September 26, 2017
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL

Records, FOIA, and Privacy Branch
Office of Environmental Information
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW (2822T)
Washington, DC 20460
Hq.foia@epa.gov
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request

Dear Freedom of Information Act Officer:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552 and the implementing
regulations for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 40 C.F.R. Part 2, American Oversight
makes the following request for records.
Media reports indicate that between September 13 and 15, 2017, HHS Secretary Tom Price
chartered five flights on private jets to conduct official government business. Further reports
indicate that Secretary Price’s unusual use of taxpayer dollars for private jet travel has attracted the
attention of the HHS Office of the Inspector General, which is investigating these reports of
“potentially inappropriate travel.” The reports about Secretary Price are not the first concerning
hints that senior administration officials are raiding public funds to pay for questionable travel: the
Treasury Office of the Inspector General is also reviewing Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s
reported use of a government plane to travel with his wife to view the solar eclipse in Fort Knox,
and Mr. Mnuchin also reportedly requested use of a government plane for his honeymoon. Other
reports indicate that other officials have been using private jets for their government trips.
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See Dan Diamond & Rachana Pradhan, Price’s Private-Jet Travel Breaks Precedent, POLITICO
(Sept. 19, 2017, 10:30 PM), http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/19/tom-price-chartered-planesflights-242908.
Dan Diamond, OIG: Investigation of Tom Price’s Charter Travel is ‘Underway,’ POLITICO
(Sept. 22, 2017, 1:06 PM), http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/22/tom-price-charter-travelinspector-general-243024.
Aaron Blake, The Trump Administration’s Private Plane Problem, WASH. POST, Sept. 20, 2017,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/09/20/the-trump-administrations-privateplane-problem/?utm_term=.a4ffb6b9b02f.
Tarini Parti, At Least Three Wealthy Trump Officials Used Private Jets for Government Work,
BUZZFEED (Sept. 21, 2017, 4:44 PM), https://www.buzzfeed.com/tariniparti/at-least-three-wealthytrump-officials-used-private-jets?utm_term=.cpEyvj8MQ4#.pu3nQmNbB8; Peggy Drexler,
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1030 15th Street NW, Suite B255, Washington, DC 20005   AmericanOversight.org

 American Oversight seeks records that will inform the American public of how senior government
officials are choosing to spend taxpayer dollars.
Requested Records

American Oversight requests that EPA produce the following within twenty business days:
Records sufficient to identify each time the Administrator has booked or used any air travel
other than scheduled, commercial service for official government business, including use of
government-owned or government-leased aircraft, chartered aircraft, or aircraft owned by a
business entity or private individual. For purposes of this request, travel is “for official
government business” if the travel involves attendance or participation at any meeting or
event within the purview of the Administrator’s official duties, even if some or most of the
trip involves personal activities.
The search for responsive records should include all individuals and locations where
records are likely to exist, including the Office of the Administrator and all offices involved
in making travel arrangements or receiving, approving, paying, reimbursing, or auditing
travel expenses for the Administrator. Please provide all responsive records from February
17, 2017, to the date the search is conducted.
In addition to the records requested above, American Oversight also requests records describing
the processing of this request, including records sufficient to identify search terms used and
locations and custodians searched and any tracking sheets used to track the processing of this
request. If your agency uses FOIA questionnaires or certifications completed by individual
custodians or components to determine whether they possess responsive materials or to describe
how they conducted searches, we also request any such records prepared in connection with the
processing of this request.
American Oversight seeks all responsive records regardless of format, medium, or physical
characteristics. In conducting your search, please understand the terms “record,” “document,” and
“information” in their broadest sense, to include any written, typed, recorded, graphic, printed, or
audio material of any kind. We seek records of any kind, including electronic records, audiotapes,
videotapes, and photographs, as well as letters, emails, facsimiles, telephone messages, voice mail
messages and transcripts, notes, or minutes of any meetings, telephone conversations or
discussions. Our request includes any attachments to these records. No category of material should
be omitted from search, collection, and production.
Please search all records regarding agency business. You may not exclude searches of files or
emails in the personal custody of your officials, such as personal email accounts. Records of official
business conducted using unofficial systems or stored outside of official files is subject to the
Federal Records Act and FOIA. It is not adequate to rely on policies and procedures that require
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Trump’s Rich Cabinet Needs Private Jets. Don’t We All?, CNN (Sept. 22, 2017, 9:13 PM),
http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/22/opinions/trumps-rich-cabinet-needs-private-jets-dont-we-alldrexler/index.html.
See Competitive Enter. Inst. v. Office of Sci. & Tech. Policy, 827 F.3d 145, 149–50 (D.C. Cir.
2016); cf. Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Kerry, 844 F.3d 952, 955–56 (D.C. Cir. 2016).
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 officials to move such information to official systems within a certain period of time; American
Oversight has a right to records contained in those files even if material has not yet been moved to
official systems or if officials have, through negligence or willfulness, failed to meet their
obligations.6

In addition, please note that in conducting a “reasonable search” as required by law, you must
employ the most up-to-date technologies and tools available, in addition to searches by individual
custodians likely to have responsive information. Recent technology may have rendered your
agency’s prior FOIA practices unreasonable. In light of the government-wide requirements to
manage information electronically by the end of 2016, it is no longer reasonable to rely exclusively
on custodian-driven searches. Furthermore, agencies that have adopted the National Archives and
Records Agency (NARA) Capstone program, or similar policies, now maintain emails in a form
that is reasonably likely to be more complete than individual custodians’ files. For example, a
custodian may have deleted a responsive email from his or her email program, but your agency’s
archiving tools would capture that email under Capstone. Accordingly, American Oversight insists
that your agency use the most up-to-date technologies to search for responsive information and
take steps to ensure that the most complete repositories of information are searched. American
Oversight is available to work with you to craft appropriate search terms. However, custodian
searches are still required; agencies may not have direct access to files stored in .PST files, outside
of network drives, in paper format, or in personal email accounts.
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Under the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, agencies must adopt a presumption of disclosure,
withholding information “only if . . . disclosure would harm an interest protected by an exemption”
or “disclosure is prohibited by law.” If it is your position that any portion of the requested records
is exempt from disclosure, American Oversight requests that you provide an index of those
documents as required under Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820 (D.C. Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415
U.S. 977 (1974). As you are aware, a Vaughn index must describe each document claimed as
exempt with sufficient specificity “to permit a reasoned judgment as to whether the material is
actually exempt under FOIA.” Moreover, the Vaughn index “must describe each document or
portion thereof withheld, and for each withholding it must discuss the consequences of disclosing
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See Competitive Enter. Inst. v. Office of Sci. & Tech. Policy, No. 14-cv-765, slip op. at 8 (D.D.C.
Dec. 12, 2016) (“The Government argues that because the agency had a policy requiring [the
official] to forward all of his emails from his [personal] account to his business email, the
[personal] account only contains duplicate agency records at best. Therefore, the Government
claims that any hypothetical deletion of the [personal account] emails would still leave a copy of
those records intact in [the official’s] work email. However, policies are rarely followed to
perfection by anyone. At this stage of the case, the Court cannot assume that each and every workrelated email in the [personal] account was duplicated in [the official’s] work email account.”
(citations omitted)).
Presidential Memorandum—Managing Government Records, 76 Fed. Reg. 75,423 (Nov. 28,
2011), https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/11/28/presidentialmemorandum-managing-government-records; Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Office of the
President, Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments & Independent Agencies,
“Managing Government Records Directive,” M-12-18 (Aug. 24, 2012),
https://www.archives.gov/files/records-mgmt/m-12-18.pdf.
FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 § 2 (Pub. L. No. 114–185).
Founding Church of Scientology v. Bell, 603 F.2d 945, 949 (D.C. Cir. 1979).
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the sought-after information.” Further, “the withholding agency must supply ‘a relatively detailed
justification, specifically identifying the reasons why a particular exemption is relevant and
correlating those claims with the particular part of a withheld document to which they apply.’”
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In the event some portions of the requested records are properly exempt from disclosure, please
disclose any reasonably segregable non-exempt portions of the requested records. If it is your
position that a document contains non-exempt segments, but that those non-exempt segments are
so dispersed throughout the document as to make segregation impossible, please state what
portion of the document is non-exempt, and how the material is dispersed throughout the
document. Claims of nonsegregability must be made with the same degree of detail as required
for claims of exemptions in a Vaughn index. If a request is denied in whole, please state specifically
that it is not reasonable to segregate portions of the record for release.
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You should institute a preservation hold on information responsive to this request. American
Oversight intends to pursue all legal avenues to enforce its right of access under FOIA, including
litigation if necessary. Accordingly, your agency is on notice that litigation is reasonably foreseeable.

To ensure that this request is properly construed, that searches are conducted in an adequate but
efficient manner, and that extraneous costs are not incurred, American Oversight welcomes an
opportunity to discuss its request with you before you undertake your search or incur search or
duplication costs. By working together at the outset, American Oversight and your agency can
decrease the likelihood of costly and time-consuming litigation in the future.
Where possible, please provide responsive material in electronic format by email or in PDF or
TIF format on a USB drive. Please send any responsive material being sent by mail to American
Oversight, 1030 15 Street NW, Suite B255, Washington, DC 20005. If it will accelerate release of
responsive records to American Oversight, please also provide responsive material on a rolling
basis.
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Fee Waiver Request

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(A)(iii) and 40 C.F.R. § 2.107(l), American Oversight
requests a waiver of fees associated with processing this request for records. The subject of this
request concerns the operations of the federal government, and the disclosures will likely
contribute to public understanding of those operations. Moreover, the request is primarily and
fundamentally for non-commercial purposes.
American Oversight requests a waiver of fees because “disclosure of the requested information is
in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the
operations or activities of the government.” The disclosure of the information sought under this
request will document and reveal the activities of the federal government, including how an agency
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King v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 830 F.2d 210, 223–24 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (emphasis in original).
Id. at 224 (citing Mead Data Central, Inc. v. U.S. Dep’t of the Air Force, 566 F.2d 242, 251
(D.C. Cir. 1977)).
Mead Data Central, 566 F.2d at 261.
40 C.F.R. § 2.107(l)(1)
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head determines how and when to spend taxpayer dollars on non-commercial flights. Taxpayers
deserve to know whether officials are using their money responsibly or misusing it for
unnecessarily luxurious travel. Although media reports have included general statements from
agency spokespeople regarding official travel practices, only specific records reflecting actual use of
non-commercial flights will allow the public to determine whether Secretary Price’s misuse of
public funds is an isolated abuse of authority or a widespread feature of the Trump administration.
Therefore, the requested records would “be meaningfully informative” about these government
operations and activities. And because there has already been substantial demonstrated public
interest in senior officials’ use of private jets for official travel, these disclosures will “contribute to
the understanding of a reasonably broad audience of persons interested in the subject.” And, as
described in more detail below, American Oversight’s website and social media accounts
demonstrate its “ability and intention to effectively convey information to the public.”
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This request is primarily and fundamentally for non-commercial purposes. As a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit, American Oversight does not have a commercial purpose and the release of the
information requested is not in American Oversight’s financial interest. American Oversight’s
mission is to promote transparency in government, to educate the public about government
activities, and to ensure the accountability of government officials. American Oversight uses the
information gathered, and its analysis of it, to educate the public through reports, press releases, or
other media. American Oversight also makes materials it gathers available on its public website and
promotes their availability on social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter. American
Oversight has demonstrated its commitment to the public disclosure of documents and creation of
editorial content. For example, after receiving records regarding an ethics waiver received by a
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40 C.F.R. § 2.107(l)(2)(i)
40 C.F.R. § 2.107(l)(2)(ii)
See, e.g., Steve Benen, Tom Price’s Private-Jet Travel Raises Eyebrows, MSNBC (Sept. 20,
2017, 11:28 AM), http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/tom-prices-private-jet-travel-raiseseyebrows; Aaron Blake, The Trump Administration’s Private Plane Problem, WASH. POST
(Sept. 20, 2017, 11:53 AM), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/09/20/thetrump-administrations-private-plane-problem/?utm_term=.70cb8421802c; Diamond & Pradhan,
supra note 1; Osita Nwanevu, Tom Price Reportedly Spent $60,000 on Private Jets Last Week,
SLATE (Sept. 20, 2017, 10:30 AM),
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/09/20/tom_price_reportedly_spent_60_000_on_privat
e_jets_last_week.html; Rachana Pradhan, Democrats Seek Accounting of Price’s Use of Charter
Planes, POLITICO (Sept. 20, 2017, 10:46 AM), http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/20/tomprice-charter-planes-democrats-response-242926; Peter Sullivan, Top Dem Asks Watchdog to
Look into Price Private Jet Travel, THE HILL (Sept. 20, 2017, 10:31 AM),
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/351520-top-dem-asks-watchdog-to-look-into-price-private-jettravel; Diamond, supra note 2; Blake, supra note 3; Parti, supra note 4; Drexler, supra note 4.
40 C.F.R. § 2.107(l)(2)(iii)
Id.
40 C.F.R. § 2.107(l)(1), (3).
American Oversight currently has over 11,500 page likes on Facebook, and over 35,000
followers on Twitter. American Oversight, FACEBOOK, https://www.facebook.com/weareoversight/
(last visited Sept. 25, 2017); American Oversight (@weareoversight), TWITTER,
https://twitter.com/weareoversight (last visited Sept. 25, 2017).
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senior DOJ attorney, American Oversight promptly posted the records to its website and
published an analysis of what the records reflected about DOJ’s process for ethics waivers. As
another example, American Oversight has a project called “Audit the Wall,” where the
organization is gathering and analyzing information and commenting on public releases of
information related to the administration’s proposed construction of a barrier along the U.S.Mexico border.
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Accordingly, American Oversight qualifies for a fee waiver.
Conclusion

We share a common mission to promote transparency in government. American Oversight looks
forward to working with EPA on this request. If you do not understand any part of this request,
have any questions, or foresee any problems in fully releasing the requested records, please contact
Beth France at foia@americanoversight.org or (202) 869-5246. Also, if American Oversight’s
request for a fee waiver is not granted in full, please contact us immediately upon making such a
determination.
Sincerely,

Austin R. Evers
Executive Director
American Oversight

DOJ Civil Division Response Noel Francisco Compliance, AMERICAN OVERSIGHT,
https://www.americanoversight.org/document/doj-civil-division-response-noel-franciscocompliance.
Francisco & the Travel Ban: What We Learned from the DOJ Documents, AMERICAN
OVERSIGHT, https://www.americanoversight.org/francisco-the-travel-ban-what-we-learned-from-thedoj-documents.
Audit the Wall, AMERICAN OVERSIGHT, www.auditthewall.org.
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