Source: http://www.deq.state.va.us/ConnectWithDEQ/FreedomofInformationAct/RightsResponsibilities.aspx
Timestamp: 2013-12-12 16:09:10
Document Index: 142125540

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2']

Connect With DEQ Freedom of Information Act Rights & Responsibilities
View Department of Environmental Quality Expenses Rights & responsibilities
The Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), located at § 2.2-3700 Code of Virginia, guarantees citizens of the Commonwealth and representatives of the media access to public records held by public bodies, public officials and public employees.
You have the right to request to inspect or receive copies of public records, or both. You have the right to request that any charges for the requested records be estimated in advance. If you believe that your FOIA rights have been violated, you may file a petition in district or circuit court to compel compliance with FOIA. Making a request for records from DEQ
You may request records by U.S. mail, fax, e-mail, in person, or over the phone. FOIA does not require that your request be in writing, nor do you need to specifically state that you are requesting records under FOIA. From a practical perspective, it may be helpful to both you and the person receiving your request to put your request in writing. This allows you to create a record of your request. It also gives us a clear statement of what records you are requesting, so that there is no misunderstanding over a verbal request. However, we cannot refuse to respond to your FOIA request if you elect to not put it in writing. Your request must identify the records you are seeking with "reasonable specificity." This is a common-sense standard. It does not refer to or limit the volume or number of records that you are requesting; instead, it requires that you be specific enough so that we can identify and locate the records that you are seeking. Your request must ask for existing records or documents. FOIA gives you a right to inspect or copy records; it does not apply to a situation where you are asking general questions about the work of DEQ, nor does it require DEQ to create a record that does not exist. You may choose to receive electronic records in any format used by DEQ in the regular course of business. For example, if you are requesting records maintained in an Excel database, you may elect to receive those records electronically, via e-mail or on a computer disk, or to receive a printed copy of those records. If we have questions about your request, please cooperate with staff's efforts to clarify the type of records that you are seeking, or to attempt to reach a reasonable agreement about a response to a large request. Making a FOIA request is not an adversarial process, but we may need to discuss your request with you to ensure that we understand what records you are seeking. To request records from DEQ, you may direct your request to the department's FOIA Officer, Diana Adams. She can be reached by mail at the Department of Environmental Quality, P.O. Box 3000, Harrisonburg, VA 22801; by email at Diana.Adams@deq.virginia.gov ; by fax at 540-574 7878; and by phone at 540-574 7886.You may also contact her with questions you have concerning requesting records from DEQ. Your record request will be forwarded to the appropriate central office and/or regional office staff. If you would like to contact the regional office staff directly, please determine the appropriate DEQ FOIA contact based on city or county of interest.
In addition, the Freedom of Information Advisory Council is available to answer any questions you may have about FOIA. The Council may be contacted by e-mail at foiacouncil@dls.virginia.gov, or by phone at 804-225-3056 or [toll free] 1-866-448-4100.
DEQ's responsibilities in responding to your request
DEQ must respond to your request within five working days of receiving it. "Day One" is considered the day after your request is received. The five-day period does not include weekends or holidays. You do not have to state why you want the records before we respond to your request. FOIA does, however, allow DEQ to ask you to provide your name and legal address. FOIA requires that DEQ make one of the following responses to your request within the five-day time period: We provide you with the records that you have requested in their entirety. We withhold all of the records that you have requested, because all of the records are subject to a specific statutory exemption. If all of the records are being withheld, we must send you a response in writing. That writing must identify the volume and subject matter of the records being withheld, and state the specific section of the Code of Virginia that allows us to withhold the records. We provide some of the records that you have requested, but withhold other records. We cannot withhold an entire record if only a portion of it is subject to an exemption. In that instance, we may redact the portion of the record that may be withheld, and must provide you with the remainder of the record. We must provide you with a written response stating the specific section of the Code of Virginia that allows portions of the requested records to be withheld. We inform you in writing that the requested records cannot be found or do not exist (we do not have the records you want). However, if DEQ knows that another public body has the requested records, we will include the contact information for the other public body in our response to you. If it is practically impossible for DEQ to respond to your request within the five-day period, we must state this in writing, explaining the conditions that make the response impossible. This will allow us seven additional working days to respond to your request, giving us a total of 12 working days to respond to your request. If you make a request for a very large number of records or your request requires an extraordinarily lengthy search, and we feel that we cannot provide the records to you within 12 days without disrupting our other organizational responsibilities, we may petition the court for additional time to respond to your request. However, FOIA requires that we make a reasonable effort to reach an agreement with you concerning the production or the records before we go to court to ask for more time. Commonly used exemptions
The Code of Virginia allows any public body to withhold certain records from public disclosure. DEQ commonly withholds records subject to the following exemptions: Personnel records (§ 2.2-3705.1 (1) of the Code of Virginia); Records subject to attorney-client privilege (§ 2.2-3705.1 (2)) or attorney work product (§ 2.2-3705.1 (3)); Vendor proprietary information (§ 2.2-3705.1 (6)); Records relating to the negotiation and award of a contract, prior to a contract being awarded (§ 2.2-3705.1 (12)); Working papers prepared by or for the Office of the Governor and correspondence of the Office of the Governor (§ 2.2-3705.7 (2)); and Records of DEQ relating to active federal environmental enforcement actions and agency enforcement strategies (§ 2.2-3705.7 (16)) MyDEQ