Welcome to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Electronic Reading Room for the Department of Energy at Headquarters.

The FOIA requires certain kinds of documents to be made available to the public for inspection and copying. This is a requirement for agencies of the executive branch of the federal government.

The documents that are required to be made available by the FOIA are:

• final opinions made in the adjudication of cases;
• statements of policy and interpretations adopted by the agency;
• staff manuals and instructions that affect the public;
• records that have been released in response to multiple written requests for information under the FOIA or are likely to be requested again; and
• an index of the records.

The Headquarters Electronic Reading Room has these documents, special interest collections, and other documents that have been released in response to written requests for information under the FOIA. Records are maintained in accordance with schedules set by the National Archives and Records Administration and DOE directives. Generally, records are kept for a minimum of 2 years.

There are two ways to search for Reading Room documents. Method one sorts and then lists documents by Category. The second method uses a Full-Text Search based on keyword(s) or phrase.

You also may visit the FOIA Public Reading Room. It is located in Room 1E-190 at 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20585. The Reading Room is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday, except federal holidays. The telephone number is (202) 586-5955.