March 10 , 2015

VIA EMAIL U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Elliot F. Kaye 4330 East West Highway Bethesda, MD 20814

Re: 16 CFR Part 1422, Docket No. CPSC

- 2009

- 0087 Request for Extension of Comment Deadline

Dear Chairman Kaye

,

On beh alf of the Recreational Off

- Highway Veh icle Association (ROHVA) , I write with regard to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recent response to ROHVA’s FOIA appeal and , as a result of that response

, to request an extension of time to comment on the Not ice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding Recreational Off

- Highway Vehicles ( the NPR).

On February 5, 2015 ROHVA emailed its appeal regarding the numerous gaps in the CPSC’s document production. More than a month later, on March 9, 2015, the CPSC’s General

C ounsel emailed her response (the letter is mistakenly dated March 6, 2015). That letter
confirms that th e CPSC’s prior FOIA responses were materially incomplete and failed to
disclose significant information and materials underlying the NPR.

As a result , and less than a month before the April 8 comment deadline, the CPSC has

now promised to produce at some future date all the following documents and data essential for meaningful comment on the NPR :

• A complete copy of the previously

- redacted Tab D “data base excel spreadsheets and the corresponding codebook” [CPSC General Counsel’s Letter at 1];

• A complete copy of the never

- produced “Tab F

- related spreadsheet, along with the underlying records associated with this spreadsheet” [ Id. at 3];

• “A ll documents i dentified in the ROHVA spreadsheet listing the 32 incidents referenced in the FOIA Appeal” [ Id. at 4];

• “A ll incident reports identified by applicable staff as relating to completed Epidemiological Investigation Reports (“EIRs”)” [ Id. ];

• “A ll incident report s that previously were not provided because they represented duplicate reports” [ Id. at 5];

• “A dditional documents... as noted above” ( which the letter does not define ) [ Id. ];2 • “Address Incidents 75 and 78, which were specifically cited in the FOIA Appeal” [ Id

. ]; and

• “As a result of additional inquiries relating to the FOIA Appeal, staff identified additional responsive documents that were not previously provided to ROHVA” [ Id. ].

The CPSC’s belated commitment to provide these materials to ROHVA , in response to
ROHVA ’ s FOIA appeal, seem s to be a positive step toward fulfilling Commissioner Adler’s
vision for the CPSC “as one of the most open and transparent federal agencies.” [ January 15,
2015 Statement of Commission Robert Adler on the Request for an Extension o f the Comment Period for the Proposed Rulemaking for Recreational Off

- Highway Vehicles

. ] But it plainly leaves a significant amount of additional work f or all involved

, and has seriously delayed and impeded ROHVA’s ability to comment on the NPR

. ROHVA al ready has spent a great deal of time and money on the CPSC’s prior serial, and materially incomplete, productions. ROHV A
will now have to expend additional effort, time, and expense reviewing and analyzing the se documents , once they are received (and assu ming the next CPSC production is complete)

.

Accordingly, under these circumstances, ROHVA requests a 90

- day extension of the comment period from April 8, 2015 to July 7, 2015. An extension of the comment period is
essential for the CPSC staf f to produce all the documents, and for ROHVA to (a ) review the documents for completeness, the volume of which is unknown in light of the CPSC’s vague references to “additional responsive documents;” (b ) correspond with the CPSC regarding any remaining gaps in the pr oduction; ( c ) analyze the documents; and ( d ) prepare meaningful

comments in response to the NPR

.

In light of the fast

- approaching April 8 deadline , the CPSC’s belated acknowledgement of the document problems on March 9, and the problems (and solutions) being solely within the CPSC’s control, ROHVA requests a response by this Friday,

March 13. ROHVA’s prior extension request was not answered for over a month, and it would be unfair to repeat that slow

- moving process under the se circumstances. ROHVA hop es that the
CPSC shares a desire for a fair process that wil l provide a full opportunity to review, analyze

, and comment upon the NPR and the underlying data and staff analyses on which it is based

.
Sincerely,

Erik Pritchard

cc: Commissioner Robert S . Adler
Commissioner Ann Marie Buerkle Commissioner Joseph Mohorovic
Commissioner Marietta S. Robinson
Executive Director Patricia Adkins Secretary Todd Stevenson