20080868 Ver 2_SELC_FOAA Request_20080821

SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER

200 WEST FRANKLIN STREET, SUITE 330 Charlottesville, VA
CHAPEL HILL, NC 27516-2559 Chapel Hill, NC
Telephone [phone] Atlanta, GA
Facsimile 919-929-9421 Asheville, NC
[e-mail] Sewanee, TN
August 20, 2008 D QK~1,' W9 Y

Mr. John Dorney Q U G 2 1 2008
N.C. Division of Water Quality DENR - WATERQUALITy
1650 Mail Service Center WETLANDSANI)STORMWATE,'
Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1650

Dear Mr. Dorney,

Pursuant to the North Carolina Public Records Law, N.C. GEN. STAT. § 132 et.
sec..., and on behalf of the Pamlico-Tar River Foundation ("PTRF"), the Southern
Environmental Law Center ("SELC") requests all records within the Division of Water
Quality's ("DWQ") possession related to Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan's ("PCS")
request for a variance from the Tar-Pamlico Buffer Rules and approval of a "flexible
buffer mitigation" program for proposed mining impacts in the vicinity of Aurora, North
Carolina. This request includes, but is not limited to, PCS's requested variance and
supporting documentation as well as any communications related to the variance request.

If the volume of responsive documents is large, I ask that the documents be made
available for inspection by this office prior to any copying. Please feel free to contact
me by phone to set up a convenient time and place for document review.

The NC Public Records law requires that public records, described in the statute
as documents, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs, films, sound recordings,
magnetic or other tapes, electronic data-processing records, artifacts, or other
documentary material, regardless of physical form or characteristics, prepared, owned,
used, in the possession of, or retained by the Division of Water Quality be made available
for review. N.C. GEN. STAT. § 132 et. seq.

PTRF is a private, non-profit organization that has been dedicated to protecting,
preserving, and promoting the Tar-Pamlico River and its watershed since 1981. SELC is
a non-profit environmental organization that seeks the requested records for the purpose
of disseminating the information to the general public. Therefore, consistent with North
Carolina stated policy that "public records are the property of the people ...and [t]hat the
people may obtain copies of their public records and public information free or at
minimal cost unless otherwise specifically provided by law," N.C. GEN. STAT. § 132-1(b),
we request that DWQ provide these documents without charge or at a reduced charge. If
DWQ denies our request for a fee waiver, please contact me before incurring costs if
amassing the documents will amount to more than $200 in fees.

100% recycled paper

Mr. John Dorney
August 20, 2008
Page 2

If you have any questions regarding this request, please feel free to call me at
[phone]. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Geoffrey R. Gisler

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