U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL 

Briefing Report: 

Review of EPA’s Process to 

Release Information Under the 

Freedom of Information Act 

Report No. 14-P-0262 May 16, 2014 

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Report Contributors:	 Patrick Gilbride 

Randy Holthaus 

Raul Adrian 

Todd Goldman 

Kevin Lawrence 

Lori Ruk 

Abbreviations 

CFR Code of Federal Regulations 

EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

FOIA Freedom of Information Act 

FY Fiscal Year 

OARM Office of Administration and Resources Management 

OEI Office of Environmental Information 

OGC Office of General Counsel 

OIG Office of Inspector General 

OMB Office of Management and Budget 

ORD Office of Research and Development 

OSWER Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response 

OW Office of Water 

Hotline 

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fax: 1-202-566-2599 

online: http://www.epa.gov/oig/hotline.htm 

write: EPA Inspector General Hotline 

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phone: 1-202-566-2391 

fax: 1-202-566-2599 

online: http://www.epa.gov/oig/contact.html#Full_Info 

write: EPA Inspector General 

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14-P-0262 

May 16, 2014 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

Office of Inspector General 

At a Glance 

Why We Did This Review Briefing Report: Review of EPA’s 

In Office of Inspector General Process to Release Information Under the 

planning outreach we conducted Freedom of Information Act with the U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA) and 

congressional sources, they 

expressed concern about 

possible inconsistencies in how 

What We Found 

Each EPA region and headquarters office has processes for addressing FOIA the EPA decides what requests. While the regional and headquarters’ processes vary, they all lead to 

information to release under the a decision to release or withhold information based on an evaluation of the 

Freedom of Information Act request and the exemptions and exclusions prescribed in the FOIA. To ensure (FOIA). In response, we consistency in the processes used throughout the agency, the EPA’s Office of 

conducted this review to Environmental Information approved agencywide Interim FOIA Procedures in determine how the EPA offices September 2013, and plans to finalize them by the end of September 2014. and regions decide what 

information to release under the During our review, we obtained and reviewed FOIA procedures from all FOIA. 10 regions and four headquarters program offices, and found the following: 

The FOIA is a law that  All offices, except one, had internal FOIA procedures in writing to varying governs public access to degrees. For example, some procedures were still in draft or were dated U.S. government records. prior to the EPA’s implementation of its current online electronic system FOIA carries a presumption of for processing FOIA requests—FOIAonline. In addition, some were disclosure. detailed while others consisted of a basic flowchart or narrative 

description of the process. This report addresses the 

following EPA theme:  Seven offices (three EPA regions and all four headquarters program 

offices reviewed) had procedures that were not consistent with the EPA’s  Embracing EPA as a high current interim FOIA procedures. Primarily, the procedures did not performing organization. include language regarding the use of FOIAonline, or were silent or 

unclear regarding who has the authority to sign EPA letters responding to 

FOIA requests. 

Recommendations and Planned Agency Corrective Actions 

We recommend that the EPA Assistant Administrator for Environmental 

Information: (1) issue the final agency FOIA procedures by September 30, 

2014; and (2) require that Senior Information Officials at each region and 

For further information, headquarters program office certify that their local FOIA procedures are 

contact our public affairs office consistent with the agency’s final procedures by March 31, 2015. The EPA 

at (202)566-2391. agreed with both of our recommendations, and its actions, when completed, 

will address the issues presented in this report. All recommendations are The full report is at: resolved. www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2014/ 

20140516-14-P-0262.pdf 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

THE INSPECTOR GENERAL 

May 16, 2014 

MEMORANDUM 

SUBJECT:	 Briefing Report: Review of EPA’s Process to Release Information Under the 

Freedom of Information Act 

Report No. 14-P-0262 

FROM:	 Arthur A. Elkins Jr. 

TO:	 Renee Wynn, Acting Assistant Administrator and Chief Information Officer 

Office of Environmental Information 

This is a briefing report on the subject evaluation conducted by the Office of Inspector General of the 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This report represents the opinion of the OIG and does 

not necessarily represent the final EPA position. In accordance with established audit-resolution 

procedures, EPA managers will make final determinations on matters in this report. 

Action Required 

You are not required to provide a written response to this final report because you agreed to all 

recommendations and provided corrective actions and planned completion dates that meet the intent of 

our recommendations. The recommendations remain open with corrective actions ongoing. Please 

update the EPA’s Management Audit Tracking System as you complete the planned corrective actions 

for these recommendations and notify my staff if there is a significant change in the agreed-to corrective 

actions. We will post this report on our website at http://www.epa.gov/oig. 

If you or your staff have any questions regarding this report, please contact the Assistant Inspector 

General for Program Evaluation, Carolyn Copper, at (202) 566-0829 or copper.carolyn@epa.gov; 

or the Director, Patrick Gilbride, at (303) 312-6969 or gilbride.patrick@epa.gov. 
U.S. EPA 

Office of Inspector General
 

Review of EP!’s Process to 

Release Information Under the 

Freedom of Information Act 
 

 

Assignment Objective
 

Our assignment objective was to determine how the 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offices and 

regions decide what information to release under the 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 

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Background
  FOIA is a law governing public access to the U.S. government records. FOIA carries a presumption of disclosure. 

 At the EPA, the FOIA program is decentralized. The Agency FOIA Officer manages a small staff in headquarters, 

and each region and headquarters program office has a FOIA Coordinator and staff involved in processing FOIA 

requests on a full- or part-time basis. In most cases, the FOIA office will assign the request in FOIAonline to the 

primary FOIA Coordinator in the program or regional office believed to most likely house the majority of 

responsive records. 

 FOIAonline is the new online system the EPA uses for processing FOIA requests. The EPA introduced this system 

at the beginning of fiscal year (FY) 2013. The requirement to use FOIAonline to manage all FOIA requests did not 

become effective until June 28, 2013, through the interim FOIA policy. 

 The agency approved its Interim Procedures for Responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requests on 

September 30, 2013. These procedures address statutory, regulatory, policy, procedural and processing 

requirements to be followed by all EPA organizations in responding to FOIA requests submitted to the EPA. The 

procedures must comprise the core of any office-specific response procedures that are developed and 

implemented in the EPA. 

 According to the Agency FOIA Officer, the interim policy and procedures are expected to become final by the end 

of FY 2014. At that time, regions and offices will have 6 more months (around March 2015) to establish office 

specific procedures that are consistent with the interim procedures. 

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Background (continued)
 

Table 1 shows that, between FYs 2010-2012, EPA received 30,221 FOIA requests. Of those, EPA 

partially or fully denied 2,182 requests (about 7.2 percent). Requests were fully denied in less than 

1 percent of the cases. 

Table 1: Breakdown of FOIA Requests Received / Denied 

(FYs 2010 2012) 

Fiscal year Requests 

received 

Partial grants/ 

partial denials 

Full denials 

(based on exemptions) 

2012 9,689 609 (6.29%) 96 (0.99%) 

2011 10,123 676 (6.68%) 94 (0.93%) 

2010 10,409 607 (5.83%) 100 (0.96%) 

3-Year Total 30,221 1,892 (6.26%) 290 (0.96%) 

Source: EPA FOIA Annual Reports. 

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Criteria
 

 5 U.S.C. § 552, Freedom of Information Act. 

The act identifies exemptions--categories of information that are not required to be released to a 

FOIA requestor because release would be harmful to governmental or private interests. The act also 

excludes certain information related to law enforcement and national security from the requirements 

of FOIA. See a list of the FOIA exemptions on the following slide. 

 40 CFR, Part 2, Subpart A, Procedures for Disclosure of Records Under the Freedom of 

Information Act. 

This subpart contains the rules that the EPA follows in processing requests for records under the 

FOIA. 

 CIO 2157.0, Interim Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Policy, June 28, 2013. 

3All FOIA requests received at the EPA will be managed throughout their life cycle in FOIAonline, the 

Agency’s new FOIA processing and records repository tool. All records provided by the EPA in 

response to a FOIA request must be entered into FOIAonline unless subject to special handling 

requirements or policies. ́ 

 CIO 2157-P-01-0, Interim Procedures For Responding To Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 

Requests, September 30, 2013. 

These interim procedures provide basic instructions for responding to FOIA requests submitted to 

the EPA and must comprise the core of any office-specific FOIA response procedures that are 

developed and implemented in the EPA . 

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Criteria (continued)
 

FOIA Exemptions
 

 ̈ Exemption 1: Classified national defense and foreign policy information. 

 ̈ Exemption 2: Internal personnel rules and practices of an agency. 

 ̈ Exemption 3: Information that is prohibited from disclosure by another federal law. 

 ̈ Exemption 4: Trade secrets and other confidential business information. 

 ̈ Exemption 5: Inter-agency or intra-agency communications that are protected by legal privileges. 

 ̈ Exemption 6: Information involving matters of personal privacy. 

 ̈ Exemption 7: Certain records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes. 

 ̈ Exemption 8: Information relating to the supervision of financial institutions. 

 ̈ Exemption 9: Geological information on wells. 

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Scope & Methodology
  Reviewed key criteria (federal statute, regulations, and EPA policies and procedures). 

 Reviewed prior U.S. Government Accountability Office and the EPA Office of Inspector General reports. 

 Interviewed FOIA personnel at headquarters and Regions 4 and 6. The Agency FOIA Officer is located in 

headquarters, and we selected Regions 4 and 6 due to a large number of FOIA requests partially or fully 

denied in FY 2012 compared to other regions (Region 4), and senior managers having expressed concern 

about the FOIA process to the OIG prior to our review (Region 6). 

 Selected and reviewed a sample of 33 requests that were fully or partially denied or appealed during FY 

2013, as follows: 

7 

R4 R6 HQ Total

Sample size

Partial denials 4 1 11 16

Full denials 2 2 3 7

Appeals 1 1 8 10

7 4 22 33

Universe

Partial denials 78 23 218 319

Full denials 2 2 62 66

Appeals 3 6 159 168

83 31 439 553
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scope & Methodology (continued)
 

 Selected and reviewed an additional sample of 12 requests that resulted in either full or partial denials and were 

received on or after July 1, 2013 (after the interim policy went into effect requiring full use of FOIAonline). 

o	 No requests resulting in a full denial were received in Regions 4 or 6 from July 1, 2013, to the date 

we selected our sample. Therefore, we selected two requests listed as partial denials for each 

region. 

o	 From headquarters, we selected four requests received on or after July 1, 2013, that were listed as 

full denials and four requests listed as partial denials. 

 Requested and obtained FOIA procedures from all 10 regions and four headquarters program offices: Office of 

Administration and Resources Management (OARM), Office of Research and Development (ORD), Office of 

Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER), and Office of Water (OW). We selected those 4 

headquarters program offices for review because those offices, in their FY12 Federal Managers Financial 

Integrity Act submissions, made no mention of their FOIA programs. We reviewed existing procedures to 

determine whether they were consistent with the EPA’s interim FOIA procedures. 

 We conducted this review from August 2013 to January 2014 in accordance with generally accepted 

government auditing standards, with the following exceptions: 

1.	 During FY 2013, the EPA’s FOIA program underwent changes in its data tracking systems as well as its 

policies and procedures. Some of these changes are not yet fully implemented. Therefore, we conducted 

limited testing of the effectiveness of EPA’s FOIA process. 

2.	 With respect to the risk of fraud, our work was limited to the process for releasing documents under FOIA. 

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Overall Results
 

Each EPA region and office has processes for addressing FOIA requests. 

While the regional and headquarters’ processes vary, they all lead to a 

decision to release or withhold information based on an evaluation of the 

request and the exemptions and exclusions prescribed in the FOIA. 

Common elements of the Regional and headquarters’ processes include: 

 Ensure that the request is clearly stated and has sufficient contact 

information about the requester. 

 Assign the request to the appropriate individual who can effectively 

conduct the research on a given request. 

 Monitor the processing to ensure timely responses and/or extensions. 

 Coordinate with legal counsel as needed. 

 Communicate with the requester as needed. 

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Overall Results (continued)
 

 For requests received prior to July 2013 (when the interim FOIA policy was 

issued), we identified some minor input errors in FOIAonline and cases where 

documentation was not uploaded into the system. For requests received on or 

after July 1, 2013, we did not find any instances where required 

documentation was missing. 

 All 10 regions and three of the four headquarters program offices we sampled 

had FOIA procedures in writing, to varying degrees. Some procedures were 

still in draft or dated prior to the implementation of FOIAonline. Some were 

detailed while others simply included a flow chart or a narrative description of 

the process. 

 Seven of the 14 regional and headquarters offices we reviewed had 

procedures that were not consistent with the EP!’s interim procedures. The 

table in the next slide shows a detailed breakdown of whether regions and 

offices had formal procedures and whether the procedures were consistent 

with the EP!’s interim procedures. 

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FOIA procedures 

FOIA procedures signed/ Consistent with FOIA 

Region/office documented approved interim procedures? 

Yes = 13; No = 1 Yes = 3; No = 11 Yes = 7; No = 7 

Region 1 YES YES YES 

Region 2 YES NO YES 

Region 3 YES YES NO 

Region 4 YES NO YES 

Region 5 YES NO YES 

Region 6 YES YES NO 

Region 7 YES NO NO 

Region 8 YES NO YES 

Region 9 YES NO YES 

Region 10 YES NO YES 

OARM YES NO NO 

ORD YES NO NO 

OSWER YES NO NO 

OW NO NO NO 

Note: For purposes of our review, procedures had to incorporate information about FOIAonline to be considered consistent with the EP!’s interim FOI! procedures. 

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Conclusions
 

 The EPA does not plan to finalize its FOIA policy and procedures until the end 

of FY 2014. During this period of transition, the EPA should make it clear that 

regions and offices should be following the agency’s FOI! interim procedures. 

 The EPA will require regions and program offices to develop internal FOIA 

procedures that are consistent with the new final agency procedures. Based 

on a timeframe negotiated within the EPA by the Office of General Counsel 

and all Regional Counsels, the EPA plans to give regions and program offices 6 

months from the date when the interim procedures are finalized to comply 

with this requirement. At that point, the EPA must ensure accountability by 

requiring that each region and program office certifies that their local 

procedures are consistent with the final agency procedures. While it will be 

about another year before regions and offices will be required to have 

documented procedures in place that are consistent with national procedures, 

the EPA should encourage regions and offices to address any inconsistencies 

before then. 

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Recommendations
 

We recommend that the EPA Assistant Administrator for Environmental 

Information: 

(1)	 Issue the final agency FOIA procedures by September 30, 2014. 

(2)	 Require that Senior Information Officials at each region and program 

office certify that their local FOIA procedures are consistent with the 

agency’s final procedures by March 31, 2015. 

OIG Evaluation of Agency Response 

We have reviewed the proposed corrective actions and timeframes and agree 

with the agency’s plans for complying with our recommendations. All 

recommendations are resolved. 

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Status of Recommendations and 

Potential Monetary Benefits 

POTENTIAL MONETARY 

RECOMMENDATIONS BENEFITS (in $000s) 

Rec. 

No. 

Page 

No. Subject Status1 Action Official 

Planned 

Completion 

Date 

Claimed 

Amount 

Agreed-To 

Amount 

1 

2 

13 

13 

Issue the final agency FOIA procedures by 

September 30, 2014. 

Require that the Senior Information Officials at 

each region and program office certify that their 

local FOIA procedures are consistent with the 

agency’s final procedures by March 31, 2015. 

O 

O 

Assistant Administrator for 

Environmental Information 

Assistant Administrator for 

Environmental Information 

9/30/14 

3/31/15 

O = recommendation is open with agreed-to corrective actions pending 

C = recommendation is closed with all agreed-to actions completed 

U = recommendation is unresolved with resolution efforts in progress 

14-P-0262 

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Appendix A 

Agency Response 

April 8, 2014 

MEMORANDUM 

SUBJECT: Response to Office of Inspector General Briefing Report No. 

OPE-FY13-0027, “Review of EPA’s Process to Release 

Information Under the Freedom of Information Act.” 

FROM:	 Renee Wynn /s/ 

Acting Assistant Administrator 

and Chief Information Officer 

TO:	 Arthur A. Elkins, Jr. 

Inspector General 

Thank you for the opportunity to review and respond to the recommendations in the 

subject audit briefing report. Following is a summary of the agency’s overall position, 

along with its position on each of the briefing report recommendations. 

AGENCY’S OVERALL POSITION: OEI agrees with the recommendations and plans to 

address each recommendation by the estimated completion dates for the corrective 

actions as listed in the agreements table below. 

OEI understands the OIG will incorporate OEI’s response and then issue the briefing 

report as final. The audit will then be closed upon issuance of the final report. The two 

recommendations and corrective actions will be tracked in the Management Audit 

Tracking System (MATS) until completed. 

I want to assure you that EPA is committed to continuous improvements to the FOIA 

program. We have made great strides in implementing the recommendations from the 

Deputy Administrator’s FOIA workgroup and will continue to implement the workgroup’s 

recommendations. Recent improvements in the FOIA program include: 

•		 Issuing an interim FOIA policy and interim FOIA processing procedures; 

•		 Establishing an implementation schedule for the 22 FOIA recommendations 

made by the FOIA Workgroup; 

•		 Beginning quarterly reporting to the Deputy Administrator on the progress 

made in implementing the FOIA Workgroup recommendations; 

14-P-0262 

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•		 Sending a quarterly report to Agency Deputy Assistant Administrators and 

Deputy Regional Administrators on the processing status of FOIA requests in 

their organizations; 

•		 Delivering training to the Agency’s FOIA coordinators and FOIA officers; and 

other FOIA professionals, employees and managers who make decisions on 

the release of documents; and 

•		 Developing a new FOIA Intranet site that provides immediate access to FOIA 

guidance, management reports, tools, and training courses. 

If you have any questions regarding this response, please contact Larry Gottesman, 

EPA’s FOIA Officer, on 202-566-2162 or Scott Dockum, OEI Audit Follow-Up Manager, 

at 202-566-1914. 

AGENCY’S RESPONSE TO REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS 

Agreements 

No. Recommendation High-Level 

Intended 

Corrective 

Action(s) 

Estimated 

Completion by 

Quarter and FY 

1 Issue the final Agency FOIA 

procedures by September 

30, 2014. 

OEI concurs with 

the 

recommendation. 

4th Quarter FY 2014 

2 Require that Senior 

Information Officials at each 

region and program office 

certify that their local FOIA 

procedures are consistent 

with the Agency’s final 

procedures by March 31, 

2015. 

OEI concurs with 

the 

recommendation. 

2nd Quarter FY 

2015 

14-P-0262 

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Appendix B 

Distribution 

Office of the Administrator 

Deputy Administrator 

Chief of Staff 

Assistant Administrator for Environmental Information and Chief Information Officer 

Agency Follow-Up Official (the CFO) 

Agency Follow-Up Coordinator 

General Counsel 

Associate Administrator for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations 

Associate Administrator for External Affairs and Environmental Education 

Assistant Administrator for Administration and Resources Management 

Assistant Administrator for Research and Development 

Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response 

Assistant Administrator for Water 

Regional Administrators, Regions 1–10 

Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for Environmental Information 

EPA Freedom of Information Act Officer 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for Environmental Information 

Audit Follow-Up Coordinator, Office of Environmental Information 

14-P-0262 

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