Description of document: Documents/email received by the US Geological Survey (USGS) Board of Geographic Names (BGN) with emphasis on the Hawaii Board on Geographic Names 2015-2017 Requested date: 03-June-2017 Release date: 13-July-2017 Posted date: 24-December-2018 Source of document: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer U.S. Geological Survey Department of the Interior 5522 Research Park Drive Baltimore, MD 21228 Fax: (443) 498-5510 Email: [email protected] The governmentattic.org web site (“the site”) is noncommercial and free to the public. The site and materials made available on the site, such as this file, are for reference only. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals have made every effort to make this information as complete and as accurate as possible, however, there may be mistakes and omissions, both typographical and in content. 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From: GS-D-EI_Freedom of Information Act <[email protected]> Cc: foia <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, Jul 13, 2017 10:10 am Subject: FOIA: USGS-2017-00141 Final Response This is our final response to your FOIA request (Control Number USGS-2107-00141) dated June 3, 2017, in which you requested copies of the following records: A copy of each letter received by the Board of Geographic Names from the Hawaii Board on Geographic Names during Fiscal Year 2017 to date. After thoroughly searching our files, U.S. Geological Survey did not locate records responsive to your request. To be specific, the Hawaii Board on Geographic Names (HBGN) did not send any letters to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names (BGN) by U.S. Mail or by any other means during Fiscal Year 2017. I am responsible for this denial. However, our search did locate nineteen (19) documents/email records (totaling 124 pages) received by the BGN, which primarily are notices of upcoming HBGN meetings, and we are proactively releasing the emails and the attachments to the emails. The HBGN meets monthly; prior to each meeting, the BGN is copied on the email distributed to the HBGN members, comprising the agenda, material to be discussed at the meeting, and the minutes of the previous meeting, and. These minutes include some matters of interest to the BGN. These include the systematic review by the HBGN of all geographic features names in Hawaii, for which the HBGN is confirming the spelling and considering the addition of writing marks. These updates are than forwarded to the BGN for processing at the Federal level. In January 2017, the BGN was provided a copy of a draft letter from the Director of the State of Hawaii Office of Planning, which is responsible for the HBGN, addressed to representatives of the Hawaii State Senate and House of Representatives, regarding a request that the HBGN had received to change the name of the State of Hawaii to “State of Hawai‘i”. All material provided to the BGN in connection to the HBGN meetings (agendas, minutes, supporting documents) is also posted at the HBGN’s website: https://planning.hawaii.gov/gis/hbgn/. I have enclosed all nineteen documents/email records combined into one (1) document in portable document format (PDF) (124 pages), which we are proactively releasing to you in their entirety. See attachments: 2017-00141 - Combined Records Final (124 pages) We classified you as an “other-use” requester. As such, we may charge you for some of our search and duplication costs, but we will not charge you for our review costs; you are also entitled to up to 2 hours of search time and 100 pages of photocopies (or an equivalent volume) for free. See 43 C.F.R. § 2.39. After taking into consideration your fee category entitlements, our processing costs are less than $50.00, we will not bill you because the cost of collection would be greater than the fee collected. See 43 C.F.R. § 2.49(a)(1). You may appeal this response to the Department’s FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Officer. If you choose to appeal, the FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Officer must receive your FOIA appeal no later than 90 workdays from the date of this letter. Appeals arriving or delivered after 5 P.M. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, will be deemed received on the next workday. Your appeal must be made in writing. You may submit your appeal and accompanying materials to the FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Officer by mail, courier service, fax, or email. All communications concerning your appeal should be clearly marked with the words: "FREEDOM OF INFORMATION APPEAL." You must include an explanation of why you believe the USGS’s response is in error. You must also include with your appeal copies of all correspondence between you and USGS concerning your FOIA request, including your original FOIA request and USGS’s response. Failure to include with your appeal all correspondence between you and USGS will result in the Department's rejection of your appeal, unless the FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Officer determines (in the FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Officer’s sole discretion) that good cause exists to accept the defective appeal. Please include your name and daytime telephone number (or the name and telephone number of an appropriate contact), email address and fax number (if available) in case the FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Officer needs additional information or clarification of your appeal. DOI FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Office Contact Information Department of the Interior Office of the Solicitor Attention: FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Office 1849 C Street, N.W. MS-6556 MIB Washington, DC 20240 Telephone: (202) 208-5339 Fax: (202) 208-6677 Email: [email protected] For more information on FOIA Administrative Appeals, you may review Subpart H of the Department’s FOIA regulations, 43 C.F.R. Part 2, Sub-part H. The 2007 FOIA amendments created the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) to offer mediation services to resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies as a non-exclusive alternative to litigation. Using OGIS services does not affect your right to pursue litigation. You may contact OGIS in any of the following ways: Office of Government Information Services National Archives and Records Administration 8601 Adelphi Road - OGIS College Park, MD 20740-6001 Telephone: (202) 741-5770 Fax: (202) 741-5769 Toll-free: 1-877-684-6448 E-mail: [email protected] Web: https://ogis.archives.gov You also may seek dispute resolution services from our USGS FOIA Public Liaison/FOIA Officer, Mr. Brian May, at [email protected] and (443) 498-5521. Please note that using OGIS services does not affect the timing of filing an appeal with the Department’s FOIA & Privacy Act Appeals Officer. If you have any questions about our response to your request, you may contact me by mail at 5522 Research Park Drive; Baltimore, MD 21228. This completes our response under your request. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you for your interest in the U.S. Geological Survey. V/r Andreas //SIGNED// Georg-Andreas Pogány Government Information Specialist Freedom of Information Act Office / FOIA U.S. Department of the Interior / U.S. Geological Survey Denver Federal Center, Bldg 25 Box 25046, Mail Stop 406 Denver, Colorado 80225-0046 CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE This message (including any attachments) is intended exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. This communication may contain information that is proprietary, privileged or confidential or otherwise legally exempt from disclosure. If you are not the named addressee, you are not authorized to read, print, retain, copy or disseminate this message or any part of it. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail and delete all copies of the message. Runyon, Jennifer <[email protected]> FW: 2017 Geographic Names Conference 1 message Buto, Arthur J <[email protected]> Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 3:30 PM To: "Asuncion, Leo R" <[email protected]>, "McEldowney, Holly" <[email protected]>, "Kalani Akana ([email protected])" <[email protected]>, "Mills, Kamanao" <[email protected]>, "Marques marzan ([email protected])" <[email protected]>, "Noenoe Silva ([email protected])" <[email protected]>, "Morales, Ryan D" <[email protected]> Cc: Bobby Camara <[email protected]>, "Buto, Arthur J" <[email protected]>, "DelosSantos, Joan M" <[email protected]>, Drew Decker <[email protected]>, "Hilo, Regina" <[email protected]>, Jenny Runyon <[email protected]>, John Clark <[email protected]>, Kawika Farm <[email protected]>, Melia Lane-Kamahele <[email protected]>, "Mendes, Debra L" <[email protected]>, Naomi Losch <[email protected]>, "Renee Louis ([email protected])" <[email protected]>, "Wahl, Michael A" <[email protected]> From: DelosSantos, Joan M Sent: Monday, January 30, 2017 9:04 AM To: [email protected]; Buto, Arthur J <[email protected]> Subject: FW: 2017 Geographic Names Conference Aloha Wayne, Forwarding this to Arthur Buto, who now staffs the Hawaii Board on Geographic Names.