ML20004F567
| ML20004F567 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 06/10/1981 |
| From: | Felton J NRC OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION (ADM) |
| To: | Cohen R AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| References | |
| FOIA-81-36, FOIA-81-59 NUDOCS 8106190094 | |
| Download: ML20004F567 (2) | |
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Mr. Robert L. Cohen 9h e l16, g 435 West 119th Street, Apt. 2r, IN RESPONSE REFER New York, NY 10027 TO F01A-81-36
Dear Mr. Cohen:
This is in' further response to your etters of January 23,1981 (F0IA-81-36) and April 14,.1981 (F01A-81-bi) in which you requested pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (F0IA), among other things, a specific survey on nuclear energy issues prepared by Louis liarris and Associates.
Af ter the Survey wa' c.ompleted, the NRC acquired a copy of the Survey, which it retains wit. _ut apparent restriction on use.
In our May 4,1981 response to you, we indicated that we had asked Louis Harris and Associates to review their claim that the Survey in question was proprietary information exempt from mandatory disclosure.
In !ts response, liarris reaffirmed their claim, stating that the Survey was commissioned by private clients and that it was contractually stipulated that the information was to be treated as confidential and not made public either by the clients or by the Harris organization.
The company also states that the Survey still has not been made public.
Notwi thstanding the above response, the NRC does not yet have complete infornation in order to assess fully the nature of the proprietary claim.
The NRC finds, however, that the Survey is exempt from mandatory disclosure under another aspect of Exemption (4) of the Freedom of Information Act.
The NRC obtained a copy of the Survey voluntarily and the information in the Survey is of interest to the NRC.
The NRC depends to a great extent on voluntary cooperation for information it would no* otherwise obtain in the normal course of the Commission's licensing and regulatory duties.
Unless persons who might be willing to divulge information to the government can be assured that its confidentiality will be respected, the government's access to that kind of information will diminish.
In this case the NRC finds that disclosure of the Survey would impair the agency's ability to obtain similar information in the future (National Parks and Conservation Ass'n v. Morton, 498 F.2d 765, 767-770 (D.C-Cir. 19747).
Accordingly, the Survey wnT be withheld pursuant to Exemption (4) of the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)) and 10 CFR 9.5(a)(4) of the Commission's regulations.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 9.15 of the Comission's regulations, it ht.s been determined that the information withheld is exempt from production or disclosure and that its production or disclosure is contrary to the public interest.
The person responsible for this denial is Mr. Joseph J.
Fouchard, Director, Office of Public Affairs.
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Mr. Robert L. Cohen
. This deriial may be appealed to the Connission within 30 days from the receipt of this letter. Any such appeal must be in writing, addressed to the f,ecretary of the Commission, U.S. fluclear Regulatory Comnission, Washington, DC 20555, and should clearly state on the envelope and in the letter that it is an " Appeal from an Initial F0IA Decision."
This corrpletes f4RC action on your request.
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J. f, Felton, Director Division of Rules and Records Office of Administration
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Robert L. Cohen 435 West 119th Street
, Apt. 2K tiew York,.!!ew York 10027 Telt 280-4669,4638 January 23, 1981 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION-Director ACT REQUEST Of fice of Administration 7
U.S. Nuc1 car Regulatory Commission M # l /" 7-7-9 /
d Wanhington, D.C.
20555
Dear Sir:
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act as amended l
(5.U.S.C. 552).
I urite' to request copies of all docuniento relating to the consideration, l
planning, execution, and utilization of studies undertaken by your agency, or by other parties for your agency and/or other agencies,'which pertain, in part or in whole, to public opinion on nuclear (atomic) energy and issues relating to the use of nucicar power as a means of energy production. This would include, but is not necessarily.11mited to, opinion polls, review or.
analyses of media. coverage, mail received, telephone calls, or other indicators and means of communication which your agency uses or has used to identify,-study, measure, and analyze opintoas on nucicar-onergy and related i
scientific, technical, or social isuucs. For example, I am interested in l
reports, memorandum, correspondence, work papers, minutes of meetings, and staff papers based on an analysis of telephone calls.
I do ig, however, wish to receive logs of the telephone callu themselves. This request pertains j
to your a w ncy and its predecoscor agencies, j.
The POIA also provides that if only portions of a file are exempted from relca :c, the remainder must be released.
I therefore request that I be provided with all non-exempt portions which are reasonably segregabic.
I, of course, reserve my right to appeal the withholding or deletion of any information.
If you have any question regarM ng this request, please telephone me at the above number.
As provided in the Freedom of Information Act, I will expect to roccive a reply within ten working days.
4 Sincerely yours,
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w Robert L. Cohen 435 West 119th Street Apt. 2K New York, N.Y.
10027 April 14, 1981 Tel: (212) 280-4669,4638 Mr. J.M. Fel t.on Director Division of Rules and Ret:ords Of fice of Adminintration United States Nuclear Regulatory Comm.
Washington, D.C.
20555
Dear Mr. Felton,
This is a fallow-up to my Freedom of Information Request # FOIA-01-59.
I have received your let3ter of April 10 Thank you for your efforts, and for the information you have been abic to protide me.
It has recently come to my attention that a public opinion poll conducted by Louis liarris and Associates was located in the files of the Muclear Regulatory Commission.
Mr. Frank Karas, of your organization, was conducting a nearch, and took the initiative to l
contact Louis !!arris before releasing it to me.
Permission was not granted.
This matter has been brought to my attention by Ms. Barbara E. Winokur, of Loulu llarris and Ansolcates.
I have enclosed a copy of her i
correspondance, for your information.
I believe that this report is l
nubject to my request, as well an other documents relatino to it.
I would appreclate it if you could forward me a copy of this report.
If there is any further information you require, please let me know.
As provided in the FOIA, I expect to hear from you within ten working dujs.
Thanking you for your time.
Sincerely, Robert L. Cohen
Enclosures:
Two letters from Inuis Itarris and Associates, dated March 3, March 16 y ;,7,Ir\\ l y l
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m Louis HARRIS AND ASSOCIATES, INC.
630 F8FTH AVENUE NEW YORK. NEW YOHK BOIti f f L !,We 979 64001,tt s: nd8 343 LousS HAMa'S INT t anattoNas
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Cohen 435 W.
119th Street Apt. 2K New York, N.Y.
10027
Dear Mr. Cohen:
Last week I recir a call from Mr. Frank W.
Karas at the Nuclear Regulat.ory Con. mission.
lie was conducting a freedom of information search for you and wanted permission to release one of our reports.
l Unfortunately, that particular report is strictly confidentia]
l and can never be released.
Ilowever, we do have other information l
on nuclear power -- pre and post Three Mile Jaland -- that would l
Interest you.
t I am enclosing several copics of the ABC News - IIarris Survey f rom 1979 and 1980 dealing with public opliilon on nuclear ~ power.
i There is no charge for these reprints.
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In addition we have two pre-Three Mile Island in-depth reports done for Ebasco in 1975 and 1976.
These are available from l
Information Services, Louis llarris and Associates, at the above address and phone number, for a charge of $25.00 each.
t I hope this information is useful.
Let me know if you would like copies of the Ebasco reports, or any other information.
Sincerely, t
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$Nek&L' narbara C. Winokur Information Services bw encs.
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'cc m m = 'c'rt:44m March 16, 1981 Mr. Robert L. Cohen 435 W. 119th Street Apt. 2K New York, N.Y. 10027
Dear Mr. Cohen:
In answer to your letter of March 11, firstly I am glad that the information I sent you was useful. Those releases, along with the two Ebasoc reports, represent all our public data on nucicar power.
I contacted you because of a call I received from the Nucicar Regulatory Commiss iori.
The gentlemen there was conducting a freedom-of-information search for you as you requested, lie came across a copy of our repott on nuclear power, ar.1, since it was marked confidential, he checked with me before he released it.
The report was not done for any government agency, but for several private clients. Unfortunately, one of them must have released a copy to the NRC.
As per the clients' request, and perogative, the report is not now, and never will be, public. The re fore, I can not give you any further information about it, or any data from it.
As far as your use of our data, you are free to use it in your graduate thesis, along with the proper credits.
110 wever, before any pubilcations are published, you must request our permission to reprint the data. You can do this easily by writing to me, requesting permission, and sending me a mock-up of how you plan to use the material and a full explanation of the publication it will appear in.
This is necessary because all our releases are copy-righted.
If I can be of any further assistance, please be sure to le* me know.
Sincerely, yhcje$/lidln
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Barbara E. Winokur Information Services bw P.S.
I am sorry to say that we never received you letter of February 16th, addressed to Mr. liarris.