Environmental Law Center American Tradition Institute

REQUEST UNDER THE TEXAS PUBLIC INFORMATION ACT

July 5, 2012
Ms. Kathryn Symank
Associate Vice President for Human Resource
& Administrative Services
Office of the Chief Business Officer
1255 TAMU
College Station, Texas 77843-1255

VIA EMAIL: open-records@tamu.edu -- REQUEST FOR PUBLIC RECORDS

Dear President Loftin, via Ms. Smynak:

The American Tradition Institute Environmental Law Center (“ATI”) respectfully submits this
request for public records ("Request") from Texas A&M University (“A&M”) pursuant to
Texas’s Public Information Act, Chapter 552 (§ 552.001, et seq.) of the Texas Government Code,
Attorney General Greg Abbott’s Public Information 2012 Handbook, and your Policy Statement
on Public Information Act Compliance updated March 28, 2008.
Please produce copies of records (“public information”) meeting the following descriptions.
1. All emails, dated from November 1, 2009 through July 5, 2012, inclusive, to or from
an A&M account used by Professor Andrew Dessler of the A&M Department of
Atmospheric Sciences during the period covered by this Request (including as “cc” or
“bcc”) which cite or refer to one or more of the following in the Subject line, e-mail
body or in the To, From, cc: or bcc: fields:
a. Union of Concerned Scientists (or “UCS”, “ucs” as a freestanding word/term)
b.ucsusa.org,
c. Richard Ades,
d.Frontline,
e. Catherine Upin (email, upin.newsdoc@gmail.com),
f. Justin Gillis,
g.Seth Borenstein, and/or
h.Suzanne Goldenberg.
Applicable dates for records requested cover approximately two and one half years, from
November 1, 2009 through July 5, 2012, inclusive.

Environmental Law Center at the American Tradition Institute • 2020 Pennsylvania Ave. NW #186
Washington, D.C. 20006 • www.atinstitute.org
In the event that the University's custodian of public records determines that a release of a given
record would contain confidential or private information or otherwise seek to withhold
information, it has a duty to ask for the opinion of the state’s attorney general pursuant to
Sec. 552.301(a).
ATI is a tax-exempt, 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3), non-profit public interest organization. As such, it
does not seek these records for commercial purposes. Rather, ATI seeks these records to
determine certain uses of taxpayer-funded resources by Professor Dessler including to what
extent (if any) they are used in the performance or pursuit of certain “global warming” related
activism, combining political or policy advocacy with dedicated publicly funded resources.
In the interests of expediting the search and processing of this Request, ATI is willing to pay fees
up $100. Please provide an estimate of anticipated costs in the event that fees for processing this
Request will exceed $100.
Furthermore, as this matter involves a significant issue of public interest, please produce
responsive records as they become available on a rolling basis but consistent with the Public
Information Act’s prescribed timelines.
To keep costs and copying to a minimum please provide copies of all responsive records in
electronic format if you have them (records requested are emails, so this should be all of them).
To expedite matters please direct all other disclosures to my attention at the following address:
American Tradition Institute
1489 Kinross Lane
Keswick, VA 22947

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss this matter further, don't hesitate to contact
me by email at chris.horner@atinstitute.org.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,

Christopher C. Horner
chris.horner@atinstitute.org
202.262.4458 (M)

Environmental Law Center at the American Tradition Institute • 2020 Pennsylvania Ave. NW #186
Washington, D.C. 20006 • www.atinstitute.org