Environmental Impact of the 'Tempora', PRISM and 'Mastering the Internet' Programmes

Dave Miles made this Environmental Information Regulations request to Government Communications Headquarters
You only have a right in law to access information about the environment from this authority
This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Government Communications Headquarters,



I am making an Environmental Information Regulations request for information concerning the environmental impact of the following programmes:



Tempora, Mastering the Internet
, PRISM (as well as other similar programmes)

According to leaked documents the Tempora / 'Mastering the Internet' programmes are collecting at
 least 21 petabytes a day - which must require a substantial use of 
power as well as purchase of equipment.



Please outline the full environmental impact of these programmes 
including:



- Air, water, soil, land, flora and fauna

- Information on emissions and discharges (e.g. noise, energy,
 radiation, waste materials)

- Human health and safety

- Cultural sites and built structures (as they may be affected by
 the environmental factors listed above)

- Plans and administrative measures that affect these matters



I look forward to receiving your response.


Yours faithfully,


Dave Miles

--

www.stoptempora.com

Dear Government Communications Headquarters,

Please confirm receipt of my previous email regarding my FOI request dated 3rd August.

Yours faithfully,
Dave Miles

PressOffice,

Protective Marking: UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Mr Miles,

Thank you for the email.

I have spoken to my colleagues who are dealing with your request, and they confirm that they received your request under the Environmental Information Regulations on 3 August (via the "What do they Know?" website). They intend to reply within the 20 working days specified in the regulations.

Regards
Press & Public Affairs Office
GCHQ

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PressOffice,

Protective Marking: UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Mr Miles,

Thank you for your email of the 3 August in which you submitted a request under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) for information on the environmental impact of "Tempora, Mastering the Internet, PRISM (as well as other similar programmes)"

We have given your request due consideration and relying on Regulations 12(5)(a) and 12(6) GCHQ is unable to confirm or deny whether it holds the type of environmental information you have requested.

In applying the public interest test in accordance with Regulation 12 (1) (b) we have considered the following:

1. The presumption in favour of disclosure
2. The principle of 'Neither Confirm Nor Deny' (NCND) and the impact on National Security

The presumption in favour of disclosure

GCHQ is subject to the EIR and under Regulation 5 there is a duty on us to make environmental information that we hold available on request. Regulation 12 (2) requires us to apply a presumption in favour of disclosure. This means that, where possible, we should release the environmental information requested.

Our environmental policy is available on our website (www.gchq.gov.uk/aboutus/pages/environmental-policy.aspx). Part of this states that " GCHQ recognises that day-to-day operations and activities at its sites can impact upon the environment in many ways." With reference to your request, we recognise that there is a public interest in those of our activities that might impact on the local or wider environment.

NCND and the impact on National Security

Although there is a presumption in the Regulations in favour of disclosure, the public interest in the disclosure of the environmental impact of one alleged programme amongst GCHQ's extensive IT systems is not outweighed by the need to safeguard national security. The disclosure of environmental information about such an IT system would, of course, reveal the existence or not of that system, and therefore information about our capability to carry out Signals Intelligence. Furthermore, any future request under the EIR for such information would indicate whether the use of such a system had increased, decreased or stopped. This would be information capable of causing damage by those seeking to adversely affect GCHQ's activities and by doing so, would undermine the national security of the UK , as it would reveal the extent of, and limitations to, GCHQ's capability for intelligence gathering.

If you are unsatisfied with the response to your request, you may ask for an internal review. Please contact us and we will arrange an internal review of your case as specified in regulation 11 of the EIR.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

0303 123 1113
www.ico.org.uk

Yours sincerely,

Head of Information Legislation Team

This information is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and may be subject to exemption under other UK information legislation.

Refer disclosure requests to GCHQ on 01242 221491 ext 30306 (non-secure) or email [email address]

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Dear Government Communications Headquarters,

Thank you for you quick response to my FOI request. I understand your concerns under the NCND - given this could you please provide the requested information for GCHQ as a whole without a breakdown with reference to specific programmes. If necessary the documents / information can be partially redacted if there is reference to specific programmes.

I would also like to request a copy of your Environmental Policy for the current year which as you state on your website 'is freely available to all staff, contractors and any other interested parties'.

Yours faithfully,

Dave Miles

PressOffice,

Protective Marking: UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Mr Miles,

Thank you for your email. We shall consider this and respond to you shortly.

Regards
Press & Public Affairs Office
GCHQ

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Infoleg, Government Communications Headquarters

Protective Marking: UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Mr Miles,

I am writing with regard to your second request under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) which we received on the 15 August. As you may be aware, the normal time limit for responding to these requests is 20 working days, which would be the 13th September.

Regulation 7 of the EIR allows us to extend the time limit to 40 working days if it would be impractical to respond within 20 days. While it is very unlikely we shall need the full 40 days, the detailed consideration we have had to make of your request means that we may not be able to reply by 13 September.

I apologise for this. Please be assured, we shall respond as soon as we are able.

Your sincerely,

Head of Information Legislation Team
GCHQ

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Infoleg, Government Communications Headquarters

1 Attachment

Protective Marking: UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Mr Miles,

1. Thank you for your email of 15th August. We have treated this as a new request under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR).

2. I note that the subject line of your email makes reference to an internal review. You are entitled to ask us to carry out a review of our handling of your request, but from the text of your email we do not understand this to be the action you are asking us to take. If you do want us to carry out such a review in relation to this or your previous request please let us know.

3. You requested “a copy of your Environmental Policy for the current year”. Our current environmental policy is available on our website at www.gchq.gov.uk/aboutus/pages/environmen...

4. You also asked us to provide “the requested information for GCHQ as a whole without a breakdown with reference to specific programmes”.
In your original request you asked us, with regard to “Tempora, Mastering the Internet, PRISM (as well as other similar programmes)” to “outline the full environmental impact of these programmes including:

- Air, water, soil, land, flora and fauna
- Information on emissions and discharges (e.g. noise, energy, radiation, waste materials)
- Human health and safety
- Cultural sites and built structures (as they may be affected by the environmental factors listed above)
- Plans and administrative measures that affect these matters”

5. We are therefore interpreting your request as a request for “any data we hold on the environmental impact of GCHQ’s activities”. The environmental impact of GCHQ’s activities could be interpreted very widely and might apply to a large amount of data. We have therefore identified the key current data that will meet your request.

6. Firstly, we hold data on GCHQ’s carbon footprint. We have considered the presumption in favour of disclosure contained in regulation 12(2) and we have concluded that we are unable to disclose the information because to do so would have an adverse effect on national security (12(5)(a)). We acknowledge the public interest in this environmental information, and arguments in favour of disclosure have been considered, but it has been determined that in all the circumstances of this case, the public interest in maintaining the exception outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. To provide further clarification would involve the disclosure of information, which would itself be exempt from disclosure.

7. Secondly, we hold data on the amount of waste produced and the means of its disposal. Our most recent complete statistics, for the financial year 2012-13, are reproduced below.

Total Hazardous Waste: 14 tonnes

The non-hazardous waste is as follows, broken down by the means of disposal:

Landfill 23 tonnes
Reused - recycled 368 tonnes
Composted 89 tonnes
Incinerated with energy recovery 240 tonnes
Incinerated without energy recovery 0 tonnes

8. Finally, we also hold data on discharge consents issued by the Environment Agency and Severn Trent Water. These authorise us to carry out various activities that might have the potential to affect the environment. These are attached; some personal data has been redacted (as specified in regulation 13).

9. We are in the process of reviewing all the environmental data that we hold, as part of our duty under regulation 4 to progressively make this information available to the public. When the review has been completed the environmental information will be published on our website, unless an exception to disclosure applies under regulation 12 of the EIR.

10. If there is other specific environmental data that you wish to request access to, please contact us with the necessary details. If we hold the environmental information, we will make it available to you, unless an exception to disclosure applies under regulation 12 of the EIR.

11. If you are unsatisfied with the response to your request, please contact us and we will arrange an internal review of your case as specified in regulation 11(1) of the EIR.

12. If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

0303 123 1113
www.ico.org.uk

Yours sincerely,

Head of Information Legislation Team

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