheduled Case 

Management Conference. 

11. This motion is supported by the Declaration of Robert A. Freidrich, filed herewith. 

IV. CONCLUSION

For all the reasons set forth above and in the declaration of Robert A. Friedrich, defendant 

respectfully requests that its motion for an order changing, to Friday September 5, 2008, the time by 

which defendant’s Vaughn index is due. No other dates in the current schedule need be changed or 

modified as a result of this order. Pursuant to the above representations by EPA, Plaintiff has 

stipulated to the request. 

Dated: August 19, 2008 

Respectfully submitted, 

GREGORY G. KATSAS 

Assistant Attorney General 

 /s/ /s/ 

ELIZABETH J. SHAPIRO SANDRA GOLDBERG 

ISAAC R. CAMPBELL Deputy Attorney General 

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United States Department of Justice 

Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch LAURA ZUCKERMAN 

20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Rm. Deputy Attorney General 

6130 California Department of Justice 

Washington, DC 20530 Environment Section 

Tel: (202) 616-8476 Office of the Attorney General 

Fax: (202) 616-8460 1515 Clay Street, 20th floor 

Tel: (510) 622-2174 

Attorneys for Defendant 

 Attorneys for Plaintiff 

ORDER 

PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED. 

DATED: August , 2008 

Honorable Samuel Conti 

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