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October 4, 2011
By Email: alexander.morris@hg.doe.gov and First-Class Mail
FOIA Officer
U.S. Department ofEnergy
1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20585
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request
Dear FOIA Officer:
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington ("CREW") makes this request for
records, regardless of format, medium, or physical characteristics, and including electronic
records and information, audiotapes, videotapes and photographs, pursuant to the Freedom of
Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 U.S.C. 552, et seq., and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
regulations, 1 0 C.F .R 1 004.
First, CREW seeks any and all correspondence between Representative Dennis "Denny"
Rehberg (R-MT), his Chief of Staff, Robert Joseph (Jay) Martin, or any other member of his
staff, and any employee of DOE from January 1, 2008, to the present regarding Mongolia
Forward or Gage LLC/Gage International. CREW further seeks any and all responses by any
employee of DOE to Representative Rehberg, Mr. Martin, or any other member of
Representative Rehberg's staff, during the same time period regarding these entities. Mongolia
Forward is an American company headquartered in Washington D.C. that is seeking to develop
uranium mines in Mongolia. Gage LLC (AKA Gage International) is a government affairs and
lobbying firm located in Washington D.C. that represents Mongolia Forward, the Embassy of
Mongolia, and several other American and Mongolian interests.
Second, CREW seeks any and all documents and records in any form from any office
within DOE, from January 1, 2008, to the present, regarding Mongolia Forward. This request
includes, but is not limited to, internal DOE documents, and any communication to or from any
person or entity outside DOE including, but not limited to, any member of Congress, the
Embassy ofMongolia, the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia, and any employee or employees of any
other federal agency.
Third, CREW seeks any and all documents and records in any form from any office
within DOE, from January 1, 2008, to the present, regarding Gage LLC or Gage International.
This request includes, but is not limited to, internal DOE documents, and any communication to
or from any person or entity outside DOE including, but not limited to, any member of Congress,
the Embassy of Mongolia, the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia, and any employee or employees of
any other federal agency.
1400 Eye Street, N.W., Suite 450, Washington, D.C. 20005 I 202.408.5565 phone I 202.588.5020 fax I www.citizensforethics.org

FOIA Officer
October 4, 2011
Page 2
Finally, CREW also seeks any and all records of or reflecting communications from
January I, 2008, to the present to, from, and/or between DOE officials regarding Mongolia
Forward or Gage LLC/Gage International and any and all of the following:
1) Leo A. Giacometto;
2) A.J. Rehberg;
3) Former Senator Conrad Bums;
4) Any or all individuals identified as officers, directors, or employees of Mongolia
Forward;
5) Any or all individuals identified as officers, directors, or employees of Gage LLC or
Gage International.
Please search for responsive records regardless of format, medium, or physical
characteristics. Where possible, please produce records electronically, in PDF or TIF format on
a CD-ROM. We seek records of any kind, including electronic records, audiotapes, videotapes,
and photographs. Our request includes any letters, emails, facsimiles, telephone messages, voice
mail messages, and transcripts, notes, or minutes of any meetings, telephone conversations, or
discussions. Our request also includes any attachments to these records.
If it is your position that any portion of the requested records is exempt from disclosure,
CREW requests that you provide it with an index of those documents as required under Vaughn
v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820 (D.C. Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 977 (1972). As you are aware, a
Vaughn index must describe each document claimed as exempt with sufficient specificity "to
permit a reasoned judgment as to whether the material is actually exempt under FOIA."
Founding Church of Scientology v. Bell, 603 F.2d 945, 949 (D.C. Cir. 1979). Moreover, the
Vaughn index must "describe each document or portion thereof withheld, and for each
withholding it must discuss the consequences of supplying the sought-after information." King
v. US. Dep 't of Justice, 830 F.2d 210, 223-24 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (emphasis added). Further, "the
withholding agency must supply 'a relatively detailed justification, specifically identifying the
reasons why a particular exemption is relevant and correlating those claims with the particular
part of a withheld document to which they apply."' ld. at 224 (citing Mead Data Central v. US.
Dep't ofthe Air Force, 566 F.2d 242,251 (D.C. Cir. 1977)).
In the event some portions of the requested records are properly exempt from disclosure,
please disclose any reasonably segregable non-exempt portions of the requested records. See 5
U.S.C. 552(b). If it is your position that a document contains non-exempt segments, but that
those non-exempt segments are so dispersed throughout the document as to make segregation
impossible, please state what portion of the document is non-exempt, and how the material is
dispersed throughout the document. Mead Data Central, 566 F.2d at 261. Claims of
nonsegregability must be made with the same degree of detail as required for claims of
exemptions in a Vaughn index. If a request is denied in whole, please state specifically that it is
not reasonable to segregate portions of the record for release.
FOIA Officer
October 4, 2011
Page 3
Finally, CREW welcomes the opportunity to discuss with you whether and to what extent
this request can be narrowed or modified to better enable DOE to process it within the FOIA's
deadlines. Anne Weismann, the CREW attorney handling this matter, can be reached at (202)
408-5565 or aweismann@citizensforethics.org.
Fee Waiver Request
In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(A)(iii) and DOE regulations, 10 C.F.R.
1 004.9(a)(8), CREW requests a waiver of fees associated with processing this request for
records. The subject of this request concerns the operations of the federal government and the
disclosures will likely contribute to a better understanding of relevant government procedures by
CREW and the general public in a significant way. Moreover, the request is primarily and
fundamentally for non-commercial purposes. 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(A)(iii). See, e.g., McClellan
Ecological v. Carlucci, 835 F.2d 1282, 1285 (9th Cir. 1987).
Specifically, these records are likely to contribute to greater public awareness about
DOE's role in supporting Mongolia Forward's efforts to develop uranium mines in Mongolia.
On September 28, 2011, a DOE official acknowledged that DOE has been in discussions with
Mongolian officials about how to develop the country's uranium. See Elaine Grossman, Senior
U.S. Official Denies Talk of Putting Nuclear Waste Site in Mongolia, Government Executive,
September 30, 2011 (attached as Exhibit 1). CREW seeks to determine whether DOE also
promoted Mongolia Forward's efforts to develop mines.
CREW is a non-profit corporation, organized under section 501(c)(3) ofthe Internal
Revenue Code. CREW is committed to protecting the public's right to be aware of the activities
of government officials and to ensuring the integrity of those officials. CREW uses a
combination of research, litigation, and advocacy to advance its mission. The release of
information garnered through this request is not in CREW's financial interest. CREW will
analyze the information responsive to this request, and will share its analysis with the public,
either through memoranda, reports, or press releases. In addition, CREW will disseminate any
documents it acquires from this request to the public through its website,
www.citizensforethics.org, which also includes links to thousands of pages of documents CREW
acquired through its multiple FOIA requests as well as documents related to CREW's litigation
and agency complaints, and through www.scribd.com.
Under these circumstances, CREW satisfies fully the criteria for a fee waiver.
FOIA Officer
October 4, 2011
Page4
News Media Fee Waiver Request
CREW also asks that it not be charged search or review fees for this request because
CREW qualifies as a "representative of the news media" pursuant to the FOIA. In Nat'/ Sec.
Archive v. US. Dep't of Defense, 880 F.2d 1381, 1386 (D.C. Cir. 1989), the Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia Circuit found the National Security Archive was a representative of the
news media under the FOIA, relying on the FOIA's legislative history, which indicates the
phrase "representative of the news media" is to be interpreted broadly; "it is critical that the
phrase 'representative ofthe news media' be broadly interpreted if the act is to work as expected .
. . . In fact, any person or organization which regularly publishes or disseminates information to
the public ... should qualify for waivers as a 'representative of the news media.'" 132 Cong.
Rec. S 14298 (daily ed. Sept. 30, 1986) (emphasis added), cited in id.
CREW routinely and systematically disseminates information to the public in several
ways. First, CREW maintains a frequently visited website, www.citizensforethics.org, that
received 41 ,446 page views in September 2011. In addition, CREW posts all of the documents it
receives under the FOIA on www.scribd.com, and that site has received 1,300,981 page views of
CREW's documents since April14, 2010.
Second, since May 2007 CREW has published an online newsletter, CREWCuts, that
currently has 16,281 subscribers. CREWCuts provides subscribers with regular updates
regarding CREW's activities and information the organization has received from government
entities. A complete archive of past CREWCuts is available at
http:/ /www.citizensforethics.org/newsletter.
Third, CREW publishes a blog, Citizens bloggingfor responsibility and ethics in
Washington, that reports on and analyzes newsworthy developments regarding government
ethics and corruption. The blog, located at http://www.citizensforethics.org/blog, also provides
links that direct readers to other news articles and commentary on these issues. CREW's blog
had 3,857 page views in September 2011.
Finally, CREW has published numerous reports to educate the public about government
ethics and corruption. See The Revolving Door, a comprehensive look into the post-government
activities of24 former members of President Bush's cabinet; Record Chaos, which examines
agency compliance with electronic record keeping responsibilities; and Those Who Dared: 30
Officials Who Stood Up For Our Country. These and all other CREW's reports are available at
http:/ /www.citizensforethics.org/reports.
Based on these extensive publication activities, CREW qualifies for a fee waiver as a
"representative of the news media" under the FOIA and agency regulations.
FOIA Officer
October 4, 2011
Page 5
Conclusion
If you have any questions about this request or foresee any problems in releasing fully the
requested records on an expedited basis, please contact me at (202) 408-5565. Also, if CREW's
request for a fee waiver is not granted in full, please contact our office immediately upon making
such determination. Please send the requested records to Anne L. Weismann, Citizens for
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, 1400 Eye Street, N.W., Suite 450, Washington, D.C.
20005.
Enclosure
Anne L. Weismann
Chief Counsel
EXHIBIT 1
Government
Executive
Senior U.S. official denies talk of putting nuclear waste site in Mongolia
By Elaine M. Grossman Global Security Newswire September 30, 2011
WASHINGTON-- A senior U.S. Energy Department
official on Wednesday disputed reports that the
Obama adninistration has sought Mongolian support
for construction of a storage site for international
spent nuclear fuel in the Central Asian nation.
The assertion-- made by a high-ranking official
who asked not to be named in addressing a
diplomatically sensitive issue -- directly countered
remarks offered last spring by a veteran State
Department official who leads U.S. nuclear trade
pact negotiations.
The diplomat, Richard Stratford, told a Washington
audience in March that Energy Department leaders
had made initial contacts with their counterparts in
Ulaanbaatar about potential cooperation on a range
of nuclear fuel services that Mongolia would like to
develop for international buyers.
Among the possible features of a joint project,
Stratford said, could be the creation of a repository
for U.S.-origin fuel that has been used by
Washington's partners in the region, potentially
including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
If brought to fruition, the proposal would be "a very
positive step forward," he said at the time, because
no nation around the globe thus far has
successfully built a long-term storage facility for
dangerous nuclear waste.
The Obama adninistration in 2009 shuttered plans
for a U.S. storage site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada
-- which would have been the world's only
permanent repository -- after prolonged debate
over potential environmental and health hazards.
In an interview this week with Global Security
Newswire, the high-level Energy Department official
said that discussions have focused on an array of
potential nuclear energy market roles for Mongolia, from mining its substantial uranium reserves to
fabricating fuel and more.
However, the unofficial talks have not broached the idea of Mongolia becoming a recipient of
foreign-origin spent fuel, the senior figure said.
"I never thought about U.S. spent fuel. Never," the Energy official said. "I never even thought
about it, much less discussed it."
The Obama administration generally supports the idea of creating international operations for waste
storage and other fuel-cycle functions that might help stem global nuclear proliferation, but "what
the Mongolian government and the Mongolian people end up deciding they want to do is completely
their decision and I would not dream of imposing our views on that," the senior official said.
''There's no discussion of an international spent-fuel repository," added a second Energy Department
official who participated in the same interview. "What has been included as part of the
comprehensive fuel services discussions are potential long-term storage of Mongolian-origin used
fuel that has Mongolian uranium [in it]."
Adding Value
An evolving concept of nuclear fuel "leasing" would have the Mongolians build on their existing
uranium ore resources to ultimately provide reactor- ready fuel to foreign nations and, additionally,
stand ready to take back used uranium fuel rods once they are depleted, according to reports.
The idea, said the more junior Energy official, is that Mongolia could "potentially add long-term
storage as part of the value of that uranium resource to potential buyers."
Even if foreign-origin spent fuel cannot be stored in Mongolia, the nation's talks with its
international partners might yet allow for U.S., Japanese or other companies to build facilities in the
Central Asian nation to produce Mongolian fuel for sale abroad, which could later be returned to
Ulaanbaatar for storage after it is used.
The Mongolian Embassy in Washington on Thursday declined comment.
The senior official chalked up the seeming disconnect between Energy and State to a simple
misunderstanding, noting that the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia also initially denied Stratford's
assertions about a potential international repository in an April statement.
The Mongolian foreign minister went a step further the following month, denying that talks with the
United States and Japan had touched on the disposition of atomic waste of any national origin,
according to a report by China's Xinhua News Agency.
As a developing nation, Mongolia night derive substantial economic benefit if it agreed to accept
foreign spent fuel. However, the idea has become a political lightning rod, with the opposition Green
Party charging that a waste facility could become an environmental and safety nightmare.
A number of quiet steps toward international collaboration, though, have already taken place.
Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman in September 2010 signed a memorandum of
understanding with Mongolian Foreign Minister Gombojav Zandanshatar, pledging future cooperation
on civil nuclear power. Japan was also a party to the draft agreement, which has not been released
but reportedly included a passage referring to Mongolia as a future destination for spent fuel.
In Ulaanbaatar to ink the document, Poneman is said to have participated in a long discussion about
Mongolia's nuclear trade aspirations with Undraa Agvaanluvsan, an ambassador-at-large at the
nation's Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry.
In that conversation, the notion of Mongolia potentially accepting foreign-origin spent fuel "didn't
come up," and "Dick Stratford wasn't there," the senior Energy Department official said in the
interview.
The official acknowledged, though, that in the course of these bilateral discussions, the U.S. side
raised a number of ideas with the Mongolians, but some were quickly dismissed.
"We were brainstorming these ideas, but they were just ideas that we were brainstorming," the
Energy official said. "And it was not anything that, frankly, got beyond that."
A State Department spokeswoman this week directed a reporter to the Energy Department for any
comment.
Changing Landscape
"I happen to think the Mongolians are just teasing a very excitable bureaucracy, until the U.S. is
too committed to a '123' agreement to back out even without the waste dump," nuclear expert
Jeffrey Lewis, referring to the possibility of a bilateral nuclear trade pact, wrote in an April blog
post.
"Certain people at the Department of Energy do believe Mongolia will agree to host a waste
repository and are having relevant discussions," he stated in another post the following month.
Lewis directs the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation
Studies.
Mongolian officials traveled to Washington for Energy Department meetings in February and again in
August, U.S. government sources confirmed. Just prior to arriving in Washington for the August
meetings, a group of working-level Mongolian officials visited the Idaho National Laboratory, where
the Energy Department maintains wet and dry spent-fuel storage facilities.
''The discussions began a year ago and the whole scene looked a little bit different from [how] it
looks now," the senior U.S. Energy official noted.
The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility in Japan, triggered March 11 by a major
earthquake and tsunami, heightened concern about the safety of civil nuclear power facilities
worldwide.
The crisis in Japan was mounting just as word began to leak in the news media that Ulaanbaatar
was in the midst of closed-door discussions about jumping headlong into the nuclear energy market,
a prospect that took many Mongolians by surprise. Revelations that the nation might construct a
storage site somewhere in its expansive territory for foreign nuclear fuel further stoked public
anxiety there.
In July, Kyodo News reported that the head of Toshiba -- the Japanese parent company to U.S.
nuclear energy firm Westinghouse -- had written to Poneman to voice his company's continued
support for the largely secret "Comprehensive Fuel Supply" or "CFS" effort in Mongolia, despite
industry setbacks posed by the Fukushima disaster.
"We must recognize that the CFS project has now been publicized around the world," Norio Sasaki,
Toshiba's president and chief executive officer, wrote in the letter, obtained by GSN. "As anti-CFS
opposition can be anticipated, it is essential for the parties to the project to promote closer
coordination in order to secure continued progress."
This disclosure and others prompted some in the public to "doubt the integrity of the Mongolian
state," Dangaasuren Enkhbat, a Green Party member of parliament, said earlier this month at a
government meeting on the matter.
"I think these external talks were no mere talks," he said. "In order to stop these talks, the people
who participated in these external talks must be called to responsibility."
"Mongolia is not an awfully democratic state," said one U.S. expert who asked not to be named,
citing controversy over the issue. ''The ways in which they are engaging in this [discussion] shows
how they are not fully democratic."
Growing political outcry and public protests forced the Mongolian president, Tsakhia Elbegdorj, to
address in greater detail exactly what Ulaanbaatar was discussing with foreign capitals.
On Sept. 9 he issued a decree prohibiting formal talks about "cooperation on nuclear disposal with
any country or international organization," unless such negotiations are authorized by the country's
national security council, Kyodo News reported.
Speaking at the government meeting four days later, Elbegdorj said the new presidential order
"clearly" dictates that public officials "refrain from participation on behalf of Mongolia in any talks or
negotiations held under pressure of a foreign country."
Several issue experts interpreted his released remarks as a signal that Ulaanbaatar was effectively
ruling out -- at least for now -- the creation of a repository for foreign spent fuel, regardless of
whether the option had been earlier left open in private discussions with his U.S. or Japanese
interlocutors.
In Mongolia, there is a search for "political cover and some amount of political consensus" on the
issue, Mark Hibbs, a Berlin-based senior associate at the Camegie Endowment's Nuclear Policy
Program, said in an interview.
Limits on Mongolia's Nuclear Activities?
Meanwhile, it remains uncertain whether Mongolian leaders plan to develop a capability to enrich
uranium or reprocess plutonium as part of their fuel-services menu. These capabilities can be useful
for either civil atomic energy needs or for the development of nuclear weapons.
"I've heard zero interest expressed by any Mongolian in any fuel-cycle activity like enrichment or
reprocessing," the senior Energy official said on Wednesday.
By the same token, though, the official could not offer assurances that Mongolia has ruled out the
notion of enriching uranium or reprocessing plutonium on its own soil, as its capabilities to handle
nuclear materials develop.
"Unless I were with them 24 hours a day, I have never heard them say a thing about it. I've never
heard anything about it," the Obama administration official said. "But I don't know what anybody
has said to third parties."
A bipartisan bill pending in the House would potentially make it more difficult for the White House to
gain congressional approval for any pending nuclear cooperation agreement unless the trading
partner has, among other things, relinquished a right to enrich or reprocess nuclear fuel on its
territory.
The Obama administration included this so-called "gold standard" provision in a 2009 nuclear trade
agreement with the United Arab Emirates, but has not yet said publicly whether or how it might
apply the policy to other nations.
A so-called "123" agreement -- a type of trade accord govemed by the 1954 Atomic Energy Act --
would be required before Washington could assist Mongolia with nuclear technologies or know-how,
even if U.S.-fabricated fuel never enters that nation for storage.
Depending on the level of U.S. assistance permitted by a trade pact, Washington could conceivably
exert a great amount of leverage over how Mongolia proceeds in entering the nuclear energy
market.
Mongolian-origin fuel could actually become regarded as U.S.-origin material"if it is enriched or
fabricated into fuel on U.S. soil," said Edwin Lyman, a senior scientist in the Global Security program
at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Another way it could occur is if the fuel is irradiated in a
reactor that has used any U.S. technologies or equipment."
That designation could allow Washington a so-called "right of retum" of its atomic materials or
equipment if it determines that Ulaanbaatar has exceeded its rights under any future nuclear trade
pact -- for example, by opting to domestically enrich or reprocess nuclear fuel contrary to the
accord.
Leading up to possible negotiations on a nuclear trade agreement with Mongolia, Hibbs said a future
pact could encounter some political opposition in Washington if Ulaanbaatar insists on keeping its
enrichment and reprocessing options open.
"Some people in Washington have been a little apprehensive about whether Mongolia would want to
enrich uranium or reprocess spent fuel, especially if the U.S. at some point agreed to support a
multilateral fuel-cycle project in that country," he told GSN.
The senior Energy official would not speculate about how the Obama administration would react if
Mongolia at some point refuses to renounce this type of nuclear processing, noting that the Asian
nation has a long way to go before its atomic energy plans solidify.
''The U.S. holds all the cards really," Lyman said. "A '123' agreement with Mongolia should be seen
as a privilege to Mongolia and not something in which they can dictate all the terms."
Calling nuclear trade pacts "one of the most potent tools the U.S. has" in helping restrict global
proliferation, he added, ''The administration should not Jose sight of the original goal, which is to
stop the spread of fuel-cycle facilities to countries that don't have them. "
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