On September 4, 1966, Public Law 89-554, enacted into law Title 5 of the U.S. Code entitled , "Government Organization and Employees", and introduced Section 552, subsequently amended and later referred to as the "Freedom of Information Act" and popularly known as "FOIA." This statute provides that after July 4, 1967 agencies under the Executive branch of the federal government shall make available for public inspection and copying (i) final opinions rendered in adjudication of administrative cases, specific agency policy statements, and administrative staff manuals that affect the public, and (ii) maintain current indices of same.

On October 2, 1996, President William J. Clinton signed into law the "Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996" (Public Law 104-231), commonly referred to as "E-FOIA." This law addresses electronic records, the maintenance of agency reading rooms to improve public access to copies of agency records and information, and certain procedural FOIA amendments. E-FOIA provides that agencies will make available by electronic means (i) reading room records created on or after November 1, 1996 and current indices of same, including a new category of records consisting of records provided under FOIA that agencies determine have become or are likely to become the subject of subsequent requests for the same records and an index of those selected FOIA disclosed documents, and (ii) an index and description of all major information systems.

General guidance on obtaining information from DOE under these statutes is available here.

In accordance with the DOE’s FOIA regulations at 10 CFR 1004, the DOE Office of Science Consolidated Support Center (CSC) electronic public reading rooms maintained by the CSC offices in Chicago and Oak Ridge (two of approximately 20 such facilities around the country) is available to the general public to provide information and documents about Energy Department programs and sites and laboratories under CSC records jurisdiction of its offices in Chicago and Oak Ridge.

The electronic public reading rooms may be accessed at https://sc.osti.gov/csc/FOIA/Electronic-Reading-Room; it is filled with PDFs and outlinks that should go to https://science.osti.gov/SCMS.

The Conventional Reading Room maintained by the CSC’s office in Chicago, IL is located at the Argonne Information Center, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439. At this location, the Conventional Reading Room is equipped with a computer to access available records. For assistance in locating available records at this location, please contact DOE SC-CH FOIA Officer Miriam Bartos at (630) 252-2041 or via e-mail at miriam.bartos@science.doe.gov.

The Conventional Reading Room maintained by the CSC’s office in Oak Ridge, TN is located at the DOE Information Center at 1 Science.gov Way, Building 1916-T1, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. For assistance in locating available records at this location, you can visit that location or call, 865-241-4780, via fax at 865-574-3521, toll free at 800-382-6938, option 6; or via e-mail at doeic@science.doe.gov.

Requesters who have submitted FOIA requests to the DOE Office of Science – CSC Chicago or Oak Ridge locations can obtain the date received by those locations, the estimated completion date, or any additional information related to your request by contacting the FOIA Requester Service Centers for those locations below. 

FOIA Requester Service Center at the Office of Science CSC Chicago Location

9800 South Cass Avenue
Argonne, IL 60439

  • FOIA Requester Service Center: (630) 252-2041
  • FOIA Public Liaison: Peter Siebach, (630) 252-2007
  • FOIA Officer: Miriam Bartos, (630) 252-2041

FOIA Requester Service Center at the Office of Science CSC Oak Ridge Location

P.O. Box 2001
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

  • FOIA Requester Service Center: (865)576-2129
  • FOIA Public Liaison: DiAnn Fields, (865) 576-0885
  • FOIA Officer: Linda Chapman, (865) 576-2129