April 21, 2006
Name of the Addressee
Address
Re: Notice of Freedom of Information Act Lawsuit
Dear _______:
A lawsuit has been filed against the United States Department of Labor ("DOL") in which your organization and/or its members may have an interest. The action, filed under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), seeks disclosure of air and other types of sampling data collected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA") during inspections of all workplaces nationwide since 1979.
Pursuant to 29 C.F.R. § 70.26(h), DOL seeks to notify all employers whose establishments were subject to air sampling by OSHA since 1979, that on November 22, 2005, DOL was sued in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey under FOIA to compel disclosure of all air and other sampling data. Adam M. Finkel v. United States Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, No. 3:05-cv-05525-MLC-TJB.
Please note that a complete response to this FOIA request would result in the public disclosure of sampling records from OSHA’s Salt Lake City Technical Center, which processes workplace samples taken by OSHA compliance officers during onsite compliance visits. The request includes information concerning all samples taken by OSHA from 1979 to June 1, 2005, which the requester has acknowledged comprises upwards of one million samples. Information requested for each sample includes the establishment name and address; the identity of the substances sampled; the sample type (personal, bulk, area, wipe, etc.); the numerical results of the sample analysis; and other information.
It is highly likely this FOIA request includes samples taken at establishments maintained by your members. The purpose of this letter is to request your assistance in notifying your members of the above-described FOIA request and of the filing of a U.S. District Court action seeking to compel disclosure of the requested information. There is reason to believe that the release of this data could include the release of confidential commercial or trade secret information that has not previously been disclosed to the public. OSHA seeks the views of employers on whether public release, in a form that identifies specific employers or workplaces, of sampling data that indicates chemical identities and the use or presence of particular chemicals or substances, would disclose confidential commercial or trade secret information.
In the event any of your members object to disclosure of the requested information, either they or you should provide OSHA with a detailed statement of any objection, including an explanation of the grounds for their objection. In particular, if your member contends that the requested information includes confidential commercial or trade secret information, an explanation of the basis for that conclusion should be provided. Please be aware that information submitted in response to the present request may itself be the subject of a subsequent FOIA request. Written responses must be sent no later than 30 days from the date of this letter to the attention of Sue Izumi, FOIA Officer, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Room N3647, Washington, D.C. 20210. If you have questions, please call OSHA’s Office of Communications at 202-693-1999.
Thank you for your timely attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Kevin L. Ropp, Director
Office of Communications
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