In researching the articles for this issue, Environment Hawai`i sought copies of contracts that the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism entered into with the Bank of New York Mellon, Renewable Finance, and Clean Power Finance.
On February 24, DBEDT informed us that to comply with this request we would need to pay $259. Had the $60-per-request waiver not been granted, the total would have been $379.
According to Susan Gray-Ellis, DBEDT’s staffer who responds to Uniform Information Practices Act requests, the time required to “review and segregate” the contracts for Renewable Finance and Clean Power Finance is nine hours (costing $180). That required to segregate the Bank of New York Mellon contract is 8.5 hours (at a cost of $170).
Even though the information is to be provided by email, DBEDT still charges for copying costs, at 10 cents a page (for a total of $19).
All the contracts are with businesses. It is unclear why there would need to be so much time to “review and segregate” them, a process intended by law to ensure that proprietary or personal information is not improperly made public. The question was posed to Gray-Ellis, who had not responded by press time.
— Patricia Tummons