20080868 Ver 2 _Records Request_20090121

SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER

Telephone [phone]
Facsimile 919-929-9421
[e-mail]

Charlottesville, VA
Chapel Hill, NC
Atlanta, GA
Asheville, NC
Sewanee, TN

200 WEST FRANKLIN STREET, SUITE 330
CHAPEL Hill, NC 27516-2559

January 16,2009

Via Email and U.S. Mail

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John A. Payne
Assistant Attorney General
N.C. Department of Justice
P.O. Box 629
Raleigh, NC 27601-0629
[e-mail]

Dear Mr. Payne:

Pursuant to the North Carolina Public Records Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. 9 132 et. seq.,
the Southern Environmental Law Center ("SELC") requests all documents related to PCS
Phosphate's 401 Certification issued January 15,2009, #2008-0868. This request
includes, but is not limited to, all communications between agency staff and PCS, agency
staff and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, agency staff and elected officials, and intra:-
agency communications. This request also includes notes from all meetings related to the
401, the development of policies related to the 401 - including draft policy statement
#2008-020 regarding riparian buffer mitigation location - as well as all drafts of the 401.
This request further includes any other information relevant to the Division of Water
Quality's consideration of PCS' s 401 certification application and issuance of that
requested certification.

Although we possess some of these documents through previous communications
with DWQ, we request that all documents be released even if staff suspects they may be
duplicative. We do not, however, request that DWQ produce the DraftEnvironmenta1
Impact Statement, Supplement to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, or Final
Environmental Impact Statement issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. These
documents are the only exception to this 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 Act 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,

100% recycled paper

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.

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. IfDWQ 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.

If you have any questions regarding this request, please feel free to call me at
[phone].

Sincerely,

Dtf (Z 67_______

Geoffrey R. Gisler

cc:
John Dorney, DWQ