ML20215L975

Responds to Appeal of Denial of FOIA Request for Document 10 in App C of 870309 Response.Forwards Document 10.Document Partially Withheld (Ref FOIA Exemption 7)

ML20215L975
Person / Time
Site:	Braidwood
Issue date:	06/22/1987
From:	Chilk S NRC OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY (SECY)
To:	Whicher J ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION
Shared Package
ML20215L977	List: ML20215L975 ML20215M012
References
FOIA-87-21, FOIA-87-A-19 NUDOCS 8706260233
Download: ML20215L975 (2)

Text

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~ NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 hh . .

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( OFFICE OF THE - June 22, 1987.

~ SECRETARY )

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' Jane M. Whicher, Esql .

.l s The Roger.Baldwin Foundation of ACLU, Inc.. j Suite 816 .

220 South State Street.  ;

Chicago,. Illinois.60604  !

Dear.Ms. Whicher:

This letter is a response to your April 10, 1987 appeal under the Freedom of

?Information-Act;(FOIA), FOIA Appeal 87-A-190. On March 9,.1987, Donnie .

L

. Grimsley. Director of. the Division of Rules and Records, notified you that you.

were being denied certain of the ' documents you had-requested.in.F0IA request No. 87-21, dated January 5,1987. You. are appealing the denial of Document 10 g in Appendix. C of the March 9,1987 response to 'your initial: request.

In response to your appeal, Document 10 has been reviewed, and.on ths basis of

~ that review, we:are releasing 'certain portions of the document. However, with regard to; the rest:of. the document, we are affiming the initial decision to.

withhold under exemptions' 7(A) and (D) of 5 U.S.C. 5 552(b) and 10 C.F.R.

~l9.5(7.).

In. your appeal, 7(A),that7(A)youarguethatwecannotwithholdDocument10underexemption applies only to. investigatory records compiled for law Lenforement purposes, and that since Document 10 is not such a record but rather.an order by the Comission, Document 10 is not exempt under 7(A).

Howev_er, your account of the law on exemption 7(A) is incomplete. The protection of.7(A) extends.also to documents which, though prepared for some purpose other than' law enforcement, copy or sumarize information originally compiled for law enforcement purposes. FBI v.' Abramson, 456 U.S. 615,. 624-25, 631-32(1982). The FOIA " consistently focuses on the nature of the information and the effects of ' disclosure [,)" id. at 626, not' on the character' of the document in which the information.is coiitained. Document 10 contains-a a good deal of infomation which was originally compiled for an investigation which is ongoing and may yet issue in law enforcement proceedings. Much of-Document 10 is therefore exempt under 7(A) from disclosure.

You also argue in your appeal that we cannot withhold Document 10 under exemption 7(0),thatthedocumentwasdisclosedtothepartiesinthe Braidwood licensing proceedings, that the identity of the confidential source -

could simsly be deleted from the document and the rest released, and that the source, w1om you' believe to have made public statements for attribution, can

.hardly be called confidential. However, the disclosure of the Document to the o s parties was made, as you know, under strict protective order and in no way entails that we must release the same document to the public at large.

Moreover, protection of a confidential source quite often requir,es, and would

.in this instance require, more than simply deleting a name. Much other 8706260233 870622  :

PDR FDIA , l WHICHE87-A-19 PDR ;

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Jane M. Whicher 2 identifying infomation must also be deleted. Finally, the agency's relations with the source have always proceeded on a confidential basis. To the best of our knowledge, the source has never made public statements for attribution.

The material being released to you is also being placed in the Comission's Public Document Room at 1717 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20555, and sent to the parties in the Braidwood licensing adjudication.

This letter represents final agency action on your appeal of the March 9,'1987 denial of Document 10. Judicial review of the-denial of documents is.

available in Federal district court in the district in which you reside or i have your principal place of business, or in the District of Columbia.

Since e y, C imuel k

f Secretar of the Commis ion Encl _osure:

Material released I

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