What is FOIA?

The Privacy Act of 1974 is a companion to the FOIA. The Privacy Act regulates federal government agency record keeping and disclosure practices. The act allows most individuals to seek access to federal agency records about themselves. As with the FOIA, the Privacy Act provides civil remedies for individuals whose rights have been violated. Together with the FOIA, the Privacy Act permits disclosure of most personal files to the individual who is the subject of the files.

The two laws restrict disclosure of personal information to others when disclosure would violate privacy interests. The access provisions of the FOIA and the Privacy Act overlap in part. The two laws have different procedures and different exemptions. As a result, sometimes information exempt under one law will be disclosed under the other. In order to take maximum advantage of the laws, an individual seeking information about himself or herself should normally cite both laws.

Requests for information that does not relate solely to oneself should be made only under the FOIA. Congress intended that the two laws be considered together in the processing of requests for information. ONRR will automatically handle requests from individuals in a way that will maximize the amount of information that is disclosed. However, a requester should still make a request in manner that is most advantageous and that fully protects all available legal rights. A requester who has any doubts about which law to use should always cite both the FOIA and the Privacy Act when seeking documents from the Federal government.

Contact and more information please see our official disclaimer for ONRR web sites. If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact our FOIA staff.

Initially, it is important to understand that there is no central office in the Government that processes FOIA requests for all Federal agencies. Each department and agency responds to requests for its own records. Therefore, DOI is responsible for responding to FOIA requests for records under its purview only. If you are interested in records that may be located at another agency, e.g., the U.S. Forest Service or the Bonneville Power Administration, you must contact that agency directly.

The FOIA provides you the right to request access to ONRR records. The Department of the Interior regulations are located at 43 CFR Part 2. It is the policy of the ONRR to make its records available to the public to the greatest extent possible in keeping with the spirit of the FOIA. The ONRR makes many of its records publicly available and an FOIA request may not be necessary. Take a minute to search the ONRR home page to see if the information you want is already available. You may want to go to the Reading Room to see if a document is already there. You can also use the Search feature found at the bottom of the Reading Room page. If you have any questions about the need for a FOIA request, call one of the FOIA contacts.

1. Describe the requested records in enough detail so that they can be located with a reasonable amount of effort. Be as specific as possible in identifying the records you are seeking. Any facts or clues which you can furnish about the time, place, persons, events, subjects, or other details of the information or records you seek, will be helpful to agency personnel in deciding where to search and in determining which records pertain to your request. This can save you and the Government time and money as well as improve your prospects for getting what you want.


2. State the maximum amount of fees that you are willing to pay, or provide sufficient justification to support a fee waiver. The criteria that DOI uses in deciding whether to grant a fee waiver may be found in DOI's FOIA regulations at 43 CFR 2.19.


3. Specify the fee category (commercial-use, news media, educational institution/noncommercial scientific institution, or other.

We also recommend including the words "FOIA REQUEST" on the request letter and the envelope and your name and telephone number (or an appropriate contact) in case additional information is needed or clarification of your request. A special form for submitting a FOIA request is not required.

The ONRR/ONRR FOIA Officer can be contacted at the following:

Office of Natural Resources Revenue
ONRR FOIA
P.O. Box 25165   Mail Stop 340A1
Denver, CO   80225-0165

email:  ONRR FOIA
Fax:  303-445-4288

Our agency is very busy. Sometimes we can't respond to requests as quickly or as thoroughly as we wish. Sometimes the solution to a FOIA problem is as easy as picking up the phone or briefly revisiting a request so that we may better understand what you need.

You may appeal a non-response, incomplete response, fee waiver denial, or information withholding. However, many times we can provide the information to you quicker if you contact us or file an informal appeal, before doing a formal appeal. You may file a formal appeal at any time during this informal process keeping in mind the legally required time frames for filing. If you wish to file a formal appeal you must do so within the appropriate timeframes.

The Electronic Reading Room contains documents specifically identified for inclusion by the FOIA, as well as documents for which we have received multiple FOIA requests. The number of items in the Reading Room undoubtedly will grow.